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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and students had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the situation so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by targeting tankers on major highways.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent.

The military government had previously reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Recently, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta led by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.

These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to combat the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.