2 Jul 2012

UNESCO / HERITAGE SITES

The head of UNESCO today appealed for a stop to the destruction of historic landmarks at the World Heritage Site of Timbuktu in northern Mali, saying the acts were a “tragedy for the whole of humanity”. Meanwhile the World Heritage Committee announced the last of twenty-six new sites added to the list of World Heritage Sites this year. (UNESCO)

Posted at: July 2, 2012 5:09 pm

Duration: 01:52

Available in: SD

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STORY: UNESCO / HERITAGE SITES
TRT: 1.52
SOURCE: UNESCO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 2 JULY 2012, PARIS, FRANCE / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, TIMBUKTU, MALI

1. Various shots, Timbuktu

2 JULY 2012, PARIS, FRANCE

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General:
"We are very concerned about what happens in Mali, we are extremely concerned about the destruction, on the one side it's World Heritage Site. There are mausoleums, there are mosques, manuscripts which represent an enormous value for humanity, and it's totally unacceptable what is happening there."

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, TIMBUKTU, MALI

3. Various shots, Timbuktu

2 JULY 2012, PARIS, FRANCE

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General:
"What UNESCO can do of course, it's appealing to stop this destruction, it's mobilizing international support of political and religious leaders so that all this tragedy, I believe this is a tragedy for the whole of humanity, stops."

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, YAKUTIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

5. Various shots, Lena Pillars Nature Park

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, WESTERN INDIA

6. Various shots, Western Ghats mountain range

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, BAYREUTH, GERMANY

7. Various shots, Margravial Opera House

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

8. Various aerial shots, Rio de Janeiro and Corcovado Mountain

STORYLINE:

The head of UNESCO today (2 July) appealed for a stop to the destruction of historic landmarks at the World Heritage Site of Timbuktu in northern Mali, saying the acts were a "tragedy for the whole of humanity".

In a third day of attacks, an Islamist group today reportedly continued to damage mosques and mausoleums in the ancient city of Timbuktu, which UNESCO added to its list of World Heritage in Danger only last week.

Timbuktu, a World Heritage Site since 1988, was an intellectual and spiritual capital and a centre for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries, according to UNESCO.

Reacting to the attacks today, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said she was "extremely concerned" about the destruction, adding that the historic sites and artifacts in Timbuktu represented "an enormous value for humanity". What was happening there was "totally unacceptable".

Northern Mali has experienced upheaval since fighting between government troops and Tuareg rebels resumed in January and rebel soldiers took control of the country in a coup earlier this year.

Over the weekend, Bokova began to warn about reports that the Mausoleums of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya have been destroyed.

Today she said that UNESCO was mobilizing political and religious leaders to stop what she described as "a tragedy for the whole of humanity".

The World Heritage Committee this morning also announced the last of twenty-six new sites added to the list of World Heritage Sites this year.

The Lena Pillars Nature Park of the Russian Federation, marked by spectacular rock pillars that reach a height of approximately 100 metres along the banks of the Lena River in Yakutia, is one of five natural World Heritage Sites newly inscribed this year, along with India's Western Ghats mountain range and sites in Chad, China, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Congo.

A total of 20 cultural sites were inscribed this year, including the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth in Germany and the Carioca Landscapes of Brazil's coastal city of Rio de Janeiro.

Chad, Congo, Palau and Palestine had World Heritage sites inscribed on the list for the first time.

Filed under AFRICA UNESCO - United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.