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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.

For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by attacking tankers on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had previously reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to address the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.