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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a embargo on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.

Minister of Education stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of personnel and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are brought in by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently become deserted.

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

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted private military contractors to address the insecurity.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.