( CNN ) -- Separatist rebels who captured northern areas of Mali called a cease-fire starting Thursday , saying they had captured key territory and achieved their military mission . The Azawad National Liberation Movement ( MNLA ) said the rebels had captured enough of Mali 's vast Sahara region to put down their guns . The online statement said the MNLA `` decides unilaterally to proclaim an end to military operations as of Thursday , April 5 at midnight GMT . '' The Tuaregs consider the area , which they call Azawad , as the cradle of their nomadic civilization and launched an insurgency in January to achieve a separate homeland . The conflict has uprooted more than 200,000 people from their homes . Buoyed by the chaos after last month 's military coup that toppled the government , the rebels swept through the north with relative ease and wrested control of several strategic cities , including Kidal , Gao and Timbuktu . `` In all liberated regions , may it be in Kidal , Gao or Timbuktu , the MLNA today constitutes the sole authority providing security to the population , '' MNLA spokesman Mossa Ag Attaher told CNN affiliate BFM-TV . The rebels have effectively split the West African nation in two , and northern areas remain volatile and tense , preventing aid agencies from accessing displaced people , the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday . Thursday , the regional group , Economic Community of West African States , met in the Ivorian capital , Abidjan , to discuss military intervention in Mali . The MLNA , however , warned ECOWAS against the deployment of troops . Attaher told BFM-TV that the rebels have at least 3,000 fighters and any intervention `` would be a disaster . '' After the March 22 coup , Mali , long a shining example of democracy and stability in Africa , plunged into crisis . Amnesty International said northern Mali was teetering on the brink of disaster . Kidal , Gao and Timbuktu have experienced days of looting , abductions and chaos since they were occupied by armed groups late last week , the human rights group said . `` All the food and medicine stored by major aid agencies has been looted , and most of the aid workers have fled , '' said Gaetan Mootoo , Amnesty International 's researcher on West Africa . `` Women and girls particularly are too terrified to leave their homes . People are describing an atmosphere of near total lawlessness , '' Mootoo said . In Gao , water and electricity have been cut and the hospital looted , Amnesty reported . Shops are shuttered , and people are surviving on meager food supplies . `` Medicine has been stolen and the records of the patients destroyed , '' a doctor told Amnesty . `` In a few days , years of medical efforts and success have disappeared in the flames . '' The Algerian consul in Gao and six employees were forcibly taken from the consulate and are being held by unidentified groups , the Algerie Presse Service reported . `` The Algerian government is totally mobilized for their liberation as soon as possible , '' said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci . In Kidal , Ansar Dine , an Islamist faction of the secular MNLA , has asked women to wear veils and destroyed a nightclub , Amnesty said . Ansar Dine is intent in imposing Sharia , or Islamic law . In Timbuktu , Ansar Dine arrested and detained people accused of robbery and looting . Amnesty said it was concerned the group would mete out punishments in accordance with Sharia . `` The town is emptying out , '' a Timbuktu resident told Amnesty . `` People are going to the south or to Mauritania . They are using all means : by car , by motorbike or on the donkeys . '' Meanwhile in the capital , Bamako , military leaders who overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure because of his alleged inability to handle the Tuareg rebellion postponed plans Thursday for a national convention aimed at addressing political woes . The reason remained unclear . Military leaders had planned to invite political parties and civilian representatives to the convention , said Capt . Amadou Sanogo , the junta leader . The international community -- including West African states , the African Union and the United States -- has called for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule . The African Union and ECOWAS have also slapped the military junta with travel and economic restrictions and have frozen its assets . ECOWAS imposed a diplomatic and financial embargo , said Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara , who is chairman of the group . `` All diplomatic , economic , financial measures and others ... will not be lifted until the re-establishment of constitutional order , '' he said . Sanctions targeted the supporters and relatives of the military junta and all those involved in contributing to the `` destabilization '' of Mali , the African Union said . Under the sanctions , five neighboring nations will close their borders to landlocked Mali except for humanitarian purposes and deny the nation access to their ports , freeze its accounts in regional banks and suspend its participation in cultural and sporting events . Now , Mali has no no access to the sea , is heavily dependent on foreign aid and faces a future of uncertainty . CNN 's Moni Basu contributed to this report .
NEW : A rebel spokesman says outside military intervention would be a `` disaster '' One of the armed groups wants to establish Islamic law . The rebels capitalized on the chaos created by a recent coup that overthrew the president . Mali , once a beacon of stability , is in the throes of crisis .