* Fabled desert trading town houses “treasure of learning”
* Priceless texts being hidden away in rebel-held area
* Fears that illiterate footsoldiers may loot, steal
By Pascal Fletcher
JOHANNESBURG, April 10 (Reuters) – Malian scholars,
librarians and ordinary citizens in the rebel-occupied city of
Timbuktu are hiding away priceless ancient manuscripts to
prevent them from being damaged or looted, a South African
academic in contact with them said.
Cape Town University’s Professor Shamil Jeppie said he was
in daily contact with curators and private owners safeguarding
tens of thousands of historic texts in Timbuktu, the fabled
desert trading town and seat of Islamic learning overrun by
Tuareg-led rebels on April 1.
Jeppie, involved in an internationally-funded initiative to
preserve Timbuktu’s “treasure of learning”, told Reuters there
had been no major losses so far to the main state and private
manuscript collections, but he feared for the future.
“We hope it stays like this,” he said, adding that Timbuktu
was occupied by two main rival rebel groups: the “nationalists’
of the MNLA movement who have declared an independent Tuareg
homeland in northern Mali and are holding the city’s airport,
and the Islamists of the Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith)
group who had occupied the main military barracks.
“I have no faith in the rebels. They may have an educated
leadership, but they are sending in footsoldiers who are
illiterate and if they want something they will take it … They
won’t have any respect for paper culture,” Jeppie said.
Continued…
