Mali has shut down schools and universities across the country as an increasingly dire fuel crisis takes hold, with militant groups continuing to block fuel imports that typically enter the country via its landlocked borders.

According to an announcement made on state television, Mali’s education minister Amadou Sy Savane said that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9, with most staff and students having been affected by the blockade.

According to the BBC, the official continued to say that the government was doing “everything possible” to restore fuel supplies so that classes could resume on November 10.

Shortages of fuel are acute as the country has no other routes other than roads from neighbouring states including the Ivory Coast and Senegal. The militants’ blockade has lasted for weeks, impacting the country’s capital Bamako following an initial attack by an al-Qaeda-linked group that targeted tankers on major roads.

As a result, citizens have faced increasingly long queues, and travel has almost stopped across the capital, the BBC notes.

Notably, Mali’s government – a military junta led by General Assimi Goïta in power since 2021 – had already promised that they would solve the issue at the beginning of the month, but this has not yet been achieved.

Furthermore, the US Embassy in Bamako has also said that non-essential diplomatic staff and families would leave the country due to the crisis, as security concerns continue to increase. “Fuel disruption has affected the supply of electricity and has the potential to disrupt the overall security situation in unpredictable ways,” the embassy noted.

Mali’s insurgency has only worsened since the junta took power, despite its promise to fix ongoing security concerns posed by Tuareg separatists in the North of the country, which have since been taken over by Islamist militants.

The junta has also hired Russian mercenaries to lend support, following the departure of French forces shortly after the new government took over; however, there has since been little progress in re-establishing a reliable supply of fuel.