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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the transportation of staff and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a army council led by the military leader, who took control in a coup in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.