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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, 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 situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by targeting tankers on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, committing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the military government has hired Russian mercenaries to combat the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.