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Mali has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of personnel and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by striking tankers on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.

These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to tackle the violence.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.