Friday, February 1, 2013

From Timbuktu, Reports That Most Manuscripts Were Saved

A man attempts to salvage burnt manuscripts at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, Mali, on Tuesday. While some of the ancient manuscripts were destroyed by Islamist radicals, reports indicate that most were hidden and therefore survived.

Reports from Timbuktu, Mali, on Wednesday indicate that most of the
ancient manuscripts at a famed library may have been saved by residents
before Islamist radicals had the chance to burn them.
"I can say that the vast majority of the collections appear from our
reports not to have been destroyed, damaged or harmed in any way,"
Shamil Jeppie, an expert on the documents who teaches at the
University of Cape Town in South Africa, told Reuters.