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Mali has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official announced on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of personnel and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a embargo by attacking tankers on major highways.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.

It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.

The military government had public backing when it took power, vowing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to combat the violence.

However, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.