In brief: Islamic rebels proclaim sharia law

Bamako, Mali – Mali’s crisis deepened Wednesday, as officials in the fabled northern city of Timbuktu confirmed that the Islamic rebel faction that seized control of the town over the weekend has announced it will impose sharia law.

Rebels in the country’s distant north have taken advantage of the power vacuum created last month when renegade soldiers in the capital of Bamako overthrew the nation’s democratically elected leader. In the chaos that followed the March 21 coup, they advanced on strategic towns in the north, including the ancient city of Timbuktu, located over 620 miles from the capital.

The ethnic Tuareg rebels included a secular faction fighting for independence, and an Islamic wing, Ansar Dine, whose reclusive leader called a meeting of all the imams in the city on Tuesday to make his announcement.

“He had the meeting to make his message to the people known, that sharia law is now going to be applied,” said Timbuktu Mayor Ousmane Halle, who was reached by telephone.

“Things are going to heat up here. Our women are not going to wear the veil just like that,” the mayor said.

U.S. diplomat to Myanmar planned

Washington – The Obama administration said Wednesday that it would soon nominate an ambassador to Myanmar and ease some travel and financial restrictions on the formerly military-run Southeast Asian nation following historic elections that saw opposition gains in parliament.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the steps at the State Department, calling Sunday’s election a “dramatic demonstration of popular will that brings a new generation of reformers into government” that deserved recognition.

“This is an important step in the country’s transformation,” she said, congratulating both government reformers and Nobel peace laureate and newly elected member of parliament Aung San Suu Kyi.

In addition to nominating an ambassador, the first the U.S. will have in the nation since it downgraded relations in 1988, Clinton said Washington would allow select senior Myanmar officials to visit the United States and ease restrictions on the export of financial services. The U.S. will also open an office of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Myanmar.