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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the movement of personnel and learners had been affected by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent.

The junta-led administration had previously reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a independence uprising in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.