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Mali has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a embargo on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of staff and pupils had been impacted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

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

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to combat the instability.

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