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Helping to save cultural heritage in Mali. A personal experience.
By Robert Gooren
Netherlands
December 2015
© Author at Three Saints Cemetary where three tombs were destroyed
In January 2014 I boarded a plane to Bamako to join the military headquarters of MINUSMA, the United Nations
stabilization mission in Mali. I arrived in the middle of the night at a small terminal building that had seen better
days. The air was still warm, the people friendly, the waiting-line slowly moving forward to the customs official. It
was my first encounter with Mali.
MINUSMA HQ
A few days later I got to the downtown Amitié Hotel, which had been taken over by the UN, to start working as a
senior staff officer at the U9 CIMIC branch. It was my task to liaise between the military headquarters and the civilian
departments of MINUSMA - exchanging information on military and civilian activities in the field, planning joint
programs, discussing Quick Impact Projects - and working with other international organizations in Bamako – some
from within the UN family, like OCHA to UNESCO, but also some from outside, like the Red Cross or Cordaid. It
certainly was a challenging environment. Little had been done yet to start coordination and cooperation.
Mandate for Heritage Protection
One of the civilian departments that really interested me was the Environment and Culture Office. MINUSMA is one
of the very few international missions which has the protection of cultural heritage included in its mandate. UN
Security Council Resolution 2100, adopted on 25th of April 2013, stated that MINUSMA –among other things, was
tasked to “…assist the transitional authorities of Mali, as necessary and feasible, in protecting from attack the
cultural and historical sites in Mali, in collaboration with UNESCO.”
Conflict in Mali
In 2012 a brief military conflict in northern Mali ended in the defeat of the Malian army. Separatist and Islamist
armed groups came to ontrol large parts of the northern region. The main cities of Gao and Timbuktu were occupied
by Islamist groups who introduced their own version of sharia law. Their rule led to the destruction of numerous Sufi
mausoleums in Timbuktu, destruction of the archaeological site of Gao-Sanoye, and burning of more than 4,000
manuscripts in the Ahmed Baba research library in Timbuktu - although some 95% of the city’s historic manuscripts
were rescued by smuggling them to Bamako. When French troops liberated northern Mali the violence against
heritage didn’t come to an end. In September 2013 several libraries in Timbuktu were damaged when a suicide1/3
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bomb exploded in the old city. Clearly, MINUSMA could do useful work indeed in the field of protecting cultural
heritage.
© Author and colleagues inside the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu
Personal Background
In United Nations missions like MINUSMA it is not always easy to ensure efficient cooperation between the civilians,
who seem to focus on humanitarian issues and engage in dialogue, and their uniformed colleagues, who focus on
security issues and prefer a more active approach. It helped that I could talk to both sides. Before joining the
Netherlands Army I had completed my Master’s degrees in Art History and Modern History, and completed a
doctorate in Modern History. Some 15 years ago, while teaching at Utrecht University, the army asked me to
contribute to their pre-deployment program for military missions abroad. It turned out to be an unusual career
move, but being part of the military organization was very rewarding – a unique kind of living history experience.
Hague Convention 1954
The military department I work with in the Netherlands came into existence as a result of Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. We teach all soldiers on what this means for them
when they deploy on a mission; not inflicting damage to historic monuments, not buying antique objects for
souvenirs, no digging on possible archaeological sites, etc. We have heritage experts available in case of a national
emergency. But my MINUSMA work involved more than that. It provided a welcome opportunity to contribute
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directly to the protection of cultural heritage in Mali. As a CIMIC staff officer I had lots of other tasks to do. Heritage
protection was only one among many duties. However, it was certainly one of the most rewarding.
Useful Activities
Supporting the initiative of my colleague Sophie Ravier, who was in charge of the Environment & Culture Office, I
was able to convince the MINUSMA project review board of the need to finance a renovation project in Timbuktu.
Several private libraries damaged by a suicide-bomb needed repair and MINUSMA, in cooperation with government
officials and with UNESCO, was able to offer financial support. I managed to convince my uniformed colleagues in
the MINUSMA police mission to assist in drawing up emergency security plans for the Timbuktu police force in case
of future attacks against heritage sites. UNESCO, in the meantime, had started with a project to reconstruct back the
destroyed mausoleums. In July 2014, when my deployment with the MINUSMA mission came to an end, several
initiatives were under way to undo the damage caused by extremist actions to the buildings, collections and sites
which are such an important part of the cultural heritage of Mali.
© Destroyed Sufi Tomb, Timbuktu
© Rebuilt Sufi Tomb at the Djinguereber Mosque, Timbuktu
Robert Gooren takes part in the BS Netherlands Sounding Board
[email protected]
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