UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. secretary-general called Wednesday on the Security Council to sanction extremists who have taken over northern Mali, and he warned of worsening security and humanitarian crises in the African country.

Ban Ki-Moon asked the council to consider financial and travel sanctions on rebels and Islamist fighters, including several allied with al-Qaida. Since June, Islamists have taken over Mali’s largely desert north and imposed Shariah law, recently stoning an adulterous couple to death.