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Mali has suspended schools and colleges across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the movement of employees and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city 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 emergency has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a takeover in recently.

The military government had public backing when it took power, promising to address the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to combat the violence.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the state remain not under administrative command.