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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of employees and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would depart the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired private military contractors to combat the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.