I recently came across some rather sad news coming out of Mali. A Newsweek article from September 3rd discusses the grim events currently taking place in Mali, where the extremist Islamic group, Ansar Eddine, has taken power in the northern part of the country (in the area of Timbuktu and its surrounding towns). This group, which was used by Moammar Gaddafi as he struggled to stay in power, returned to Mali after the dictator’s downfall well-armed and desirous to establish control. In recent months, the situation in Mali has deteriorated and Ansar Eddine has instituted Sharia law in the areas where they hold power. As the Newsweek article states, “an unmarried couple in the northern town of Aguelhok were stoned to death for infidelity, having first been buried up to their necks in sand”, while “[i]n the wake of the stoning came the first public amputation for theft at the small town of Ansongo”. To be sure, the horrifying nature of such events cannot be understated – but the actions of the Ansar Eddine with respect to cultural heritage also deserve attention.
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| The Djingareyber Mosque in Timbuktu |
In July of this year, the group destroyed a series of ancient Sufi mausolea in Timbuktu, which they regarded to be against Islam. Newsweek also reported that the group destroyed “a pair of ancient tombs set in the compound of the city’s celebrated Djingareyber mosque” which as it turns out, is the oldest and largest mosque in Timbuktu. This very month, attention has turned to several hundred thousand manuscripts (700,000 to be precise) dating to the 16th century and which cover a wide range of topics from science to Islamic law. These manuscripts have only recently begun to be studied and documented by scholars. With the current situation however, all of this work has naturally stopped – and while it’s unknown whether Ansar Eddine has actually destroyed the manuscripts, there have been reports that they’ve been stolen and sold illicitly. To me, all of these events can’t help but seem like a repeat of the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001.
Despite all that though, I believe that there’s still hope for preserving northern Mali’s cultural heritage. For one thing, Timbuktu was listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage site in 1988, and was added to those inscribed as in danger in 2012. As a result, a special fund was established in July to assist in the protection of important sites in and around Timbuktu and Mali has also made efforts to become a signatory of the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Besides that though, the governments of the United States and Mali recently renewed a five-year agreement which restricts all imports from Mali into the U.S. unless they bear the express approval of the Malian government or a clear record of provenance for objects taken out of the country before 1993 and 2007 (according to which part of the country an object comes from).
What this whole situation reveals is the need for effective methods of preserving cultural heritage, and I believe that UNESCO’s list and the 1970 Convention to prevent the illegal trade of antiquities are all steps in the right direction. As a final thought though, I have to wonder – are the objects that are restricted from entering the U.S. really any better off staying in Mali where they face the risk of being destroyed? What is there that can be done in circumstances such as these? If a Malian national were to arrive in the U.S. with a movable piece of cultural heritage with nothing more but the desire to save it (and no documentation), would that object be returned to Mali? How could one even distinguish between individuals genuinely trying to preserve their heritage from those seeking to sell it? It’s clear then, that the situation is a very delicate and and complicated one – but it also highlights the fact that as unrest becomes more frequent in areas throughout the world which possess important historical remains and artifacts, new approaches and ways of dealing with cultural property during times of war must be considered.
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Musings of a Grad Student 