đ Share this article Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Fuel Crisis Extended lines have been forming around gas stations in the past few weeks Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on fuel imports imposed by militant groups. The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, noting that the transportation of personnel and learners had been affected by the restrictions. He stated that the administration were âdoing everything possibleâ to end the situation so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th. For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by targeting transport vehicles on major highways. The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation. Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet. The junta-led administration had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued. In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and growing protection worries. It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the âcapacity to affectâ the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways. Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago. The junta had public backing when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants. The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity. The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity. However, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.