Fighting between the Malian army, the Tuareg movement and other armed
groups is forcing thousands of people to flee Mali to neighbouring
countries including Mauritania
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| Islamist rebels pictured near Timbuktu, in
rebel-held northern Mali. In April rebels from the National Movement for
the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared Azawad as an independent state |
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| Fighters from Islamist group Ansar Dine. Two main
groups now appear to be competing to govern northern Mali: Ansar Dine,
which wants to see sharia law brought to Mali, and the National Movement
for the Liberation of Azawad, who have already declared an independent
state |
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| Fighters from Ansar Dine stand guard during the
handover of a Swiss hostage who was about to be taken by helicopter to
neighbouring Burkina Faso |
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| Malian troops who carried out a coup in March
guard a street after renewed fighting in the capital, Bamako. Forces
battled troops loyal to ousted president, Amadou Toumani Touré |
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| A fighter from the Ansar Dine group makes a gesture |
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| Malian citizens protest as leaders attend the
Economic Community of West African States meeting in Abidjan, Ivory
Coast, at which the Mali crisis and Guinea-Bissau coup were discussed |
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| Malian refugees at the M'bere refugee camp, near
Bassiknou in southern Mauritania, 37 miles from the border with Mali.
Conflict between Tuareg rebels and Mali authorities has been ongoing
since January sparking a growing humanitarian crisis |
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| A Malian refugee holds her baby in the M'bere
refugee camp near Bassiknou. More than 320,000 people have fled their
homes in Mali since mid-January, with more than half seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries |
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| A young girl in the M'bere refugee camp.
Humanitarian assistance is all the more critical because the Sahel
region is facing a severe food crisis after several years of drought |
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| A malnurished Malian child is weighed at the Médecins Sans Frontières medical centre in the M'bere refugee camp |
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| A Malian child and his parents wait to be treated at M'bere refugee camp |
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| Malian refugees set up a tent in the M'bere refugee camp, which receives an average of 1,000 refugees a day |
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| Refugees stand at a water distribution point in the camp |
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| Ibrahim Boubakr, a Malian refugee, arrives with family members at the M'bere camp |
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| A sick child lays on a cart as she waits to be
treated. Médecins Sans Frontières is bolstering its activities and
emergency medical aid in the desert area, where access to medical care
is extremely limited |
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| A woman tends to a malnurished child at the
Medecins sans Frontires medical centre. Refugees are primarily Tuareg
families from the Timbuktu region. They arrive here exhausted after a
two-day journey by truck |
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| A Malian refugee shouts for water at a
distribution point in the M'bere refugee camp. A great number of people
are suffering from respiratory infections and diarrhea owing to a lack
of access to water, exposure to extreme temperatures, and frequent sand
storms, according to MSF's medical co-ordinator Jean-Paul Jemmy |
