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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges countrywide due to a severe energy crisis caused by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of employees and students had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to end the situation so that classes could restart on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a army council led by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.