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The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of employees and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.

However, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.