Mali’s political crisis deepened after soldiers overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré in a March coup, creating a power vacuum that allowed rebels to seize much of the country’s north. The junta said it had acted because the government had mishandled the rebellion, but its takeover coincided with the army’s retreat and the loss of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.

The northern forces included the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which seeks an independent Tuareg homeland, and Ansar Dine, an Islamist group linked to North African al-Qaeda that wants to impose Islamic law while keeping the territory within Mali. Residents reported that Islamist fighters had ransacked bars, banned alcohol and Western music, and told people in Timbuktu to follow Islamic law. Civilians fled areas threatened by the advance. Since January, violence had displaced more than 200,000 people, including roughly 100,000 who left Mali.

West African leaders feared Mali’s collapse could destabilize the wider region. After the junta failed to meet a deadline to restore civilian rule, the Economic Community of West African States imposed sanctions, closing borders and freezing Mali’s account at the regional central bank. The African Union also backed sanctions. Junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo said the army would remain in power but promised consultations on a transition body and democratic elections. Prospects for negotiations with the northern rebels were uncertain: an MNLA spokesman said the group did not recognize Sanogo and would negotiate only with a recognized authority.

The embargo threatened severe hardship in landlocked Mali, which depends on imported fuel. Long queues formed at petrol stations as residents and businesses stockpiled supplies. Farmers feared they could no longer run irrigation pumps, while fuel shortages also threatened electricity generation during the hot season, when low water levels limit hydropower. The frozen account raised questions about whether civil servants would be paid.

The fighting also endangered Timbuktu’s cultural heritage. UNESCO called for the protection of 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 threatened preservation and digitization efforts. The conflict compounded a broader humanitarian emergency, with aid agencies warning that drought had left 13 million people in Mali and neighboring countries in need of food assistance.