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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that educational activities could continue on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by striking fuel trucks on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a military junta led by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.