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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister declared on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the transportation of employees and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

He stated that the administration were “making every effort” to resolve the situation so that classes could continue on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The junta had public backing when it took power, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to address the violence.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.