A letter from the Minister of Culture

And a very gratifying one too...
It was addressed to the Village Chief of Djenne and leaked to me from a source inside the Ministry who wants to remain anonymous. This should finally put an end to the continuous rumblings of discontent which have plagued the Djenne Manuscript Projects from the very beginning of the digitization work in 2008 when I was first asked by the Djenne population to get involved and try and find them some funding.   A faction in town, led by the semi illiterate Village Chief, hostile to the Djenne Manuscript Library, have done all in their power to try and put a stop to the projects, spreading rumours that the British Library are stealing manuscripts and making vast fortunes on the back of the Djenne population's  manuscripts without paying anything back. (See Blog entry 'Let me have a good Gripe' on  August 31).

It appears that during a ministerial visit to Djenne in March, the village chief thrust a letter into the hand of the Minister of Culture- a very pleasant lady who has been educated in Canada and speaks perfect English- which once more demanded the immediate closure of the Library and the return of all the hard drives containing the digitization material claiming that it was illegal. The letter above is her reply, finally sent in late  May, which was just leaked to me:

this is my translation:

Subject: Your letter of the 14^th of March 2018

To the Village Chief of Djenne:

Sir,

I acknowledge receipt of your letter, referenced  above, concerning the hard drives from the Djenne Manuscript Library.

I inform you that the said hard drives have been handed over to the National Archives of Mali, during a solemn ceremony in the presence of the manuscript owners of Djenne; representatives of the Imam of Djenne; of the previous Village Chief and of many other notables amongst whom were the Deputy Secretary of the Malian Presidency; the ambassadors of Great Britain, of Sweden and of Germany. The hard drives are preserved at the National Archives of Mali and put at the disposal of students and researchers to be exploited in their study.

The digitisation of manuscripts, which is a legal act, is an efficient means of safeguarding and preserving ancient document collections.

I assure you of the accessibility of these hard drives at the National Institution and I invite you to trust in my continued collaboration.

The Minister of Culture

 

 So let's hope that this puts an end to it...

The Dozo and the Fulani

                                                                             
On Saturday 23rd of June 32 Fulani herdsmen were assassinated in the village of Koumaga in the Circle of Djenne according to Reuters. The Malian government gives the figure as 16. 'Murdered in cold blood' writes Malijet. It appears they were attacked by the Dozo, the traditional hunters.

This is an escalation of a new situation that I reported in this  blog on March 29th - Stuck in Sevare.
This serious  incident is reported as tribal feuding because of ancient gripes concerning rights of grazing and cultivation. This is not entirely the truth of the matter: It goes deeper than that.
The Malian state presence is virtually nil in Central Mali which has led to a  break down in law and order. The Dozo have taken up their antiquated weapons in an attempt to protect their village populations from the attacks by those Fulani that adhere to the Macina group- which now goes under the name of  JNIM since March 2017 it when it  merged with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine and al-Mourabitoun . The Malian government is now accused of encouraging the Dozo,  and indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians are taking place- on both side of the conflict.
The BBC described Saturday's attack as follows:  'The hunters, known locally as "Dozo", surrounded the village in the Mopti region and separated members of the Fula ethnic group from the other villagers before killing them.'
These Dozo hunters have normally served more of a ceremonial purpose in the villages during peaceful times, but in the current climate of increasing insecurity they have taken it upon themselves to act as a vigilante militia.

There is no doubt that this crisis is escalating in central Mali. But it may be worth looking at  northern Nigeria, : An article from July 16th 2016 throws light on a similar  feud  multiplying in a frightening manner at  the approximate time of the rise of the 'Front de Liberation de Macina.' in Central Mali:
http://venturesafrica.com/understanding-the-fulani-herdsmen-crisis-in-nigeria-what-you-need-to-know/

 'Before now, the herdsmen have been known to wreak havoc in certain communities in Nigeria, but now, the rate at which they commit these crimes has increased exponentially. According to statistics provided by the Institute for Economics and Peace, 1,229 people were killed in 2014, up from 63 in 2013 and Benue State seems to be the hardest hit in recent times.'
The article goes on to ask:
'Are Boko Haram members mistaken for the Fulani herdsmen?'
 Interestingly, the Macina Group have been called 'Mali's Boko Haram'. The Nigerian article goes on to report that

 'in the heat of the herdsmen crisis, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, advised Nigerians to stop attributing ethnicity and religion to the Fulani Herdsmen crisis, citing that such actions are not peculiar to the Fulanis.'

