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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a restriction on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister declared on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of staff and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are transported by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it assumed control, promising to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to address the instability.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.