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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity triggered by a blockade on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by attacking tankers on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.