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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the travel of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the situation so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by striking transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The ruling military council had in recent days promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has endured.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to address the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.