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The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a restriction on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of employees and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that classes could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking tankers on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

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

The military government had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The ruling council had popular support when it came to authority, promising to address the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been stationed in previously to address the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to address the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.