History of Timbuktu Malian military. On 3 April 2012, the BBC News reported that the Islamist rebel group Ansar Dine had started implementing its version of "sharia" in Timbuktu. That day, ag Ghaly gave a radio interview in Timbuktu announcing that Sharia law would be enforced in the city, including the veiling of women, the stoning of adulterers, and the punitive mutilation of thieves. According to Timbuktu's mayor, the announcement caused nearly all of Timbuktu's Christian population to flee the city. The MNLA declared the independence of Azawad, containing Timbuktu, from Mali on 6 April 2012, but was rapidly pushed aside by Islamist
Timbuktu situated in Timbuktu, Donald Duck uses the city as a safe haven, and in the 1970 Disney animated feature "The Aristocats", Edgar, the butler villain of the story, threatens Thomas O'Malley, Duchess, Marie, and Berlioz with being sent to Timbuktu only for Thomas O'Malley's friends to rescue them and send Edgar there instead. It is mistakenly noted to be in French Equatorial Africa, instead of French West Africa. Ali Farka Touré inverted the stereotype: "For some people, when you say 'Timbuktu' it is like the end of the world, but that is not true. I am from Timbuktu, and I