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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and universities throughout the country due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of personnel and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could restart on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising 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 extremist groups.

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

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to address the instability.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.