🔗 Share this article Mali Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Emergency Lengthy queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the last few days The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a blockade on petroleum supplies enforced by jihadist fighters. Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of personnel and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations. He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th. For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a blockade by targeting tankers on key routes. Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent. The military government had previously assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued. Last week, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing safety issues. It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways. Mali is now led by a military junta under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago. The junta had public backing when it came to authority, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants. The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity. These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence. However, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.