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Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.

Top education official stated on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and students had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by striking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The military government had in recent days assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council led by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, promising to address the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been stationed in previously to address the increasing militant activity.

These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.