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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis caused by a embargo on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that classes could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by targeting tankers on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

Mali is presently governed by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.