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Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.

Top education official stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had in recent days assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

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

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.