LAGOS: In what has many citizens in the now conflict-torn Mali concerned are a group of Islamic fighters alongside the Tuareg rebels in Northern Mali would are attempting to impose an ultra-conservative version of Sharia, or Islamic law, in Timbuktu. Residents from the city told Bikyamasr.com on Tuesday evening that the “attackers are telling women to put on the veil, and that they will deal with things ‘as the Book [Qur'an] tells us to deal' and we are all scared.” Witnesses also said that the Ansar Dine faction has called for an end to international music and women must wear long skirts and dresses. Trousers have been banned. Ansar Dine is an Islamic movement that has been fighting for the independence of northern Mali alongside the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). According to the UNHCR, Malian refugees have been crossing into Burkina Faso and Mauritania at an average rate of 400 people per day in the last few days. “Malians fleeing to Mauritania are mainly from the Timbuktu region, while those heading to Burkina Faso come from both Gao and Timbuktu,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. “Most tell UNHCR staff that they fled because they were worried about armed robbers and feared there would be more heavy fighting in the north, while some said they left their homes due to lack of food,” the statement said. Timbuktu was the last town in a string of three to be won at the weekend by the rebels, who want to liberate the region they call Azawad. It stretches from Mali's borders with Algeria and Niger down to the Niger River, a few kilometers outside Timbuktu.
