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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around gas pumps in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had previously promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired private military contractors to tackle the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.