Mali’s “Tuareg rebels” declared independence Friday in the north, splitting the coup-wracked country in two, as warnings rang out of a humanitarian disaster.

Mali's “Tuareg rebels” declared independence Friday in the north, splitting the coup-wracked country in two, as warnings rang out of a humanitarian disaster.

Alarmed by the sudden collapse of the West African nation, now divided into a rebel-controlled north and junta-controlled south two weeks after a coup, the international community grappled for a response, and humanitarian groups warned of a looming catastrophe as hundreds of thousands of people flee the unrest and rebels loot food and medicine supplies across an arid region already facing food shortages.

The Tuareg rebels early Friday declared the independence of Mali's north, a desert homeland they call Azawad for which they had been waging rebellions over decades, this latest one fuelled by a hemorrhaging of weapons from Libya following Moammar Gaddafi's downfall.

"We solemnly proclaim the independence of Azawad as from today," Spokesman for Mali's National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) Mossa Ag Attaher said on France 24 television, confirming a statement on the group's website.

He added that the group would respect "the borders with other states" and would halt all military operations.