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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of staff and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had previously promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, committing to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

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

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.