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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and students had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it took power, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.