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Mali has temporarily halted schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

Top education official declared on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the travel of personnel and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by attacking tankers on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously promised the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by the military leader, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it came to authority, committing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to combat the violence.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.