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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a army council under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to tackle the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.