Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Emergency

The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities countrywide due to a severe energy crisis caused by a embargo on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the movement of personnel and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it came to authority, committing to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to address the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.