🔗 Share this article The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Fuel Emergency Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in recent weeks The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters. The Education Minister declared on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the blockade. He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that classes could resume on the tenth of November. For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by striking fuel trucks on major highways. Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent. The ruling military council had previously reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured. Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing safety issues. It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners. The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in two years ago. The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters. The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity. These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to address the violence. However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.