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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the transportation of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by targeting tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.

The military government had public backing when it assumed control, promising to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in previously to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to combat the instability.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.