The announcement, from Ansar Dine and the Tuareg MNLA group, came as the country's interim president remained in a Paris hotel recovering from an assault in his private office last week.
Diplomats and Mali's neighbours fear that the country, once a beacon for democratic stability in West Africa, is poised to plunge further into crisis following a coup two months ago.
The "declaration of independence" for the northern half of Mali, Africa's sixth-largest country, came late on Saturday.
Timbuktu, the history trading centre and seat of Tuareg learning, now lies in the disputed territory, to be known as Azawad, which is almost the size of France. » | Mike Pflanz, West Africa Correspondent | Sunday, May 27, 2012
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