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The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the movement of staff and learners had been affected by the restrictions.

He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

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

The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing protection worries.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta under the leadership of General Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had popular support when it took power, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.