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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the movement of personnel and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that classes could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days promised residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, promising to address the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been stationed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.