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The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration led by General Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.