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Mali has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

Top education official declared on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by attacking tankers on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had previously assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to combat the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.