The Islamist attack on a 15th-century shrine in northern Mali constitutes a "crime against history", according to UNESCO.
Fears of deadly reprisals by Islamists led Timbuktu elders on Tuesday (July 3rd) to discourage young people from protesting attacks on the Malian city's ancient Muslim shrines.
Timbuktu youths had planned to demonstrate Tuesday against the destruction of seven mausoleums of Muslim saints and the door of a mosque dating from the fifteenth century.
"We asked the youth not to show because we fear that these people (the Islamists) will kill them. And we will pray for God to get us out of this situation," Kamiss, a patriarch from the Bella Farandi neighbourhood, told AFP.
Elders of the city went door-to-door on Monday night urging young people to "avoid a bloodbath". The Islamists were likely to use their weapons against the people at demonstrations, citizens were told.
"We followed their advice and we'll wait," local youth Ahmad said, without specifying what young people would do in the coming days.
"God will make them pay for their actions," he said.
Also on Tuesday, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) called for an end to the destruction of a Timbuktu shrine by Islamist militants in northern Mali. World governments and international bodies must not "allow vandals to wipe out historical monuments", according to the statement released at the World Heritage Committee meeting in St. Petersburg.
The destruction of Sidi Yahya mosque, built around 1400, amounts to "a crime against history", according to UNESCO.
Islamist group Ansar al-Din attacked the historical landmark on Monday in response to UNESCO's move to put the city on the list of endangered world heritage sites.
"We don't acknowledge UNESCO," Ansar al-Din spokesperson Sanda Ould Bouamama said. "What is UNESCO? We don't care about the words of any entity because God is one without partners. All UNESCO's calls are just polytheism. We are Muslims and we don't revere any shrines or idols."
"Ansar al-Din men preferred to start their demolition operations from Sidi Yahya shrine in the northern area of town at Abraz popular neighbourhood, one of the biggest neighbourhoods in town, because this grave is one of the most visited destinations in town," journalist in northern Mali Mohamed Ag Ahmedu told Magharebia.
Sidi Yahya mosque dates back to the city's golden age as a desert crossroads and centre for learning. The door on the south end of the mosque has been closed for centuries due to local beliefs that to open it would bring misfortune.
"One of their members said while raising his axe on one of the holy shrines: 'We're doing this to please God because visiting graves is a novelty and polytheism against Allah. Today, apostates have no place to go to'," Ag Ahmedu added.
"Sharia has ordered flattening graves which are higher than the Sharia-prescribed height," Sahara Media on Saturday quoted Ansar al-Din supporter Abu al-Baraa as saying. He condemned those who "ignore the reality of this religion" and "ask people buried in these graves for things that God can only do".
"Flattening graves is an endeavour to protect the Sharia to ensure monotheism and protect the right of God Almighty. This is what we're doing and we hope that God will help us complete it," al-Baraa said.
Many Timbuktu residents, however, remained unconvinced by these arguments.
"It is illogical of any reasonable person to approve of this act," Osman Mohamed, a young man in Timbuktu, told Magharebia. "No ruler or a regular person has ever dared to do this in the long history of this city which dates back to centuries. This incident shows the harshest stage of societal, cultural and human backwardness in the history of this region."
"It is sad to see bearded men not hailing from this city roaming the streets and shocking people with all types of practices," he sadly added. "They then trample on the feelings of people who find themselves unable to do anything."
The Islamist group loosely affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) seized control of the northern city last week.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on June 29th in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast urged the UN Security Council to allow deploying regional forces to confront the armed groups that took over northern Mali.
"There must be a decisive confrontation with the criminal and terrorist groups in northern Mali," African Union Commission chief Jean Ping said.
© Magharebia.com 2012
