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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

Top education official stated on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of employees and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.

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

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to address the violence.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.