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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a embargo on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of employees and students had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

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

Lengthy waits have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The ruling military council had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing security concerns.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity.

However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.