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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of employees and learners had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by striking fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

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

The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it came to authority, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to address the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.