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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, noting that the travel of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it took power, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.