Editing Azawad (section)

===Humanitarian situation===
The people living in the central and northern [[Sahel]]ian and Sahelo-Saharan areas of Mali are the country's poorest, according to an [[International Fund for Agricultural Development]] report. Most are [[pastoralism|pastoralists]] and farmers practicing [[subsistence agriculture]] on dry land with poor and increasingly [[land degradation|degraded soils]].<ref name="IBT">{{Citation|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/327373/20120412/mali-tuaregs-azawad-civil-war-separatist-poverty.htm|first=Palash R.|last=Ghosh|title=Azawad: The Tuaregs' Nonexistent State in a Desolate, Poverty-Stricken Wasteland|newspaper=International Business Times|date=12 April 2012}}</ref> The northern part of Mali suffers from a critical [[famine|shortage of food]] and lack of [[health care]]. Starvation has prompted about 200,000 inhabitants to leave the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1093/in2.htm |first=Gamal |last=Nkrumah |title=Saharan quicksand |work=Al-Ahram Weekly Online |date=12–18 April 2012 |access-date=13 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412210848/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1093/in2.htm |archive-date=12 April 2012}}</ref>

Refugees in the 92,000-person refugee camp at [[Mbera]],<ref>[https://reliefweb.int/map/mauritania/mbera-refugee-camp-bassikounou-south-eastern-mauritania-8-dec-2015 Mbera Refugee Camp], [[Bassikounou]], South-Eastern Mauritania (8 Dec 2015)</ref> [[Mauritania]], described the Islamists as "intent on imposing an Islam of lash and gun on Malian Muslims." The Islamists in Timbuktu have destroyed about a half-dozen historic above-ground tombs of revered holy men, proclaiming the tombs contrary to [[Shariah]]. One refugee in the camp spoke of encountering [[Afghan people|Afghans]], Pakistanis and Nigerians among the invading forces.<ref name=NYT187>{{cite news|last=Nossiter|first=Adam|title=Jihadists' Fierce Justice Drives Thousands to Flee Mali|newspaper=The New York Times|date=18 July 2012}}</ref>