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Mali has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on energy resources implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the movement of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to alleviate the emergency so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a coup in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, committing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to address the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain not under administrative command.