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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by jihadist fighters.

Top education official announced on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the travel of personnel and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing protection worries.

It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a army council led by the military leader, who seized power in a coup in recently.

The junta had public backing when it took power, promising to address the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to tackle the instability.

However, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.