7/29/2019 Malian military: In control of city of Timbuktu Houston Chronicle

1/2

Malian military: In control of city of Timbuktu Houston

Chronicle

SEVARE, Mali (AP) As French and Malian soldiers held control of the fabled desert city ofTimbuktu following the retreat of Islamist extremists, Tuareg fighters claimed Tuesday that they

control the strategic city of Kidal and other northern towns.

The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad the Tuareg groups name for northern

Mali appears to have taken advantage of a French-led bombing and ground campaign to

dislodge al- Qaida-linked Islamist fighters from Mali.

Phone lines were down in Kidal, making it difficult to independently confirm the groups claim.

The Tuareg movement said on their website that it was ready to work with French troops andfight terror organizations.

However, it said it would refuse to allow Malian soldiers in Kidal, and the other towns under its

control in northeastern Mali, following allegations that the troops killed civilians suspected of

having links to the Islamists.

It said it decided to retake these localities with all urgency to assure the security of the

belongings, and more particularly of people, because of the grave danger their lives faced with

the return of the Malian army, marching in the footsteps of the French army.

While the group known as NMLA was an important player in the early days of the Malian conflict

last April, it had been ousted from power in northern Mali by the al-Qaida-linked extremists

known as Ansar Dine.

Kidal is the last of the three provincial capitals across the north that had been under the grip of

the Islamists since last April. French and Malian forces retook Gao over the weekend, and

announced Monday that the Malians had entered the fabled city of Timbuktu.

The Malian military is in control of Timbuktu, Modibo Traore told The Associated Press on

Tuesday morning.

The French military operation began more than two weeks ago and has so far met little

resistance though experts warn it will be harder to hold on to the towns than it was to recapture

them from the Islamists.

Photos released by the French military showed throngs of jubilant residents greeting the arrival

of troops in the town, where Islamists whipped women for going outside without veils and

amputated the hand of a suspected thief.

There also was celebration among the thousands of Timbuktu residents who fled the city ratherthan live under strict and pitiless Islamic rule and the dire poverty that worsened after the tourist

1 / 2

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22al-Qaida%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Modibo+Traore%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22The+Associated+Press%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22The+Associated+Press%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Modibo+Traore%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22al-Qaida%22

7/29/2019 Malian military: In control of city of Timbuktu Houston Chronicle

2/2

industry was destroyed.

In the heart of people from northern Mali, its a relief freedom finally, said Cheick Sormoye,

a Timbuktu resident who fled to Bamako, the capital.

However, the mayor of Timbuktu said Islamists set fire to an institute housing irreplaceable

manuscripts before they fled the town.

Timbuktu has been home to some 20,000 irreplaceable manuscripts, some dating to the 12th

century. It was not immediately known how many were destroyed in the blaze that was set in

recent days in an act of vengeance by the Islamists before they withdrew.

Michael Covitt, chairman of the Malian Manuscript Foundation, called the arson a desecration

to humanity.

These manuscripts are irreplaceable. They have the wisdom of the ages and its the most

important find since the Dead Sea Scrolls, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Michelle Faul in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Source Article from

http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Malian-military-In-control-of-city-of-Timbuktu-4230957.

php

Malian military: In control of city of Timbuktu Houston Chronicle

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFd34ziSRXpeawwDExxCxbmrRdlO

w&url=http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Malian-military-In-control-of-city-of-Timbuktu-42

30957.php

https://news.google.com/news/feeds?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&topic=w&output=rssWorld Google News

Google News

https://ssl.gstatic.com/news/img/logo/en_us/news.gif

Waddywood.com Malian military: In control of city of Timbuktu Houston Chronicle

2 / 2

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Cheick+Sormoye%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Michael+Covitt%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Malian+Manuscript+Foundation%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Michelle+Faul%22http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Malian-military-In-control-of-city-of-Timbuktu-4230957.phphttp://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Malian-military-In-control-of-city-of-Timbuktu-4230957.phphttp://www.waddywood.com/malian-military-in-control-of-city-of-timbuktu-houston-chronicle/http://www.waddywood.com/malian-military-in-control-of-city-of-timbuktu-houston-chronicle/http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Malian-military-In-control-of-city-of-Timbuktu-4230957.phphttp://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Malian-military-In-control-of-city-of-Timbuktu-4230957.phphttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Michelle+Faul%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Malian+Manuscript+Foundation%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Michael+Covitt%22http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fworld&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Cheick+Sormoye%22