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Libraries in the sand reveal Africa's academic past

Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance. Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150 000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century.

A river runs through it

Lloyd Gedye and photographer Lisa Skinner went on a journey up Africa's third-longest river.

'Welcome to the middle of nowhere'

Lloyd Gedye and photographer Lisa Skinner visited the world's most remote music festival.

The Tuareg hustle

Survival for some families depends on using the slickest sales pitch in the desert, writes Lloyd Gedye

The bridesmaid of Timbuktu

The griots adjusted their robes and began some leg stretches in anticipation of the tremendous leaps they would soon be performing.

SA helps Mali modernise ancient libraries

SA and Mali opened a high-tech library in the Malian desert town of Timbuktu on Saturday, boosting efforts to preserve ancient manuscripts.

The Tuareg export

The Festival in the Desert is a gathering of the nomadic Tuareg people from the Sahara desert, in which they celebrate their through song and dance.

Peace process in northern Mali back on track

After recent flare-ups and clashes between the Malian army and Tuareg rebels in northern Mali, the peace process was revived this week.

'Tuareg Disneyland' in the desert

Timbuktu's mythical reputation puts it at the edge of the world, in which case the annual Festival in the Desert would seem to have tumbled off the edge. Deep in the Sahara the festival in the Essakane oasis is hard to get to, but that doesn't deter a growing numbers of visitors from flocking there every January to hear Malian, West African and international world music acts perform.

Tuareg rebels attack Mali army camp, 32 killed

Tuareg rebels attacked an army camp in north-eastern Mali where 17 rebels and 15 soldiers were killed in one of the bloodiest clashes to date in a revolt by the desert insurgents, the government said on Thursday. A Defence Ministry statement said an "armed band" assaulted the camp at Abebara during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in Mali's remote north-east.