🔗 Share this article Mali Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Crisis Lengthy lines have been forming around gas stations in recent weeks Mali has closed schools and colleges countrywide due to a acute fuel scarcity triggered by a restriction on energy resources implemented by militant groups. Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and students had been affected by the restrictions. He asserted that the administration were “making every effort” to resolve the situation so that classes could resume on November 10th. For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads. Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast. Lengthy waits have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted. The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured. Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would depart Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing safety issues. It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways. Mali is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago. The military government had popular support when it took power, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters. The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the growing rebellion. Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability. However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.