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Mali has closed educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by attacking tankers on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it took power, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to address the growing rebellion.

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

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.