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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.

Top education official announced on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of employees and students had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

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

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by striking tankers on major highways.

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

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.