USA Africa Dialogue Series - The monuments of the ancient city of Timbuctu are being destroyed by Al Qaeda (AQIM) occupiers

Timbuctu is in shock after the destruction by AQMI
of a mausoleum of a local Malian Islamic saint

www.abamako.com



(The Translation from French to English has been edited by
Gloria Emeagwali )

AFP

May 5, 2012

Timbuktu, the mythical city of northern Mali, is
in shock after the desecration by members of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb
(AQIM). The destruction of the shrine of a Muslim saint of the city , a
UNESCO heritage, is an " unspeakable act "according to the Malian authorities.
Friday, "people of AQIM, supported by (the Islamist armed group) Ansar
Dine, destroyed the mausoleum of the saint Sidi (Ben Mahmoud) Amar. They burned
the shrine, "said one of the deputy mayors of Timbuktu.
The city of 30,000 inhabitants is controlled, like all of northern Mali, by
Ansar Dine and AQIM since the coup of 22 March in Bamako.
"They promised to destroy other mausoleums. Timbuktu is under
shock. Now they want to take and destroy other mausoleums and
manuscripts, " added the same source .

In a statement read on national television Saturday, the government
of Mali transition said he "learned with indignation the desecration of a
mausoleum perpetrated by lawless individuals. "
The government has condemned "in the strongest terms this act
that tramples on the precepts of Islam, religion of tolerance, and
respect for human dignity, "the statement said.
"I saw the grave desecrated. This is very serious," said the AFP a
local reporter on the spot.


"The city of 333 saints" located at the edge of the Sahara a thousand
miles north of Bamako, Timbuktu, nicknamed "the city of 333 saints"
or more mundanely "the pearl of the desert ", is a World Heritage Site
by Unesco since 1988. Founded between the eleventh and the twelfth century,
according to the documents, the city was a great intellectual center of Islam and a city
prosperous from merchant caravans. Its three great mosques, and also tens of
thousands of manuscripts, some of which date from the pre-Islamic era are significant..

In addition to the mosques, the site has "16 cemeteries and mausoleums that were essential
components of the religious system to the extent , according to popular belief, they were the
bulwark that protected the city from all dangers, "said UNESCO on its website. Unesco
has recently expressed concern and called "factions warring to respect the heritage
"of the country, now under the control of AQIM and Ansar Dine.

The Director of the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa (Ifan) in Dakar, Hamady Bocoum,
was also alarmed at the "serious risks" regarding manuscripts, and
he feared "that the destruction "being committed" by the newcomers.
" The manuscripts are mostly written in Arabic or Fulani, by scientists from the former
Mali Empire. These texts speak for Islam, but also history, astronomy, music, botany,
genealogy, anatomy ... These are all areas generally despised, or even considered
"ungodly" by Al Qaeda and its jihadi henchmen.

The desecration of the mausoleum of Timbuktu by the new masters of the city reminds us of
the delicate works of world heritage, like the Buddhas of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan,
destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban . In East Africa, the Somali Islamists Shebab
have destroyed many mausoleums of Sufi mystics whose memory was revered by local people.

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