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Mali has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and students had been impacted by the blockade.

He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that educational activities could resume on the tenth of November.

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by striking tankers on key routes.

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

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had previously assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing protection worries.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

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

These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to address the instability.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.