Thousands of ancient manuscripts have been returned to Mali's historic city of Timbuktu. The Malian government had hastily evacuated the priceless documents to the capital, Bamako, in 2013 when Al-Qaeda-linked militants occupied the area.

Timbuktu

A large consignment of ancient manuscripts has been returned to Timbuktu, Mali, after being safeguarded in the capital, Bamako, for over a decade. The manuscripts, which were written by scholars between the 14th and 16th centuries, cover a wide range of subjects, including history, theology, law, medicine, poetry, and astronomy. Their return follows their evacuation during the 2012 jihadist occupation of Timbuktu, when militants attacked the city's monuments and set fire to the Ahmed Baba Institute, destroying thousands of documents. Despite these losses, most manuscripts were saved by locals and are now being restored to their original home, where efforts to preserve and study them continue.

Malian government returns ancient manuscripts to Timbuktu

The long-awaited homecoming begins, some 200 crates weighing five tons. This is the first batch of manuscripts returning to Timbuktu, and to a colourful reception, part of the vibrant and rich heritage that made this city famous over the centuries. The return of these manuscripts today reminds us that Timbuktu, through its mosques and universities, was an open-air library dedicated to education, dissemination and transmission of knowledge. The manuscripts were written by scholars, scribes and other intellectuals from across the region, mostly between the 14th and 16th centuries, when Timbuktu was a major centre of Islamic learning and trade. They covered a wide range of topics, including history, Islamic theology and law, medicine, poetry and astronomy. But jihadist groups hate the celebration of this heritage, seeing it as incompatible with their extremist interpretation of Islam. Militants linked to al-Qaeda invaded Timbuktu in 2012 and attacked the city's ancient monuments. The following year they set fire to a major research centre, destroying more than 4,000 manuscripts. That research centre, the Ahmed Baba Institute, had a large collection. Despite the arson attack, locals were able to smuggle out most of the documents and send them to Mali's capital, Bamako. But that was more than a decade ago. The people of Timbuktu have been calling for their return. I'm very happy today because it's such good news to see the return of the manuscripts. We're now able to go to the Ahmed Baba Centre to continue our research and to learn from our manuscripts, from the history of Africa. Despite the security risks, there's great determination in Timbuktu to preserve its precious manuscripts. In fact, the vast majority have always remained in private family collections, where the people continue their tradition, documenting their heritage line by line through generations.

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