Timbuktu archives and library building to the Government Mali
21 January 2009
Pretoria: South African President Kgalema Motlanthe will on Friday, 23
January 2009, travel to Timbuktu, Mali where he will participate in the hand
over ceremony of the newly completed archives and library building to the
government and the people of Mali on Saturday, 24 January 2009.
President Motlanthe's delegation will include former President Thabo Mbeki
and Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Ntombazana Botha. In this regard
President Motlanthe is participating in the project, which is a New Partnership
for Africa's Development (Nepad) flagship cultural project, within the context
of South Africa's commitment to African Renaissance.
The project to construct the archives and library building began after then
President Thabo Mbeki visited Mali in November 2001 and was shown the ancient
manuscripts in Timbuktu. It was upon seeing the condition of the manuscripts
that the need to preserve the manuscripts arose. The South African government
then agreed to support the conservation of the ancient manuscripts of Timbuktu
and gave an undertaking to build a new library to ensure that those historical
documents were properly housed and conserved.
South Africa has also trained a number of Malian conservators and heritage
professionals for the past six years and also established a Trust Fund to raise
funds from South Africans citizens, including the business sector and donors,
towards the building of the library.
Timbuktu is also a World Heritage site and the manuscripts are inscribed on
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco)
Memory of the World register. In 2006 South Africa hosted the annual World
Heritage Committee meeting that resolved to establish an African World Heritage
Fund to maintain African world heritage sites.
Enquiries:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
21 January 2009
