The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Crisis

The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of personnel and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November.

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the capital in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The military government had public backing when it came to authority, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

However, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.