KingJaJa,

Yes the 'fall' of Timbucktu has been reported by the BBC: Newshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17576725

You added:
What are the implications?
Typing aloud then I would suggest these:

a) the impact within Mali on the new regime - nearly 500 miles away - and how much Mali and the people think the city is worth
b) will the reported dtente between the rebels and local Arabs hold?
c) the impact on the calculus of ECOWAS on imposing sanctions and possibly intervention. Will petrol supplies be cut-off notably; no fuel, no combat.
d) the impact of such a 'fall' of a city once having a mythological status well beyond the region, notably with Algeria, France and the USA - in that order
e) can the 'rebels' actually administer the Tuareg region, including towns and without some of the extremism associated with AQIM?
f) an ECOWAS intervention leads to an effective partition, I doubt the coalition - even with external support - will seek combat in the north.

All from my faraway "armchair". Helped by this BBC analysis Is Mali's coup doomed?:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17573294