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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by attacking fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating protection worries.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement 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 a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to address the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.