🔗 Share this article Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Fuel Crisis Prolonged queues have been appearing around petrol stations in recent weeks The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges across the nation due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by jihadist fighters. Top education official stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions. He emphasized that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November. For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by attacking tankers on primary roads. Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent. The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted. Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing security concerns. It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms. Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago. The ruling council had public backing when it took power, promising to deal with the ongoing instability caused by a independence uprising in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters. The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity. The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability. Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.