It is a little disingenuous of the  Sultan of Sokoto to is pretend  that these clashes have nothing to do with ethnicity. In doing so he is disregarding  a crucial ingredient in this scenario, specific to West Africa:
The Sultan of Sokoto  is traditionally a Fulani, and the Sokoto Caliphate in northern Nigeria was founded at the jihad of the Fulani War in 1809 by Usman dan Fodio. This was one of the first in the wave of  jihads that swept across west Africa in the nineteenth century with the dual purpose of purifying Islam and gaining political power.  The most important manifestation of this surge of Fulani power and influence in Mali was  Sekou Amadou's Fulani Empire of Macina: from its conquest of Djenne in 1819  to its demise by Scheik Oumar Tall, the crusading founder of another theocratic empire in 1862.
The rise of the Macina Liberation Front in Central Mali was directly inspired by the nineteenth century Fulani empires.  Whether the terrifying escalation of the Fulani attacks in northern Nigeria has anything to do with a harking back to the glory days of the Sokoto Caliphate is not proved but worth more than a fleeting thought. 
Maybe the time has come to stop  describing these phenomenons just as  as inter tribal clashes for grazing lands? Do we need to look at how the past influences the present in this particular instance? 

Indulge me please.

I am just about to take off for Africa once more, but before that there was an important mission to fulfil: I had to buy a hat.

 There is a wedding in the ravishing little Oxfordshire  village of Blewbury more or less the day I get back from Africa. It risks being quite a smart wedding. To be on the safe side I decided to organize my hat buying before leaving.  Indulge me therefore while I revel in some unrepentant girly narcissism for just a little while. Soon, soon I will be talking endlessly about all the African adventures and hardships which will no doubt befall me. 

I did buy one of these following hats. I wonder if anyone would be able to guess which?

This one wasn't too bad..

                                      

 Mother of the Bride...?

 Pedestrian...

This one was called 'The Audrey':

 The Canadian Mounted Police look..

HELL no!

Maybe.?

I like it , but too beachy?

 Tiring stuff this Hat buying business..

And last night I went to Europe House- that lovely place which has acted as a hub of socializing for me whenever I have been back in London over the last twelve years- Jeremiah has organized a multitude of great exhibitions there, and last night was just one of these- the Czechoslovakian photographer Dagmar Hochová  whose great pictures captured the Soviet invasion of ’68 but also just fleeting moments of life in joyful and sometimes startling images:

Speak soon from  more southern climes...

 

Baby Mozart.

Well, he was not quite a baby, but only 12 years old when he wrote his first opera, La Finta Semplice which is showing for a couple of nights a the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I met David, ever ready with a spare ticket in the stalls, at the South Bank last night on a beautiful sunny June evening.

My mentor and adoptive mother Princess Lulie*  used to say that Mozart saved her life many times. ‘Yes, but not this Mozart’ said David, who thought the opera was ‘totally pointless’ and did not see any of his later genius in embryo in this comic and absurd opera, so full of formulaic commonplaces and entirely predictable music.  However, he did think that it was beautifully performed.  I am of course no Mozart buff and drank it all in thankfully. I remembered my Lulie’s words, as the lovely singing started to soothe my jarred nerves. The Timbuktu situation of which I cannot speak is unresolved and it is bringing me down. I will have to travel to Timbuktu in a couple of weeks without any clarity – it will feel as if I am going to set out  into the Heart of Darkness all alone... having to resolve a very difficult situation. But there was Mozart, even just Baby Mozart, and I was becalmed.   I walked over the bridge towards the Embankment in the soft night over the dazzling river Thames in the company of others who were elated by the performance, and even on the tube home total strangers struck up conversations; ‘you were at the QEH, were you not? What did you think?’ And we all loved it. Sometimes it is better not to be a music critic like David... here is his review:

https://theartsdesk.com/opera/la-finta-semplice-classical-opera-qeh-review-consummate-musicianship-stokes-early-mozart

 *my obituary of Princess  Lulie: (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/lobituaries/princess-lulie-flamboyant-art-historian-and-friend-of-freya-stark-and-anthony-blunt-8434225.html)

New trouble in Timbuktu

And of a kind I cannot really talk about, because it might jeopardize our manuscript project... But I wish I could jump on a plane tonight and then be granted  a 'Must-Fly' for Tuesday's Timbuktu flight.
If that were possible, I would then go straight to old Imam Essayouti, whom Father Columba likens to the Dalai Lama. He exudes calm and wisdom, and that is exactly what is necessary now. He would sort it all out, I am certain. I have a very soft spot for him and he calls me 'La Brave Sophie'.
But alas, it is not possible to get on that plane now. I cannot fly for another two or three weeks although I am doing well after my operation. I will be going soon and I will spend most of July in Mali but for now the only option is trying to communicate from a distance- but I have always found telephone conversations to be very dangerous and likely  to make matters worse through misunderstandings. Especially since I suffer from a short temper...
Let's just say that we have a very serious problem with a big-headed young employee of the project who is refusing to carry out an essential task- so essential that if it is not done, the project might face closure.
Here I am with dear Imam Essayouti: