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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by striking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating protection worries.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to address the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.