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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that classes could restart on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by attacking tankers on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The ruling military council had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability 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 under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in recently.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to combat the instability.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.