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Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a restriction on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the travel of staff and students had been affected by the restrictions.

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

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by striking tankers on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta led by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain not under administrative command.