🔗 Share this article The West African nation Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Emergency Prolonged queues have been appearing around gas stations in the last few days Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by militant groups. Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of employees and learners had been affected by the restrictions. He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that classes could continue on November 10th. For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads. Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast. Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent. The military government had earlier this month assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted. In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and increasing protection worries. It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners. The West African nation is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago. The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants. The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to combat the increasing militant activity. The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to tackle the instability. Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.