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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the movement of staff and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The military government had previously reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it took power, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to address the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain not under administrative command.