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Mali has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a restriction on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education announced on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the movement of staff and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the emergency so that classes could continue on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by striking tankers on primary roads.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The military government had previously assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is now led by a military junta led by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been stationed in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to address the violence.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.