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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the transportation of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The military government had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

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

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it came to authority, promising to tackle the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.