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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on energy resources implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the travel of staff and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network initiated a embargo by targeting tankers on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta led by the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it took power, promising to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.