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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

Top education official declared on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of staff and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by targeting tankers on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in recently.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to tackle the violence.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.