Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Fuel Emergency

Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official declared on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the situation so that classes could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had previously assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it took power, vowing to tackle the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.