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Mali has temporarily halted schools and universities countrywide due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of employees and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

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

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by attacking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it took power, vowing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to address the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.