🔗 Share this article The West African nation Suspends Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Emergency Prolonged lines have been forming around gas stations in the last few days Mali has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups. Top education official stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of staff and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations. He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could continue on the tenth of November. For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by targeting tankers on key routes. The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation. Extended lines have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet. The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued. Last week, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing safety issues. It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms. Mali is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently. The junta had popular support when it took power, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups. The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency. These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired private military contractors to tackle the violence. Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.