Decision 44 COM 7A.2

Timbuktu (Mali) (C 119rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7A,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7A.54, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku,2019),
3. Expresses its appreciation for the efforts deployed in the conservation of the property, notably by reinforcing the mobilisation of the municipal and regional authorities, and the local community through the Management Committees of the mosques and the masons’ corporation;
4. Thanks the State Party for its intervention through the Management Committee for the Djingareyber mosque to halt the construction work for a building in the courtyard of the mosque, as well as the Management Committee of the mosque for having accepted the demolition of the work already undertaken in non-conformity with the mosque architecture, and reminds the State Party of the need to inform the World Heritage Centre prior to the start of a major construction project, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
5. Notes with satisfaction the cessation of new on-going constructions in the medina for the necessary corrections to be made in conformity with its traditional architecture, and also reminds the State Party of the need to implement the 2018-2022 Management and Conservation Plan, in particular as regards the urban framework, in order to revitalize awareness, interaction and coordination of the stakeholders at all institutional levels, and to ensure the enforcement of urban regulations;
6. Requests the State Party to further raise awareness of the local population and with the private owners of the heritage prerogatives of the property and to strengthen the enforcement of urban regulations;
7. Expresses its concern with regard to the degradation caused by a lack of maintenance and monitoring of the mosques and mausoleums, thus exposing them to risk of collapse, especially during the winter period, and also requests the Management Committees of the mosques and the families responsible for the conservation of the mausoleums to increase maintenance and monitoring;
8. Also expresses concern about the diminishing traditional conservation practices and mechanisms, in particular in ensuring the annual rough plastering of the mosques, and the possible incomprehension of the local stakeholders of the role and responsibilities of external national and international partners, and further requests the State Party in collaboration with these national and international partners, to ensure that adequate measures, notably revitalization, are taken for the safeguard of the intrinsic traditional conservation practices and mechanisms of the property;
9. Further expresses concern, in addition to the continuing unstable security situation, about the impact of climate change that has become a major issue generating increasingly hard winters and frequent and violent sandstorms, and encourages the State Party to initiate a dialogue with local stakeholders to study the measures and needs required to respond to this phenomenon and its future impacts;
10. Notes with satisfaction that, in application of the conviction by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi for his responsibility in the destruction of several cultural properties in Timbuktu, a ceremony for the presentation of a symbolic euro to the Government of Mali and UNESCO for the harm suffered by the Malian people and the community of Timbuktu took place on 30 March 2021, and that individual and collective reparations began in January 2021, and further requests the State Party as well as the Secretariat to ensure that the potential impacts of these reparations and the actions to be taken in the context of collective reparations are taken into account in future reports on the state of conservation of the property;
11. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2022, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 45th session;
12. Decides to continue to apply the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism for the property;
13. Also decides to retain Timbuktu (Mali) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.