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Mali has suspended educational facilities and colleges throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a blockade on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of personnel and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He stated that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration led by the military leader, who took control in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in previously to address the increasing militant activity.

Both have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.