Malians lined up outside gas stations holding jerrycans, water bottles and plastic jugs, as the landlocked West African nation braced itself Tuesday for sanctions imposed overnight as a consequence of a coup last month. 
 
 In an effort to force out the soldiers that seized control of the country on March 21, Mali's neighbors decided at an emergency summit Monday to impose an embargo, shutting their borders and freezing its account at the regional central bank. The nation roughly twice the size of France imports all its fuel, which is trucked in overland from neighboring Ivory Coast and Senegal, both located on Africa's Atlantic Coast. 
 
 The country's electricity grid is also expected to falter in coming weeks. April is one of the hottest months of the year in the country located on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, and the nation's hydropower system is unable to carry the load because of low water levels. Fuel is used in the hot months to run diesel generators. 
 
 Mali's president was sent into hiding when a group of disgruntled soldiers started a mutiny at a military base located around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the presidential palace. From the base, they decided to march on the palace. In a matter of hours, they succeeded in reversing more than two decades of democracy. 
 
 The Economic Community of West African States, representing 15 nations in the region, has been uncharacteristically harsh in their condemnation of the coup. They gave the putschists a 72-hour deadline to restore civilian rule, which expired Monday. When the junta failed to do so, they announced that sanctions would go into effect immediately. 
 
 Bathily Seye, the owner of a local chain of gas stations called Afrique Oil, said that if no new shipments are allowed in, his 15 pumps will run dry in days. 
 
 "We don't have our own gas. It's all imported," he said. "There is absolutely nothing here. We don't have any refining capacity. ... I don't have the stock. In two days, my pumps will run out of gas." 
 
 At a Shell pump in downtown Bamako, the line of cars was so long Tuesday that the vehicles were idling on the highway leading to the station. At the front of the queue, farm employee Baba Kounta had climbed into the back of his minibus, where he was filling 12 20-liter jerrycans. He said he needs the gas to power the generators that run the irrigation system at the orange farm outside Bamako where he works. 
 
 "We don't have a choice. We're obliged to make provisions," said Kounta, as he watched the gauge on the pump race past 73,700 francs (around $147). "In the hot season, the generator eats 40 liters (more than 10 gallons) per day." 
 
 Waiting his turn behind the minibus was 50-year-old computer tech Nouhoum Kamate, who was sitting in the suffocating heat of his unventilated old-model Mercedes. A government employee, he had come to the gas station with his March paycheck. It's unclear if the junta will be able to pay civil servants in April because the country's bank account is now frozen. 
 
 "I got my salary this past month, but next month? I don't think we will get to that point," said Kamate. "I think we will find a solution. They can't do this embargo forever." 
 
 The soldiers who grabbed power said they did so because of the former president's mishandling of an insurgency in the north by Tuareg rebels. Since the coup, however, the rebels have effectively seized control of the entire northern half of the nation, taking the three major towns of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu over the weekend. 
 
 A former minister, Mohamed Ag Erlaf, identified himself as the chief negotiator for Mali's junta and said the main rebel group that seized the north is willing to hold talks on the future of the country. Reached by telephone, Erlaf said Tuesday that the rebel National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad is open to discussions. 
 
 However, an NMLA spokesman in Paris told France 24 TV late Monday that the rebels have had no direct contact with the junta which toppled Mali's government. Moussa Ag Attaher said they do not recognize coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo. 
 
 He said: "Neither the international community nor the population of Mali recognize him. If we are to negotiate, it needs to be with someone that is recognized." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul contributed to this report from Niamey, Niger. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Timbuktu's mud and wood architecture is unique 
 
 The fighting in northern Mali could damage the World Heritage Site of Timbuktu, the UN's cultural agency Unesco has warned. 
 
 Timbuktu's "outstanding architectural wonders" must be safeguarded, it said. 
 
 Separatist Tuareg rebels joined forces with Islamist fighters to take the town on Sunday, and residents have told the BBC that Islamic law is being imposed. 
 
 The African Union has joined West African nations in imposing sanctions on Mali after a recent coup. 
 
 Meanwhile, representatives from the new military leadership are in Nigeria for talks with the authorities. 
 
 The military junta overthrew Mali's government nearly two weeks ago, saying the campaign against the recent Tuareg rebellion had been poorly run. 
 
