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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of employees and learners had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November.

For weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta led by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.

These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to address the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.