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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a blockade on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by targeting transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.