A Visit to Gao, Northern Mali's Largest City

Refugees fleeing Gao. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Amadou Cisse, of the Liberation Front in Northern Mali. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Two Gao women residents on a motorcycle. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

A school for the blind in Gao. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Jobless people in Gao. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Citizens playing soccer, which is forbidden in the country. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

A local office of EcoBank. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Inside a church destroyed by Islamists. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

On a scooter: Nafissatou Maiga, a teacher from Menaka now stuck in Gao. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Gao's soccer (football) field. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

A man whose hand was amputated under Sharia law. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Azawad’s flag. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Hawa Doumbia, a trader. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

The house of a leader of MUJWA. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

The Niger river. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

Obama stickers on motorcycles in Gao. (Idriss Fall/VOA)

A ransacked restaurant. (Idriss Fall/VOA)