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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the transportation of employees and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by attacking tankers on major highways.

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

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to tackle the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.