🔗 Share this article Mali Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Shortage Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in the last few days Mali has closed schools and universities countrywide due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by militant groups. Top education official declared on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade. He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could resume on November 10th. For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads. Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation. Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city 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 the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted. Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing security concerns. It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways. The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021. The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters. The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency. Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired Russian mercenaries to address the instability. Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.