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Mali has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of personnel and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that academic sessions could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.

The military government had in recent days assured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.

These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence.

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