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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

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

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The ruling military council had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has endured.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing safety issues.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it took power, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.