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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of employees and students had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could restart on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by targeting tankers on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing safety issues.

It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The military government had popular support when it came to authority, committing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

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

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.