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Mali has suspended schools and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

Top education official declared on public media 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 restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.

For weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The junta-led administration had in recent days promised the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta led by the military leader, who took control in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.

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

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