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Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, noting that the transportation of staff and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had previously assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a coup in 2021.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, committing to address the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.

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

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.