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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

Top education official declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and students had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

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

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in recently.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing 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 international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to address the violence.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.