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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

Top education official declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of employees and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has endured.

Recently, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in previously to combat the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to address the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.