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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the administration were “making every effort” to resolve the situation so that classes could continue on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by targeting tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently become deserted.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing protection worries.

It said 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 military junta under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed private military contractors to address the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain outside government control.