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Mali has temporarily halted schools and colleges across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a blockade on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of staff and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had in recent days assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.

It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.