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Mali has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of employees and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

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

The ruling military council had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating protection worries.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta led by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.