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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a restriction on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had previously assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by the military leader, who seized power in a coup in recently.

The military government had public backing when it came to authority, promising to address the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.