Timbuktu's Lost Treasures | Unreported World

[Music] on the arid plains of a mystical land a rendezvous the men riding towards me are among the most fearsome in central Marlee they're late I'm not going to mention it [Music] they are known as the hunters by tradition they used to track animals to feed their communities now they hunt jihadi extremists who already controlled the north of the country and want the rest of Mali to the hunters say they have become the protectors of their people [Music] polenka Casa Marina goddesu diva the jihadi extremists their fighting have links to al-qaeda and Islamic state the hunters say they're doing what the Malian army failed to achieve I'm for now I'm gonna be I'm faster dimming I will Lakan Dula baccala conservative medulla my alma surrounds the Imam Ossama she does I mean nor do ticular as their extraordinary outfit suggests there's mysticism in hunting I've heard that the hunters also have some special powers special protections can you tell me about that well I'm gonna do there my friend Anoka I need a lot talking minimum bully and I serve in the new and I got Coonan can you tell me about the amulets how do you get them and what is their power now or we look on him um I thought I did do a living equipment amulets are magic charms but the first rule of magical power is you don't talk about the magical power can you tell me about this man and the things on his uniform I'm disabled do I know core seven the new mu nu bamboo code O'Connor cornea for Ally and with that they're off on patrol the hunters say their job is to defend Mali from jihadi extremism but groups like this have also been accused by the government of atrocities and even massacres in villages suspected of harboring jihadis they are a scary group of people to come across in the bush I mean with their uniforms and amulets and skins and one guy had a machete I mean you know you wouldn't want to come across them on your own [Music] I'm journeying through dangerous territory where jihadi killings and kidnappings are common as we were traveling now our driver just revealed that last Sunday he had a very narrow escape involving a mass execution and his colleague another driver was taken hostage our driver explains he saw three cars on the roadside well I can if I'm gonna conjure the wrong one Lilla coming I know Monica Nova this is what he found we count six bodies his colleague had just been forced to drive the killers away in his vehicle they spared him after he convinced them he was their kind of Muslim they told him they were on a jihad here find me we've got more funding I'm heading for one of West Africa's wonders the fabled city of Djenne a with no clear frontline jihadi extremists can get to these roads quite easily we've been warned once we get to Gen a we won't be able to stay for more than a couple of nights kidnapping is used here for both terror and finance gen a is just across the water so waiting for a ferry to take us across and on the far side of that the area is all controlled by the jihadists and that's what puts Jennie under threat so for this final bit of the journey were being escorted by armed police [Music] this used to be the route for adventurous travelers coming - Jenay to see one of the great wonders of West African civilization but years of fighting with the jihadi groups to the north of here have meant that the Hanuman tourists here for a very long time built at the bend of the river there's a natural moat around Jenny but it's not much of a defense this city was built to welcome passing traders that wealth helped build one of West Africa's most important centres of Islamic scholarship the Grand Mosque is a world heritage site but today I'm the only tourist here quite no well going to absolutely amazing it's an extraordinary structure you feel about walking on the roof knowing that it's made of mud but you can see the the exterior here which has to be remade every year because of the damage that the rainy season does and the whole area is actually made just like this there's a whole city made of mud jenny is also famous for the mystical men who make those magic amulets I saw on the hunters they're called Mara boots I'm going to meet muhammadun he's from a long line of Mara boots who've practiced in djenne a for centuries hello hi Chris tell me tell me I'm bad media doesn't know I'm gonna shake do we well we've got the key Linda are they doing can do burger money what is the role of the marabou in the town the people come to you for help with the nimbarka Tama over now for a Tata I'm goofy among Yanina would Allah Nyami you'd move I allow media Anna woody Nene this practice is seen by the jihadists who follow the ultra-conservative Wahhabi branch of Islam as heretic or Haram yeah Nawab you must have been a lie Lilian and syndicate are edition available in ID not a boutique a photo gluteal a [Music] if the [ __ ] falls to the jihadists Maura boots like Muhammadu will be in great danger but for the people of Gen a there's no contradiction between Islam and the ways of the Mara boot [Music] it is really when you walk these ancient streets and alleys that you realize what an ancient culture and civilization this is here in jennae and their beliefs are mixed up between what the rest of the world regards as Islam and what they have taken from their ancient West African culture and it kind of makes sense when you see it here opposite the Grand Mosque is the library where Jenna's oldest families have gathered centuries of Islamic learning yet this too could be a key target for extremists gathering outside the city i aro see as a beast alike their money screwed a gimme aha Vinnie the library is packed with books dating back hundreds of years they all belong to the oldest families in the city most traditional Islamic texts like the Koran but there are also manuscripts about healing and astrology are there any texts here that look it's the more mystical traditions or Jenay away from Islam Ruth did I see that Java gee I was tired and a push obey atashi us until don't just put is a contacted lemon so come on D on prefer come not too bad Oh bye ma'am I'm country I do Andrew Farriss to be a to put it myself so what is this is this a prayer or is it magic or what is it saying protection so I'm Prakash physical mozzie is this the kind of thing that the jihadists would want to destroy basket multipass k sake as a matter pass capital is or ETD security in a public company for gaba there's no problem between these books and islam but this use of prayers to bring magic is precisely what infuriates the extremists and puts the library in danger Garber has been desperately trying to protect Jenny's history by digitally scanning the manuscripts but he tells me the work is building up how many manuscripts do you have in total the genera under the Sun women scream and are equal to sin lucky G listen don't let that give us a crappy quality pudding woman a Center at the Long Island just what we'll survive in Jenny if the jihadists take over that's the unspoken fear on everyone's mind the same kind of extremists have destroyed historic sites in Syria and Afghanistan and it's happened in Mali already in a famous place to the north of here Timbuktu cut off by the conflict