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Mali has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute energy crisis caused by a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of employees and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is presently governed by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been stationed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence.

However, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.