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Mali has temporarily halted schools and colleges across the nation due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of personnel and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could continue on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently become deserted.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing safety issues.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a army council led by the military leader, who took control in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in previously to combat the growing rebellion.

Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to combat the instability.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.