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Mali has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that classes could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by targeting tankers on major highways.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent.

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

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would evacuate the country amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing safety issues.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The junta had public backing when it took power, vowing to tackle the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to address the instability.

However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.