I was happy to see my family and know they were safe, but the town was not the lively place I had known. Buildings were looted and damaged during the rebel takeover. Banks were closed. Many aid organizations have stopped working. The city felt empty.

At the same time, the Islamist rebel group implemented welfare programs to try to win over the population. They distributed food to the needy, eliminated costly municipal and import taxes and offered free health care at the public hospital, not insignificant measures in a remote desert outpost hundreds of miles from the nearest metropolis.

A large percentage of Timbuktu’s population of 54,000 had fled, but the hospital was doing a brisk business, drawing patients from surrounding areas.

“My two children were suffering from malaria. The doctors saw them and gave me the medicine for free. Now my children have been cured,’’ said Fady Yattara, who traveled 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the town of Dire with her two daughters. They were hospitalized for a week.

Ansar Dine is also investing in the hospital’s upkeep, attending to details the Malian government frequently ignored.

“Ansar Dine is taking care of the maintenance of the hospital’s generator and is providing the diesel to run it. So even when there’s a power cut in the city, the hospital can continue to function. They even changed the air conditioners that were broken in some of the rooms,’’ said Seydou Bassaloum, a hospital supervisor.

At the main market, merchants said they no longer pay taxes on imported merchandise.

“I’m happy with Ansar Dine because since they are here, I no longer pay taxes and the customs officers no longer bother me,’’ said Mokhtar Ould Sidi, who sells flour imported from Algeria. “The downside is I don’t have any customers since most of the population has left town.’’