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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and universities across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity triggered by a restriction on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of personnel and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by attacking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The junta-led administration had previously assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and growing safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The military government had widespread approval when it took power, promising to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.