The Chair of Blue Shield Mali recently visited Senegal to attend a UNESCO workshop on preserving World Heritage in Danger and meet with the Senegalese National Committee of the Blue Shield to discuss future collaborations across West Africa.
From 12 to 16 June 2023, Mamadou Samaké, Chair of Blue Shield Mali and Manager of the Tomb of Askia, attended a UNESCO workshop in Senegal “Monitoring the desired state of conservation for the removal of West African sites from the List of World Heritage in Danger”. Organized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the workshop brought together managers of sites and parks in danger from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Mali, and Senegal, alongside experts from UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, African World Heritage Fund and EPA (School of African Heritage), as well as representatives of UNESCO Paris, Dakar and Bamako.
Site managers explored six sites (3 natural and 3 cultural) – the Mount Nimba Integral Nature Reserve for Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea Conakry, the Aîr and Ténéré Nature Reserves for Niger and the Niokolo-Koba National Park for Senegal. All three cultural sites were in Mali – the Tomb of Askia in Gao, Timbuktu, and the ancient cities of Djenné. Africa is the most represented region on the List of World Heritage in Danger with 15 of the 55 sites currently inscribed on this list. Of the 15 properties at risk, 11 are listed as natural properties and 4 as cultural properties. Through the workshop, the attendees were able to develop networks across West Africa, and learn from the direct experience on the removal of Comoé National Park from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2017 with Roger Koadjo, the Site Manager.
Samaké spoke on the theme: Management of a cultural site in times of crisis: the case of the Tomb of Askia in Gao, Mali. After the event, he said:
“The workshop was very positive, a sharing of experience between managers of cultural sites and natural sites (national parks). It allowed me to better understand the management of a natural site and how visitor can appreciate it”.
Following destruction of key religious and world Heritage sites in Timbuktu in 2012 by Ansar Dine, Mali’s World Heritage sites, including the Tomb of Askia, were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger list. The Tomb of Askia was also placed under Enhanced Protection according to the 1999 Second Protocol for the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The man who directed the attacks, Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, was the first person to be convicted by the International Criminal Court for intentionally attacking religious buildings under Article 8(2)(b)(ix) of the Rome Statute (1998). As part of the workshop, participants were supported to prepare a programme of activities to support removing sites from the In Danger list, spread over three years.
After the workshop, Samaké extended his stay to meet with colleagues from the Senegal National Committee of the Blue Shield to discuss further collaboration following the successful publication of the brochure on the work of the African Committees (with the support of Blue Shield Germany). Mali and Senegal are discussing collaboration on a potential military training programme. Blue Shield Senegal has defined a policy for Blue Shield activity in Africa, encouraging new work and mentoring other countries to create Blue Shield national committees.
Samaké said:
“It was an excellent opportunity to meet my colleagues across West Africa. I hope we can work together to better protect the wonderful heritage of our region”.
Read more about the work of the National Committees in their Annual Reports
or find National Committee Contact details
Read more about the 1954 Hague Convention in our Law Library
NEWS: Mali recently celebrated African World Heritage Day at the Tomb of Askia
Read more about UNESCO World Heritage sites and World Heritage sites in Danger on the UNESCO website
