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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a restriction on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the transportation of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that classes could continue on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The military government had previously promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.