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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis caused by a embargo on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of employees and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by striking tankers on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council led by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.