By Anna Stormoen, University of Virginia
In 2012, the deliberate destruction of irreplaceable monuments in Timbuktu placed Mali at the heart of global discourse on the intentional targeting of cultural heritage during conflict. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Madhi, who led an al-Qaida linked group in armed rampage on several of Timbuktu’s historical and religious monuments, became the first individual to be prosecuted for the destruction of cultural heritage as a war crime. Although Al-Madhi’s guilty plea before the International Criminal Court in 2016 was certainly monumental, many of Mali’s heritage sites remain vulnerable to damage from looting, violence, and extreme weather conditions.
The Tomb of Askia, located in the city of Gao, is one of four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Mali and has been on the organization’s List of World Heritage in Danger since 2012. Constructed by Emperor Askia Mohammed I at the end of the fifteenth century, the site is an enduring testimony of the strength of the Songhai Empire and the Sahel mud-building tradition. The site, which contains two flat-roofed mosques, is still actively used by local residents as a place of worship. In recent years, the Tomb of Askia has been threatened by extremist violence and rare, but severely damaging rains.
The Tomb of Askia (Credit: Luis Dafos, History.com)
On 31 March 2012, the Malian military retreated from Gao, marking the region’s occupation by Tuareg rebellion groups. Confronted with extreme violence and political turmoil, the Tomb of Askia became the focus of remarkable community-based safeguarding efforts. Security concerns precluded many preservation experts from recording and assessing damage done to sites throughout the Gao Region. In 2013, the Director-General of UNESCO established a special fund aimed at providing the government of Mali with emergency support in assessing and rehabilitating damage to cultural property. When conflict briefly subsided in 2014, a commission of Malian and international experts visited Gao to assess the Tomb of Askia. Their visit to the site revealed that in the midst of sectarian violence, the local community undertook their own efforts to repair and prevent further damage to the site. Many young people took matters into their own hands by defending the site and preventing large-scale destruction.
Today, the Tomb of Askia remains on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger due to ongoing violence and security concerns. A 2017 UNESCO report indicates that the fragility of the security situation has halted tourism and further impoverished local communities. As UNESCO continues to work with the Malian government, it is also crucial for these entities to consider efforts to address the trauma that continues to afflict local populations.