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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of employees and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The junta-led administration had in recent days promised the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is presently governed by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to address the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

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

These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.