Mali faces a political, military and humanitarian crisis after a military junta overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré in March. The soldiers said they acted because the government had mishandled a Tuareg rebellion in the north. Instead, the coup created a power vacuum that allowed rebels to advance rapidly and seize the major northern towns of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.

The northern forces have different goals. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) seeks an independent Tuareg homeland, while the Islamist group Ansar Dine wants to impose Islamic law while keeping the north within Mali. Residents reported that Islamist fighters had ransacked bars, banned alcohol and Western music, and told people in Timbuktu to live under Islamic law. The rebel gains, the weakening of Mali’s army and the possibility of reinforcements from elsewhere in the Sahel have raised fears that the country could be divided and the wider region destabilized.

West African leaders demanded a return to constitutional rule and imposed sanctions when the junta failed to meet their deadline. The embargo closed borders and froze Mali’s account at the regional central bank. The African Union joined the sanctions, while junta representatives held talks with Nigerian authorities. Junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo said the army would remain in power but promised consultations on a transition body to organize democratic elections. There were conflicting accounts about possible talks with the MNLA; a rebel spokesman said the movement did not recognize Sanogo as a negotiating partner.

The sanctions quickly affected daily life in landlocked Mali, which imports its fuel overland. Long lines formed at petrol stations as motorists and farmers stocked up. Fuel shortages threatened irrigation, electricity generation and the payment of public employees. The crisis also compounded the effects of drought across Mali and neighboring countries: aid agencies warned that 13 million people needed food assistance, while the UN refugee agency said violence since January had displaced more than 200,000 people, including 100,000 who had fled Mali.

Fighting also threatened Timbuktu’s cultural heritage. UNESCO called for the protection of the World Heritage Site, known for its distinctive mud-and-wood architecture, historic mosques and cemeteries. The city is also home to hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts documenting Islamic scholarship, science, mathematics and history. The takeover could disrupt efforts to preserve and digitize these collections.