Mali closes schools nationwide as fuel blockade worsens

# Mali closes schools nationwide as fuel blockade worsens

*Event date: 2025-10-27*

Mali’s military government has ordered schools and universities closed across the country for two weeks as a fuel blockade by al-Qaeda-linked fighters continues to choke transport and public services.

Education minister Amadou Sy Savane said the suspension would run until November 9 because fuel shortages were affecting the movement of school staff. The government said it was doing everything possible to restore normal supplies before classes resume on November 10. In a separate statement, crisis-management officials said fuel distribution would remain restricted until further notice, with emergency vehicles, aid transport and public transport given priority at selected stations.

The disruption stems from a blockade announced in September by Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM. The armed group has been targeting fuel tankers arriving mainly from Senegal and Ivory Coast, the routes through which much of Mali’s imported goods pass. JNIM said the measure was retaliation for a ban on selling fuel outside stations in rural areas, which the government said was intended to cut off the group’s supply lines.

The consequences have spread beyond rural roads to the capital, Bamako, where the report described long queues at gas stations. Mali is heavily dependent on fuel imports for both transport and domestic needs, so the blockade has also pushed up commodity prices and worsened the strain on a fragile economy.

The closure of schools and universities shows how the conflict has moved from security to basic governance. Rather than being an isolated disruption, the fuel shortage is now interfering with education and routine state functions. That gives the blockade strategic value for JNIM, which can pressure the military government without holding territory in the conventional sense.

The article placed the crisis within Mali’s wider security collapse. The country, along with Burkina Faso and Niger, has spent more than a decade fighting armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State as well as local insurgents. After military coups, the three governments expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units, but analysts quoted in the report said that shift has done little to reverse the deteriorating situation.

For Mali’s rulers, the blockade is more than an economic nuisance. It is a visible sign that the state still struggles to secure roads, supply chains and public services. Closing schools is an emergency response, but it also underlines how deeply the disruption has penetrated everyday life.