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Mali has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis caused by a blockade on energy resources enforced by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He stated that the administration were “making every effort” to end the situation so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The junta-led administration had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a army council under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, committing to deal with the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been stationed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed private military contractors to tackle the instability.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.