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Mali has temporarily halted schools and colleges countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.

Top education official declared on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of staff and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by targeting transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, committing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.