Mali faces a political, humanitarian and cultural crisis after a military coup weakened the government and enabled rebels to seize the country’s north. The upheaval has alarmed West African leaders, who fear that Mali’s collapse could destabilize the wider Sahel.

Soldiers overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré in late March, saying his government had mishandled the Tuareg insurgency. The coup ended more than two decades of democratic rule and left a power vacuum that rebels exploited to capture Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu. The Malian army has struggled to respond, raising fears that the country could split.

The forces in the north 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 within Mali. Residents reported that Islamist fighters had ransacked bars, banned Western music and told people in Timbuktu to follow Islamic law. A junta negotiator said the MNLA was willing to discuss Mali’s future, but a rebel spokesman said the group had not held direct talks with the junta and did not recognize its leader.

West African governments, joined by the African Union, imposed sanctions after the junta failed to meet a deadline to restore civilian rule. The measures include border closures and a freeze on Mali’s account at the regional central bank. Junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo said the army would remain in power, while promising consultations on a transition body and elections in which the soldiers 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 transport and generators. Fuel shortages could disrupt irrigation and electricity during the hot season, when low water levels limit hydropower. The frozen account also raised doubts about the government’s ability to pay civil servants.

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

UNESCO has called for the protection of Timbuktu’s World Heritage sites, including its distinctive mud-and-wood mosques and cemeteries. The city also holds hundreds of thousands of historic manuscripts documenting centuries of scholarship in religion, science, mathematics and history. The takeover threatens access to those collections and efforts to preserve them.