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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of staff and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by striking tankers on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has endured.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a army council headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in two years ago.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has contracted private military contractors to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.