 Junta head Capt Amadou Sanogo has said the army is not leaving power, but has promised to consult local political forces to set up a transition body "with the aim of organising peaceful, free, open and democratic elections in which we will not take part". 
 
 'Bars ransacked' 
 
 Correspondents say long lines have formed at petrol stations in the capital, Bamako, in response to sanctions. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Timbuktu mayor Halle Cisse: "We don't know who's in charge" 
 
 A farmer, who was filling up 15 jerry cans with diesel, told the BBC that he was worried about not being able to irrigate his crops with a generator once fuel reserves run out. 
 
 Landlocked Mali has to import all its fuel - and reporters say the country will struggle to survive an economic blockade. 
 
 But the Tuareg rebels have taken advantage of the political situation and made rapid advances in the past few days - and now control of a third of the West African country, including the key northern towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu. 
 
 Timbuktu's literary patrimony... reveals a continent with an immensely rich literary and scientific heritage Writer Lydia Syson Why do we know Timbuktu? 
 
 The rebels are divided into two groups - the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which wants independence for the northern Tuareg homelands, while Ansar Dine, which is linked to the North African branch of al-Qaeda, wants to remain part of Mali but impose Sharia. 
 
 Residents in Gao and Kidal told the BBC that Islamist fighters have ransacked bars serving alcohol and banned Western music on local airwaves. 
 
 In Timbuktu, people told the BBC that Ansar Dine members are going from door-to-door telling occupants that they now have to live by the principles of Islamic law. 
 
 The BBC's Alou Diawara in the capital, Bamako, says some civilians are fleeing the central town of Mopti, fearing a rebel advance further south. 
 
 According to the UN refugee agency, since January the violence has uprooted more than 200,000 people, including around 100,000 who have fled the country. 
 
 Tourist attraction 
 
 Timbuktu - on the edge of the Sahara desert - is littered with impressive architecture, using mud and wood in a unique style. 
 
 Structures include the great mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia and 16 cemeteries. 
 
 "They are essential to the preservation of the identity of the people of Mali and of our universal heritage," Unesco head Irina Bokova said, calling on all parties to fulfil international obligations to safeguard heritage in times of war. 
 
 Once an important centre of Islamic study, Timbuktu is home to about 700,000 ancient manuscripts, held in approximately 60 private libraries. 
 
 "At its zenith in the middle of the 15th Century Timbuktu was known all over the world as a repository for all sorts of knowledge, including Arabic Islamic writing, science, maths and history," Lydia Syson, an expert on Mali, told the BBC. 
 
 Today, Timbuktu is poor and parts of it are sinking under the encroaching desert sands. 
 
 Nevertheless, in recent years a lot of money has been invested in trying to preserve Timbuktu's manuscripts, some of which have already been destroyed. 
 
 Many collections have been digitised and local scholars trained in how to interpret the literary treasures, most of which are family collections that have been handed down from generation to generation. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Ancient family manuscripts have been handed down from generation to generation 
 
 The rebel takeover could disrupt these efforts and prevent access to the manuscripts. 
 
 "What is so important about Timbuktu's literary patrimony is that it is a challenge to Western ideas that Africa is a land of song and dance and oral tradition," Ms Syson said. 
 
 "It reveals a continent with an immensely rich literary and scientific heritage," she said. 
 
 The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in Mali later on Tuesday. 
 
 The coup and Tuareg rebellion have exacerbated a humanitarian crisis in Mali and some neighbouring countries, with aid agencies warning that 13 million people need food aid following a drought in the region. ||||| A boy displaced by inter-communal violence in the country walks past a vendor in a camp for displaced persons at Bangui M'Poko International Airport February 11, 2014. 
 
 BANGUI An exodus of Muslim traders fleeing attacks by Christian militia in Central African Republic has pushed food markets there to the brink of collapse, threatening the nation with even deeper crisis. 
 
 The United Nations estimates that 1.3 million people - more than a quarter of the population - are already in need of urgent food aid after months of communal violence that French and African peacekeepers have been unable to stop. 
 
 The poor, landlocked country descended into chaos after the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in March. Looting, rape and murder followed, bringing international pressure that saw Seleka leader Michel Djotodia resign last month. That in turn has been followed by Christian militia attacks on Muslims. 
 
