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Mali has suspended schools and colleges across the nation due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

Top education official announced on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the travel of employees and learners had been affected by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a embargo by targeting tankers on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had earlier this month reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

Mali is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a coup in recently.

The ruling council had public backing when it took power, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to combat the violence.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.