The hot Saharan wind blows up pillars of sand in empty alleys, providing vivid evidence of the scale of the exodus provoked by AQIM's rule. The task of restoring normality has barely begun. There is no electricity and only a few hours of water every day. Shops and banks are closed, petrol is in short supply and scarcely any cars move. At night, the streets fall into the blacked-out silence of a city that still cannot be sure whether its ordeal is really over.