The Tazzla Institute for Cultural Diversity in the United States recently announced the establishment of a new initiative, the Timbuktu Heritage Project, a joint undertaking with the Timbuktu Heritage Institute of Mali. One of the project’s core goals is to identify historical manuscripts taken or reproduced from libraries in Timbuktu, Mali, and to return them to their rightful places. Issa Ag Mohammed heads the latter organization. Issa is an Touareg and Amazigh activist from Mali recently independently enjoined by the Malian government to locate, confiscate and return to their points of origin manuscripts and artifacts illicitly taken out of the country. The Embassy of Mali in Washington, D.C. will serve in an oversight capacity in the venture. See Spotlight Article
