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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of staff and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by striking fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it took power, vowing to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been stationed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.