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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of personnel and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted 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 armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had public backing when it took power, committing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.