🔗 Share this article Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Petrol Emergency Lengthy lines have been forming around gas stations in the past few weeks Mali has suspended educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on energy resources implemented by militant groups. Top education official announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of staff and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations. He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November. For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on key routes. Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire. Long queues have been snaking around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent. The ruling military council had in recent days promised the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has continued. In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing protection worries. It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms. The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently. The junta had popular support when it came to authority, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups. The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the growing rebellion. Both have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to address the violence. Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.