Timbuktu and kidnapping three others. This was the first terrorist incident in Timbuktu itself. On 1 April 2012, one day after the capture of Gao, Timbuktu was captured from the Malian military by the Tuareg rebels of the MNLA and Ansar Dine. Five days later, the MNLA declared the region independent of Mali as the nation of Azawad. The declared political entity was not recognized by any regional nations or the international community and it collapsed three months later on 12 July. On 28 January 2013, French and Malian government troops began retaking Timbuktu from the Islamist rebels. The force of
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is one of Aesop's Fables. It is number 352 in the Perry Index and type 112 in Aarne–Thompson's folk tale index. Like several other elements in Aesop's fables, 'town mouse and country mouse' has become an English idiom. In the original tale, a proud town mouse visits his cousin in the country. The country mouse offers the city mouse a meal of simple country cuisine, at which the visitor scoffs and invites the country mouse back to the city for a taste of the "fine life"