the only way into Timbuktu is on UN flights carrying aid workers we're flying over territory that houses jihadi extremists including al-qaeda Islamic state and Ansar Aldean in 2012 they took over Timbuktu imposing strict Sharia law they were driven out nine months later by the French army but the city is surrounded and scarred welcome to arrivals at Timbuktu this was bombed by al-qaeda during the takeover the coup and I guess they haven't rebuilt it the French are still here fighting the extremists as our UN peacekeepers despite their presence the airport road is frequently attacked and we have to travel with an armed escort it's very militarized as soon as you get here if the airport has been bombed and there are UN bases and French bases right next to it armored cars everywhere there's an eerie atmosphere on the streets and a real sense of being in the shadow of the extremists as they were being driven out by the French the al-qaeda fighters destroyed a priceless collection of ancient manuscripts at the main library the armored Belvoir Institute professor well I've come to meet professor Abdul Lacey say to see where this terrible event in Simba's history happened lately manuscripts at a base in Bowie voila the lon Attilio on fella the water conservation physic demonstrate so this is you know I mean Adela but you see it's not even really the what the jetted out what Amelia field under management how many got me this some tour exactly my second after 4,000 books oh yes it must have been huge write a book the images of irreplaceable manuscripts in ashes sent shock waves around the world there were the same kinds of books I've seen in Jenny that al-qaeda find heretic but they also burned ancient copies of the Quran clearly a quantity Damascus and upon taking threats of a passive any yes anchors every Monday criminal professor CCA still finds the destruction devastating his staff did save 40,000 manuscripts by smuggling them Somalis capital Bamako during the occupation but it isn't safe to return them the I know that rest tombak to Solomon is from Oakland existe today Timbuktu has been hollowed of its identity as a center of Islamic learning [Music] the professor wants to take me around Timbuktu 'he's ancient streets but it's dangerous here as well as the threat from extremists gangs of bandits are exploiting Timbuktu Zin security kidnapping and robbery have become huge problems the last British hostage taken here was held for six years when the Islamists were here what happened here shaking them in Indonesia we live where 1 3 , he couldn't hit a junkie already if what the International Criminal Court found the jihad is guilty of dozens of cases of rape and sexual slavery during their occupation ha did is that not far from here okay gunfire has broken out somewhere in the city the police commander has ordered our guards to get us off the streets there's confusion about whether this is extremists or bandits but a couple of days ago three people were killed in a similar shootout despite all the international forces here the situation seems to be getting worse our journey to Timbuktu is actually been cut slightly short because it turned out that there was a bandits attack on our compound where we were staying which is supposed to be a secure place for humanitarian workers and journalists and so the the people who organized it flew out this morning and everyone's leaving now back in central Mali I'm heading to ban jagara famous for his stunning natural beauty it's become better known as the place where Molly's conflict has taken an ethnic and tribal twist I'm on my way to meet another group of hunters okay if you see me touching the ground as a mark of respect when you meet these guys uncle they're from the Dogon people and say they're defending their villages from extremists who in this area mostly come from another tribe the Fulani vice-versa Luke hopefully a rebel she will Emanuela high blood are lipid Ovilus all year Dogon hunters are accused of attacking Fulani villages and carrying out massacres and these men don't deny it happens but claim it's because the Fulani Harbor jihadi extremists talking to them I'm beginning to realize that the presence of jihadis is fueling a long-standing ethnic rivalry they said that they didn't have a problem with the Fulani living amongst them but then said that the Fulani were basically bad people who were with the jihadists but by the end of that conversation they were fairly honest they said that in this part of Mali at least this is not really about a war with extreme jihadism this is about ethnic groups fighting each other and they're going to keep us it returning to Jenay it's now clear how deceptive the mystical tranquility is and I'm a stark sense of what would be lost if the conflict breaches these mud walls I'm going back to see Garber how are you we we leave the library because he's agreed to show me where the majority of the city's manuscripts are stored as Garber explained about 90% of Jenny's manuscripts are still held in private homes and he's bringing us to one of them right now this house belongs to a Madhu he's already given some manuscripts to Garber but has many more stashed away throughout the house some are older than anything gaba has in the library Casca sex a mosque a mosque ii don't like they just said this is the original mosque that was in geni in in the 1300s the one that has been destroyed and lost this is this is a speech from that mosque how long has this been in your family Garber takes me to another room in the house but no by the fabula if I mean okay Ohana uniquely tell me if this is being used for stralla G then the jihadis will say this is haram/forbidden Wow doable opposite billion men you got pledged to gamma D how do you feel when your family has been here for so long has looked after these treasures these ancient books and there are men a few miles from here who would destroy this man what I do bamboo and then another ladder I don't think I've ever been anywhere that felt more like stepping back in time the way people live the things they believe the manuscripts that they keep hidden at home handed down through hundreds of years and this city has lived through religious wars before Jihad's that have seen mosques destroyed and rebuilt and the question now is whether this conflict will succeed whether the jihadists to the north will end up taking over gen a and transforming this place once again [Music] Garber knows that one day he may have to do what they did in Timbuktu and smuggle out Jenny's treasures before they can be destroyed for now he cleans and guards preserving the soul of a magical city surrounded by war [Music] you [Music] thanks for watching click the logo to subscribe for more award-winning documentaries from the Unruh force of world team we upload videos every Sunday keeping you up to date with content from all over the world

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 435,921

Rating: 4.8349462 out of 5

Keywords: Unreported world, unreported world documentary, timbuktu, mali, africa, timbuktu manuscripts, mali africa documentary, djenne mali, krishnan guru-murthy

Id: b3IUXgm58JY

Length: 23min 45sec (1425 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 08 2019