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S. Africa helps Mali modernise ancient libraries
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 24 - 01 - 2009

South Africa and Mali
opened a high-tech library in the Malian desert town of Timbuktu
on Saturday, boosting efforts to preserve thousands of ancient
manuscripts documenting Africa's academic past, according to Reuters.
The launch is part of a South African plan to help Mali to
protect up to 150,000 manuscripts, some of which date from the
13th century and document subjects ranging from science and the
arts to social and business trends of the day.
South Africa has also been training Malian conservators to
protect the texts, which some say will force the West to accept
Africa has an intellectual history as old as its own. Others
draw comparisons with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
"Timbuktu is symbolic, not of a narrow Islamic or African
civilisation, but of a civilization that was the synthesis of
what knowledge was available in the world then," South Africa's
President Kgalema Motlanthe said at the opening on Saturday.
"More importantly, it was part of Africa's contribution to
the foundation of today's civilization," Motlanthe added, having
been guided around the renovated Ahmed Baba Institute.
Documents will now be stored in rooms and cases where
conditions such as humidity are controlled and pests like
termites cannot eat the ancient scrolls.
Timbuktu, some 1000 km (625 miles) northwest of the capital,
Bamako, was once a famously rich town where gold, ivory and
slaves were traded and some 25,000 students gathered to study at
its university during the 16th century.
Desert tourism aside, it is now a remote town on the edge of
the Sahara desert in one of Africa's poorest nations.
Many of the manuscripts have been hidden, sometimes in
chests buried in the sand, as owners feared they might be stolen
by Moroccan invaders, European explorers or French colonialists.
The documents, which range from ancient copies of the Koran
written in gold or ornate calligraphy to studies on music and
commentaries about corrupt politicians, suffered as a result.
"These riches, accumulated over the course of time, have
often been damaged. A large number faded and became unreadable,"
said Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who launched
"Operation Timbuktu" after a visit there in 2001 and returned on
Saturday, has said he hopes the work will help "restore the self
respect, the pride, honour and dignity of the people of Africa".
Other donors such as the United States and Norway are
helping with the preservation of the manuscripts, which are
stored in numerous other private and public libraries.


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