Crowds flock to see religious wall sign

Thousands of people in Mali's capital, Bamako, are flocking to see what it believed to a religious sign on a wall that suddenly appeared last weekend. Many believe the white image on the outside wall of a toilet shows a man praying, interpreting it as a message from God.



Riot police have been deployed to keep an eye on the crowd as people queue day and night to see the mark. Most southern Malians are Tijani Muslims, a moderate sect of Sufi Islam. ''We believe it is a vision of our prophet,'' Aliou Traore, who lives in the compound, said.



''People have come from Senegal to see it and several Malian government ministers and religious leaders have paid us a visit,'' he said. Mr Traore said the mark has been changing shape since it first appeared. "Sometimes the white apparition leaves the wall altogether and moves around the compound. Then it goes back,'' he said.



People do not have to pay to see the mark, which has the appearance of a drying patch of cement in the shape of a standing woman, but are leaving money in a bucket, which the Traore family say they will give to the local mosque. "It's a miracle, I've seen it," schoolteacher Aboubakar Diarra said after looking at the wall. " It's obviously true. It's a sign from God to Mali that our nation is great." Followers of Tijani sect, who are mostly found in West Africa, are known for respecting "miracle" signs.