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Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the travel of personnel and learners had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had previously reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing safety issues.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted private military contractors to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.