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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously assured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has endured.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The ruling council had popular support when it took power, committing to deal with the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.

These forces have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to address the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.