While neighboring states put pressure on the army officers who recently unseated Mali's democratically elected government, a separate insurrection grew stronger. Ethnic Tuareg rebels seized the historic city of Timbuktu, a UNESCO world heritage site, effectively wresting much of the country's north out of government control. Reports indicate the insurgency there is backed by Islamist guerrillas possibly linked to al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, Mali's neighbors imposed financial sanctions on the military junta and barred the transit of all nonhumani-tarian goods across Mali's borders.
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