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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the travel of staff and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by striking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had in recent days promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating protection worries.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.

The junta had popular support when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

These forces have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to combat the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.