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Mali has suspended educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and students had been affected by the blockade.

He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had previously assured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

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

Mali is now led by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity.

Both have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to address the violence.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.