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Mali has suspended schools and colleges throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the movement of personnel and learners had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that classes could restart on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council led by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency prompted by a independence uprising in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted private military contractors to address the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.