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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

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

Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

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

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing protection worries.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to address the violence.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.