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 Manuscripts receiving no more funds from the South African government. A book about Timbuktu, published in 2008, contains a chapter with some discussions of a few of the texts. Digital images of thirty-two manuscripts from the private Mamma Haïdara Library are available from the United States Library of Congress; a subset of these are also accessible from the United Nations' World Digital Library website. A movie about the Timbuktu Manuscript Project, "The Ancient Astronomers of Timbuktu", was released in 2009, with funding from the Ford Foundation and Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. Also in 2009, the French/German cultural TV channel ARTE produced a