Threatened Mali heritage gets $1m boost

Activists aiming to maintain traditional culture have pledged $1m (£767,000) to help the people of central Mali's Mopti region restore parts of their vital heritage which has been under threat from armed conflict in recent years.

The UN’s cultural organisation, Unesco, is working with the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Aliph), to support the rehabilitation of the Cliff of Bandiagara (also known as the Land of the Dogons), which has been a World Heritage Site since 1989.

The area is known for its homes carved into the limestone rock and the architecture, as well as the traditional way of life.

The fighting in Mali has led to the partial or total destruction of 30 of the area’s 289 villages, Unesco says in a statement.

Both buildings and cultural objects have been lost resulting in the "deterioration of cultural practices and traditions of the Dogon, Peuls, Bozo, Bambara and Sonrhai groups", according to Unesco.

It also argues that the disappearance of certain traditions has fuelled inter-communal conflict.

While historically there had often been conflict between the more settled communities and the pastoralists, this began to become more violent after the militant jihadist uprising in northern Mali in 2012.

The $1m will be spent over the next three years on restoring the damaged architectural heritage "notably housing, granaries and sites dedicated to traditional culture, as well as to restore the production of cultural objects, and safeguard ceremonial objects in a memorial collection", Unesco says.