Operation Timbuktu
As Mali jihadist Ahmad Al-Mahdi faces the ICC over destroying cultural artifacts, we revisit the story of the unlikely scholarly heroes who saved Timbuktu's priceless written treasures from hard-line Jihadist rebels.
Islamic militants left a swathe of destruction when they were forced out of Timbuktu, leading to a dangerous undercover operation to smuggle its priceless 13th Century manuscripts out of the country. "They burnt everything. We lost 4,203 manuscripts here that night", says Abdoulaye Cisse of the Ahmed Baba Institute.
FULL SYNOPSIS