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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.

Top education official announced on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, committing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.