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A security vacuum in the Sahel has left Timbuktu blockaded by Islamist militants

NPR | By Emmanuel Akinwotu
Published October 5, 2023 at 3:10 PM MDT
Workers in front of the doors of a revered 15th-century mosque in 2016. The doors were hacked apart by jihadists in Mali's ancient city of Timbuktu in 2012 and now unveiled restored to their former glory. Now the city is under siege again.
Sebastien Rieussec
/
AFP via Getty Images
Workers in front of the doors of a revered 15th-century mosque in 2016. The doors were hacked apart by jihadists in Mali's ancient city of Timbuktu in 2012 and now unveiled restored to their former glory. Now the city is under siege again.

The ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali is suffering under a months-long blockade by Islamist militants, as instability grows in a region of the Sahel in West Africa.

Mamadou Tapily contributed reporting from Timbuktu, Mali.

Copyright 2026 NPR
Emmanuel Akinwotu
Emmanuel Akinwotu is an international correspondent for NPR.