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Mali has temporarily halted schools and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the transportation of staff and students had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that classes could continue on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The junta-led administration had in recent days promised residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.

These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to address the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.