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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe fuel scarcity triggered by a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of staff and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

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

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would evacuate the country amid the worsening energy crisis and growing security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it came to authority, promising to deal with the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.

However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.