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Mali has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the travel of staff and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by striking tankers on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

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

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in recently.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to address the instability.

However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.