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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.

He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that classes could restart on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by targeting tankers on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, vowing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to address the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain beyond state authority.