Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Crisis

Long queues at petrol stations in Mali
Extended queues have been appearing around fuel pumps in the last few days

The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies enforced by jihadist fighters.

Top education official declared on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of employees and students had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The military government had previously promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The military government had widespread approval when it took power, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.

Kayla Hernandez
Kayla Hernandez

Mira Thorne is a web infrastructure specialist with over a decade of experience in cloud computing and hosting solutions.