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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister declared on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that classes could restart on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had previously assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to address the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.