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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister declared on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of employees and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that classes could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence.

However, the militant uprising has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.