Mali faces a political, humanitarian and cultural crisis after soldiers overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré in a late-March coup. The junta said it acted because the government had mishandled a Tuareg rebellion in the north. The resulting power vacuum, however, enabled rebels to advance rapidly and seize the major northern towns of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu, raising fears that the country could be divided.

The rebel forces have different aims. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) seeks an independent Tuareg homeland called Azawad. Ansar Dine, an Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda’s North African branch, wants to impose Islamic law while keeping the territory within Mali. Residents reported that Islamist fighters had ransacked bars, banned Western music from local radio and told people in Timbuktu to follow Islamic law. Some civilians were fleeing Mopti, farther south, for fear of a rebel advance.

West African leaders, concerned about Mali’s collapse and its consequences for the wider Sahel, demanded a return to civilian rule. After the junta missed a 72-hour deadline, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States imposed sanctions, closing borders and freezing Mali’s account at the regional central bank. The African Union also imposed sanctions. Junta leader Capt. Amadou Sanogo said the army would remain in power while consulting political groups about a transition body and eventual 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 people stocked up for vehicles and generators, including those used for farm irrigation. Fuel shortages could also disrupt electricity supplies during the hot season, when low water levels limit hydropower, while the frozen bank account raised doubts about payment of civil servants. Accounts differed on prospects for talks: a junta representative said the MNLA was open to discussions, but an MNLA spokesman said the group had no direct contact with the junta and did not recognize Sanogo.

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; aid agencies warned that 13 million people needed food assistance.

UNESCO warned that fighting threatens Timbuktu’s World Heritage sites, including its distinctive mud-and-wood mosques and cemeteries. The city also holds some 700,000 ancient manuscripts documenting centuries of scholarship in religion, science, mathematics and history. The takeover could disrupt preservation work and access to these collections. The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting as regional leaders sought international support.