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Mali has closed educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the travel of employees and students had been impacted by the blockade.

He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by targeting transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, committing to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has hired private military contractors to combat the instability.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.