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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the movement of personnel and learners had been affected by the restrictions.

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

For weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent.

The junta-led administration had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, promising to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to address the violence.

However, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.