🔗 Share this article Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Crisis Extended queues have been snaking around petrol stations in recent weeks The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups. Minister of Education stated on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the movement of staff and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations. He stated that the administration were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could restart on the tenth of November. For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on major highways. Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast. Lengthy waits have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly fallen quiet. The ruling military council had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued. In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating security concerns. It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms. Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in recently. The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups. The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion. Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired private military contractors to address the insecurity. Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.