Postcards From Timbuktu by RFI

In Mali, a small initiative called Postcards from Timbuktu is helping to provide work to young men in this ancient city in the northern part of the country bordering the Sahara desert.
Timbuktu, a UNESCO listed world heritage site made the headlines when it was occupied by Ansar Dine in 2012, an islamist group linked to Al Qaeda in the islamic maghreb. Before being pushed away by French and Malian troops, Ansar Dine destroyed 15th century sufi shrines. Several thousand medieval manuscripts had either been destroyed or looted.
An Ansar Dine militant has been charged by the ICC with the crime of damaging humanity’s common cultural heritage.
Nowadays, because of lingering insecurity in and around Timbuktu work is scarce for its population, especially in a formerly flourishing tourism industry.
RFI's Zeenat Hansrod - @zxnt - spoke to Phil Paoeletta - @philinthe_ and Ali Nialy in Mali. She tells us more about the Postcards from Timbuktu project.
(Photo: Phil Paoeletta)
http://www.postcardsfromtimbuktu.com/
http://philintheblank.net/