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Mali has suspended schools and colleges across the nation due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a blockade on energy resources enforced by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on national broadcast that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the transportation of personnel and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the situation so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The military government had previously promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing safety issues.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.