Articles
Timbuktu’s Ancient Libraries: Saved by Locals, Endangered by a Government
One week after Islamic militants fled Timbuktu under French bombing strikes, preservationists are deeply uncertain about how to continue protecting the city’s...
Mali: Timbuktu Locals Saved Some of Their City’s Ancient Manuscripts from Islamists
The preservationists of Timbuktu’s centuries-old artifacts have been holding their breath for weeks, waiting for the moment when the French military would seize...
For the Treasures of Timbuktu, a Moment of Grave Peril
As France and its allies try to root out Islamist militants in northern Mali, worry grows over fate of precious manuscripts in the ancient city
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage
It was a singular, defining act of barbarism, beamed out live for the world to see. In March 2001, Taliban fighters and grandees clustered around the famed giant...
Mali’s Crisis: Terror Stalks the Historic Treasures of Timbuktu
The historic city of Timbuktu, once a byword for a place lost to obscurity and myth, is now in the grip of very real political events. As a military coup...
Photo Essays
Inside the Secret Operation to Rescue Timbuktu’s Manuscripts
Beyond the reports of beatings, hand-choppings and other grim Shari’a punishments carried out in the ten months Islamists held the historic Malian city of...
War in Mali: France and African Allies Take on Islamist Militants
In March 2012, separatist rebels and Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda exploited the political chaos following a coup in Mali and overran half of the...
Articles from Around the Web
How Timbuktu's treasure was smuggled to safety
How Timbuktu's priceless manuscripts were saved ...
Timbuktu's slaves liberated as Islamists flee
TIMBUKTU, Mali -- Her light-skinned master no longer beats her with a camel whip. He no longer makes her work from dawn to night without pay....
Timbuktu residents savor freedom, tales of resistance
TIMBUKTU, Mali -- There were public protests and whispers of secret love affairs. Heroes of resistance everywhere: the female fishmonger who angrily knocked down one of...
Islamist Fighters Repelled in Assault on Timbuktu
The attackers appeared to number perhaps 10 or 15, said the French military spokesman, Col. Thierry Burkhard.'' A half-dozen'' were confirmed killed, he said. ...
