The military government ordered schools and universities to close for two weeks as the fuel import blockade declared by JNIM caused further disruption.
Published October 27, 2025
Mali’s military junta has announced it will close schools and universities across the country for two weeks as the landlocked country continues to suffer from the effects of a devastating blockade on fuel imports imposed by armed groups in September.
Education Minister Amadou Si Saban said on Sunday that the school closures until November 9 were “due to fuel supply disruptions that are impacting the movement of school staff.”
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He added that authorities are “taking all possible measures” to restore normal fuel supplies before schools resume classes on November 10.
In a separate statement, the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Crisis and Disaster Management said fuel supplies would be limited until “further notice” and priority would be given to “emergency vehicles, support vehicles and public transport vehicles” at dedicated stations.
This comes almost two months after the Jamaat Nusrat ul-Islam al-Muslim (JNIM) armed group, one of several armed groups active in the Sahel region, declared a blockade on fuel imports from neighboring countries.
Since then, al-Qaeda-linked groups have primarily targeted fuel tankers coming from Senegal and Ivory Coast, through which most imports transit.
JNIM initially claimed the blockade was in retaliation for Malian authorities’ ban on selling fuel outside rural stations (fuel is transported in jerry cans and later sold). Malian authorities said the measure was aimed at cutting off JNIM’s supply lines.
endless queue
The blockade has strained Mali’s fragile economy and affected the prices of goods and transport in Mali, which relies on fuel imports to meet domestic needs.
The effects have spread to the capital, Bamako, with endless lines forming in front of gas stations.
Mali, along with neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has been battling local rebels and armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) for more than a decade.
After military coups in all three countries in recent years, the new governing authorities expelled the French military and relied on Russian mercenary forces for security support, but little is expected to have changed.
Analysts say the blockade is a significant setback for Mali’s military junta, which defended its 2020 military takeover as a necessary step to end a long-running security crisis.
