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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity triggered by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.

He asserted that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by striking tankers on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.

Recently, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to address the instability.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.