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Mali has suspended schools and colleges throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.

Top education official announced on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the movement of staff and learners had been affected by the restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The military government had previously promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it took power, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability 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 a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.