 Tens of thousands of terrified Muslims have fled the capital Bangui in recent months, many of them involved in trade with neighboring countries that once kept the city of 800,000 supplied with staples like sugar, flour, fuel and soap. 
 
 In the market of Petevo, close to the banks of the Oubangui river in the south of the city, dozens of dusty stalls stand empty and meat is scarce since the Muslim traders who control the trade in cattle from Chad deserted the city. Only small amounts of pork, from pigs raised locally, are available. 
 
 "We are very worried because if these shortages last longer there will nothing left in the market and a lot more people will die of hunger," said Nadege Kodo, a woman dressed in colorful traditional robes who was searching for supplies. 
 
 With nine out of 10 people eating just once a day, according to the United Nations, the country is in dire need. 
 
 Trucking routes from Cameroon have shut as machete- and gun-wielding Christian militiamen prowl the countryside, slaughtering Muslims. As Muslims do most of the driving jobs, hundreds of trucks are stranded at the border. 
 
 According to a survey by Oxfam and Action Contre la Faim, supplies of staples to Bangui come from some 40 wholesalers who import provisions. Fewer than 10 of these wholesalers remain and they threaten to leave soon if security does not improve. 
 
 "There's already a very serious food crisis in Central African Republic," said Steve Cockburn, Oxfam's regional campaigns manager. "The problem is that the situation is going to get much, much worse. 
 
 "Unless communities are better protected, more populations, more traders, more herders will leave the country and there'll be a breakdown in supply in Bangui and beyond." 
 
 KILLINGS 
 
 On the dusty streets of the capital, a spate of daylight attacks on Muslims over the past week, including one by uniformed members of the armed forces, has raised alarm. On Sunday, a member of the transitional parliament was shot dead a day after calling for Christian militias to be disarmed. 
 
 Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said it treated 100 patients for bullet and machete wounds last week at a sprawling camp beside Bangui airport, home to 100,000 homeless people. 
 
 "People are coming in without noses, ears, nipples," said Lindis Hurum, MSF's departing project coordinator at the camp. "One guy came in holding his head to keep it from falling as he was cut with an axe on each side of the neck." 
 
 The International Criminal Court said on Friday it would open a preliminary enquiry into possible war crimes. The United Nations say that more than 2,000 people have been killed and more than 800,000 displaced - half of them in Bangui. 
 
 More than 245,000 Central Africans and 30,000 citizens of other nations have already fled the country. With the planting season only a month away and most farmers without access to seed, donors worry the food crisis will worsen. 
 
 The cost of what little food remains in the capital has soared. The price of manioc, a staple, has risen by 20 per cent since November, while beef has more than doubled in price as cattle farmers have fled to the bush. 
 
 "I have to travel 150 km (95 miles) to find meat now," said Patrick Blossangar, head of the butchers association at the market in Bangui's Combatant district. The price of cattle has more than doubled, to about $1,600 a head from $600. 
 
 The insecurity is also affecting humanitarian aid. 
 
 The World Food Programme has 27 trucks carrying rice and maize flour stranded at the Cameroon border, with their drivers unwilling to proceed, said WFP's Alexis Masciarelli. 
 
 Now, the U.N. agency plans to airlift 90 tonnes of food per day from Cameroon over the next month - at five times the cost of trucking: "We have no other options," Masciarelli said. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Misha Hussein for the Thomson Reuters Foundation; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
– Since we last checked in, the situation in Mali following a soldiers' coup has spiraled, with rising concerns over food and gas shortages, violence, and indeed the country's "very existence," according to Le Monde. An update: The coup has driven more than 200,000 people from their homes to other parts of the region, the AP reports. The UN worries that major food shortages could be imminent, and "mayhem in these towns and cities is increasing," says a rep. Neighboring countries have established an embargo against the rebels who ousted the president; they've closed off their borders and frozen the country's regional bank account. That has prompted residents of Mali, which imports all its fuel, to rush to gas stations to collect fuel. The country's electricity grid may also be headed for failure. UNESCO is citing a threat to Timbuktu, a World Heritage Site full of "architectural wonders," notes the BBC. Mosques there are "essential to the preservation of the identity of the people of Mali," says the group. Yet "nothing seems to be able to stop" the Tuareg coup, Le Monde reports. West African leaders need to help Mali's military fight back before the instability spreads beyond the country's borders.