Islamist rebels controlling northern Mali since April have resumed the destruction of mausoleums in the historic city of Timbuktu just days after the UN Security Council approved sending an African-led force to the country to recapture the rebel-held areas, media reports citing officials said late Sunday.
Media reports indicated that Islamists destroyed four mausoleums in Timbuktu on Sunday using pickaxes. One of the Islamist groups controlling northern Mali, Ansar Dine, has threatened to bring down the remaining mausoleums in the coming days.
Notably, Timbuktu, which was a centre of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th centuries, houses several centuries-old shrines to Islamic saints revered by Sufi Muslims. The mausoleums, or sacred tombs, are part of a UN World Heritage site.
The Islamists consider such tombs to be "idolatrous," insisting that Islam bars building on graves and veneration of saints. They began destroying the mausoleums earlier this year after taking control of most of northern Mali, including Timbuktu, amidst the chaos triggered by a coup in the north African nation.
In July, the UN Security Council (UNSC) had called for identifying and imposing sanctions and other punitive measures on Ansar Dine fighters responsible for the destruction of several mausoleums and other sacred sites in Timbuktu.
The UN move, which came after the group destroyed six mausoleums, including of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya -- in the cemetery at the 14th-Century Djingareyber mosque, had temporarily halted the destruction of the world heritage sites.
Mali had witnessed a coup in March, triggered by discontent among a large section of the military over the government's failure to address demands for better supplies and arms to tackle the Tuareg uprising in the North. The coup leaders later agreed to return power to a civilian interim government led by President Dioncounda Traore, following a deal with ECOWAS in exchange for lifting sanctions against the military junta.
Nevertheless, Mali's Tuareg rebels captured a large portion of northern Mali late March with the support of Ansar Dine and two other extremist Islamist groups, namely Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).
The Islamists later fell out with the Tuareg rebels and consolidated their control over northern Mali. They have since established themselves in northern Mali and are currently enforcing Islamic law across the region. The conflict has forced more than 400,000 people to flee northern Mali.
The latest developments come two days after the UN Security Council gave an initial one-year mandate to an African-led military mission in Mali, and authorized the intervention force to use "all necessary measures, in compliance with applicable international humanitarian law and human rights law," to help Mali retake its northern regions from "terrorist, extremist and armed groups."
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has readied a 3,300-strong African intervention force, to be known as AFISMA, for deployment in Mali for ousting the armed rebels from its northern region. Despite the UNSC approval, the deployment of such a force in Mali is not expected to take place before September 2013.
The West African bloc has also succeeded in convincing two rebel groups, namely the Islamist Ansar Dine and the Tuareg Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), to open peace negotiations with Mali's government.
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December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.