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Mali has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of staff and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.

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

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had in recent days assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave the country amid the worsening energy crisis and growing safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in recently.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in previously to address the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired Russian mercenaries to address the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.