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Mali has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by attacking tankers on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

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

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to combat the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.