Mali faces a deepening political, security and humanitarian crisis after a military coup ousted President Amadou Toumani Touré in late March. The soldiers, led by Capt. Amadou Sanogo, said they acted because the government had mishandled a Tuareg rebellion in the north. The coup instead created a power vacuum that enabled rebels to seize the major northern towns of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu, raising fears that the country could split apart.

The groups involved in the northern offensive have different aims. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) seeks an independent Tuareg state, while the Islamist group Ansar Dine wants to impose Islamic law within Mali. Residents reported that Islamist fighters had ransacked bars, banned Western music and told people in Timbuktu to live according to Islamic law. Some civilians were fleeing the central town of Mopti for fear of a further advance south. A junta negotiator said the MNLA was open to talks, but a rebel spokesman said the group did not recognize Sanogo and would negotiate only with a recognized authority.

West African leaders, concerned about Mali’s collapse and the consequences for an already fragile region, demanded a return to civilian rule. After the junta failed to meet their deadline, the Economic Community of West African States imposed sanctions, including border closures and a freeze on Mali’s account at the regional central bank. The African Union also imposed sanctions. Sanogo has said the army will remain in power while consulting political groups on a transition toward elections in which the junta would not participate.

The embargo has immediate consequences for landlocked Mali, which imports all its fuel. Long queues formed at petrol stations as residents stocked up for vehicles, generators and farm irrigation. Fuel shortages also threaten electricity supplies during the hot season, when low water levels limit hydropower, while the frozen account has raised doubts about the payment of civil servants.

The fighting has displaced more than 200,000 people since January, including about 100,000 who fled Mali, according to the UN refugee agency. It has also worsened a regional food crisis following drought, with aid agencies warning that 13 million people need food assistance.

UNESCO warned that fighting could damage Timbuktu’s World Heritage sites, including its distinctive mud-and-wood mosques and cemeteries. The city also holds hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts documenting centuries of scholarship in religion, science, mathematics and history. The rebel takeover could disrupt efforts to preserve and study those collections. The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis.