đ Share this article Mali Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Crisis Prolonged lines have been forming around gas stations in the past few weeks Mali has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a restriction on fuel imports enforced by militant groups. The Education Minister announced on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions. He stated that the authorities were âworking tirelesslyâ to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November. For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on key routes. Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and CĂ´te d'Ivoire. Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent. The ruling military council had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured. Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues. It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the âability to disturbâ the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners. The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of General GoĂŻta, who seized power in a coup in recently. The junta had widespread approval when it came to authority, committing to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants. The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency. Both have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to combat the instability. Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.