🔗 Share this article Mali Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Crisis Prolonged queues have been appearing around gas stations in the last few days The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe energy crisis caused by a embargo on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents. Top education official stated on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of employees and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations. He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to end the situation so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November. For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by attacking fuel trucks on key routes. Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are brought in by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast. Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently become deserted. The ruling military council had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued. Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing protection worries. It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways. Mali is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021. The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters. The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity. These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability. However, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.