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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters.

Top education official stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that classes could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The military government had widespread approval when it took power, committing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to address the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.