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Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.

He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.

The military government had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in previously to address the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.