🔗 Share this article The West African nation Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Fuel Emergency Lengthy lines have been snaking around gas stations in the last few days Mali has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a restriction on energy resources imposed by militant groups. Top education official announced on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the travel of employees and students had been impacted by the restrictions. He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November. For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on major highways. Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire. Long queues have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent. The ruling military council had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured. Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and escalating safety issues. It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners. Mali is presently governed by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago. The junta had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters. The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to combat the increasing militant activity. These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity. Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and large parts of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.