The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Emergency

The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The military government had previously reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing safety issues.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a coup in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in previously to address the escalating insurgency.

Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has hired private military contractors to tackle the violence.

However, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.