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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the travel of staff and pupils had been impacted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November.

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had in recent days assured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently.

The ruling council had popular support when it came to authority, promising to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been deployed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.