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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

Top education official announced on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a blockade by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had previously promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in recently.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to combat the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.