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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of staff and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by targeting tankers on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave the country amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, committing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been stationed in previously to address the growing rebellion.

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

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.