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Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the movement of employees and students had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had in recent days promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The military government had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to address the violence.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.