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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a blockade on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.

Top education official announced on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of staff and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

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

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.