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Mali has closed educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of staff and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the situation so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The military government had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the junta took over, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to address the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.