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Mali has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a severe fuel scarcity triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

Top education official declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the movement of employees and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by striking tankers on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has persisted.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council led by the military leader, who took control in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had public backing when it came to authority, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the instability.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.