🔗 Share this article The West African nation Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Shortage Prolonged queues have been forming around fuel pumps in the past few weeks Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by jihadist fighters. The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions. He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on November 10th. For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by striking fuel trucks on primary roads. The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast. Extended lines 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 become deserted. The ruling military council had earlier this month reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued. Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating safety issues. It said that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms. Mali is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in recently. The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants. The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency. These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to address the violence. Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.