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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of employees and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the administration were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

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

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta led by the military leader, who assumed authority in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.