Det er især gået ud over muslimske mindesmærker i den legendariske ørkenby, Timbuktu, hvor radikale islamister vandaliserede gamle uvurderlige kulturskatte, anfører FNs Organisation for Uddannelse, Videnskab og Kultur (UNESCO).
BAMAKO, 7 June 2013 (UN News Service): Damage to Timbuktu’s cultural heritage due to fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels is more extensive than first estimated, a United Nations-led team said Friday following an assessment of the fabled city.
Lazare Eloundou Assomo of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre said the destruction is “even more alarming than we thought.”
During the 28 May to 3 June visit, the team, led by UNESCO with support from the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and international and local experts, discovered that 14 of Timbuktu’s mausoleums, including those that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites, were totally destroyed.
In addition, the fighting destroyed parts of the Djingareyber Mosque, one of three madrassas comprising the University of Timbuktu. It is believed to have been built around 1327, mostly out of straw and wood with some limestone reinforcements.
The emblematic (symbolske) El Farouk independence monument in the shape of a horse at the entrance to the city was also destroyed, Mr. Eloundou Assomo said in the capital, Bamako.
While an estimated 4.203 manuscripts from the Ahmed Baba research centre were lost, another 300.000 were exfiltrated (sorteret fra), mainly to Bamako, and “are in urgent need of conservation,” he added.
Handlingsplan for at redde hvad reddes kan
UNESCO and its partners are now putting together a list of priorities and focusing in more detail on the damages.
Based on an action plan for rehabilitation and preservation made public on 18 February, “an estimated 11 million US dollar has to be found to begin work as soon as possible,” said Mr. Eloundou Assomo.
Some support in the form of national experts and financial assistance has already been received, particularly from France and Luxembourg, he added. A national workshop is scheduled to determine the immediate next steps.
According to UNESCO, Timbuktu was an intellectual and spiritual capital and a centre for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Mr. Eloundou Assomo said that the team had lengthy exchanges with the local communities “on the best ways to reconstruct the mausoleums, safeguard the manuscripts, give new life to intangible heritage and weave this action into a broader movement for sustainable peace and reconciliation.”
The team, guided by religious authorities, also visited the mausoleums at the Cemetery of the Three Saints and the Alpha Moya cemetery, as well as the Ahmed Baba Institute and several private libraries to evaluate the condition of the manuscript collections, and assessed the state of conservation of the three mosques.
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