NATIONWIDE SCHOOL SHUTDOWN AS FUEL BLOCKADE IMPOSED BY FIGHTERS CRIPPLES MALI

Mon 27 October 2025:

Mali has suspended education nationwide for two weeks due to an ongoing fuel shortage, the country’s education minister announced Sunday.Amadou Sy Savane said on state-owned public broadcaster ORTM that all educational institutions across the West African country will suspend activities from Oct. 27 to Nov. 9 because of the crisis.

Savane said schools are scheduled to reopen on Nov. 10.

For weeks, Mali has faced a fuel crisis caused by armed groups blocking routes used by fuel tankers, particularly affecting the capital Bamako.

Long lines have formed at gas stations while public transport and motorcycle taxis have been severely disrupted, leaving Bamako’s usually crowded streets unusually quiet.

Higher education institutions in the capital also said they were forced to suspend classes, citing the inability of students and teachers to reach campuses due to the fuel shortage.

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The US Embassy in Bamako announced on Oct. 24 that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families will leave Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

On Friday, the embassy also said it could not provide routine or emergency consular services outside Bamako and noted that a travel advisory for Mali remains in effect.

It comes nearly two months after the Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) armed group, one of the several operating in the Sahel, declared a blockade on fuel imported from neighbouring countries.

Since then, the al-Qaeda affiliate has been targeting fuel tankers coming mainly from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, through which most imported goods transit.

JNIM initially said the blockade was a retaliatory measure against the Malian authorities’ ban on selling fuel outside stations in rural areas, where fuel is transported in jerry cans to be sold later. Malian authorities said the measure was intended to cut off JNIM’s supply lines.

Mali, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled armed groups, including some linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), as well as local rebels.

Following military coups in all three countries in recent years, the new ruling authorities have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance, which is seen as having made little difference.

Analysts say the blockade is a significant setback for Mali’s military government, which defended its forceful takeover of power in 2020 as a necessary step to end long-running security crises.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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