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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a blockade on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

Top education official stated on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the movement of personnel and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by striking fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.

The military government had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in previously to address the growing rebellion.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired Russian mercenaries to combat the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.