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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by striking tankers on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

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

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.