Letter From Timbuktu
Letter from Timbuktu
2 July 2012
Are we not obliged to say something at last?
The people of Timbuktu on the edge of the abyss.
What is left but for us to cry huge tears before an unspeakable crime that has
reduced us to victims for the last three months, day on day.
-Before a non-existent State, which lacks the means and the initiative;
-Before an international community which is hesitant and passive;
-Before an exhausted population, bruised by successive acts which are totally
indescribable.
It is exactly 90 days since our people witnessed the destruction of the signs of
the State and all other institutions, and the closing of the schools and health
centres.
One month later, it was the lack of electricity and drinking water, then it was
the systematic pillaging of everything that belonged to them, including attacks
on shops, ransacking, oppression, attacks which go to the deep heart of their
identity, values which go beyond Timbuktu, beyond Mali, beyond Africa, and
which belong to the whole world. The elements that have permitted Timbuktu
to be recognised as a World Heritage site have been attacked and destroyed.
What now remains for Timbuktu and its citizens after the destruction of the
mausoleums and the monuments just three days ago? We witness the most
odious of crimes with the destruction of all that we hold dear: the Mausoleums
of the Saints, which represent the identity, the authenticity, the pride of
Timbuktu.
With regard to the merciless situation in which we find ourselves, we look to
what the future holds for the city, a very sombre future for our people who are
powerless, empty handed before heavily armed terrorists.
We invite good will from wherever it may come, to come to the aid of our
people, to help extract them from this suffering, for the situation only worsens
with each passing day.
The sender if this message is anonymous for security reasons
(dictated over the phone to Bamako evening of 2 July, and then emailed to the UK)
