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Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a restriction on energy resources enforced by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by road from neighboring states 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 normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in previously to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

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