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Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

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

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to address the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.