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The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could continue on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by targeting transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in the capital in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The military government had in recent days assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The junta had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

However, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.