In 2006, the Libyan leader made himself an Imam of Timbuktu during Mouloud, the celebration of the Prophet Mohammed's birthday which draws thousands of pilgrims to a famed mosque in the northwestern desert city.

He then paid for hundreds of Africans, including heads of state, to come to Timbuktu on Libyan aircraft and pray with him in a stadium of the town he publically declared his favourite.

This Qadhafi-esque ostentation is a thing of the past as the embattled leader is bombarded daily by NATO forces in Tripoli, mandated to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians in a four-month popular uprising against his regime.

Qadhafi's residence stretches over several hectares in the north of the desert town, once a renowned intellectual and religious centre during the 15th and 16th centuries, helping to spread Islam throughout Africa.

A small rubbish dump has built up outside the main entrance of his estate.

"We will remove the rubbish tomorrow. Since Qadhafi's problems, three Libyans who kept watch over his property have left," explains a guard who quickly scuttles off when he learns he is speaking to a journalist.

Through a screen, the dusty interior is visible as hundreds of date palms, flown in specially from Libya, and eucalyptus trees wilt in the heat. A large motor-pump in the middle of the poorly-maintained lawn obviously long out of commission.

Before disappearing the menacing guard orders AFP to see "the Libyan boss" for any information about Qadhafi's regime in Timbuktu. He is staying in a Libyan-owned hotel which has cost millions of euros and is still not complete.

An envoy sent by Qadhafi to oversee the contruction disappeared as soon as he heard his leader was in trouble, several sources said.

"The Libyan people will win. I am part of the team which watches over Libyan interests in Timbuktu," says the mustachioed "boss" at the half-built hotel.

A major retailer in the city, speaking on condition of anonymity, is not a fan of the Libyan leader.

"Qadhafi is a megalomaniac. When his corrupt entourage come here you always have to give them false invoices."

Another one of Qadhafi's projects, a water canal completed in 2007 and meant to divert water from the Niger river to Timbuktu, is dry and silted up.

"Now that Qadhafi has problems, the canal risks having problems too," says a concerned Mohamed Iddi, member of the Timbuktu Association of Young Muslims.

He says he feels the absence of the Libyan leader in his wallet.

"Here in Timbuktu, there are dozens of schools and Koranic masters who earn a monthly subsidy from Libya. In the new situation we don't know where this money will come from.

"Do not think it is because Qadhafi supports us financially that he is supported in his stand-off against the West. It is because he is a Muslim like us, and he is a victim of an unfair attack," says Iddi.

Timbuktu, like other towns in Mali including the capital Bamako, has held marches in support of Qadhafi.