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Mali has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of personnel and students had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that classes could restart on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it took power, committing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.

These forces have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

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