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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the movement of staff and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.

He stated that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the emergency so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been forming around gas pumps in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had previously reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in recently.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, promising to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.