Back in Bamako

Writing again from the relative safety of Bamako and the comfort of the Swedish residence . I think I am suffering from a delayed reaction to the events in Timbuktu. I felt unnaturally calm when the explosions and the sustained machine gun fire seemed to be surrounding us in our hotel. Now I feel it is difficult  to concentrate and to forge new plans : I think I am literally suffering from some minor shell shock perhaps…I am glad that Fr Columba and Walid are still here. Together we are picking up the pieces and we will be  making sure the project goes ahead.

Four young Swedish soldiers in full combat gear  turned up after night fall at our hotel room just after I had written  the last message. Two armoured vehicles stood waiting for us outside and we climbed in to what felt like a set of an action movie, or as  Fr. Columba called it afterwards : a boy’s dream . Flashing instrument panel more like an air craft than a vehicle ; hissing and wheezing of communication equipment with incomprehensible instructions ;  standing next to me in the back  was the lower part of a pair of hairy blonde suntanned legs (in shorts for some reason)  belonging to the soldier whose upper body was in the position of look out and gunner of our vehicle as we travelled the short route from the hotel to the UN camp Nobel which houses in the region of 200 Swedes. The soldiers were not very talkative. I wanted to know if they had taken part in the fighting and they replied ‘yes’, in a way that did not invite further investigation. I expect they had other things on their minds than small talk…

It seems that the final number of casualties of the attack,  which continued for more than four hours, was 12 . Five of these were Malian employees of a private security company who stood, unarmed, at the gates of the UN head quarter housed in the old Hendrina Khan hotel. There were five assailants killed and one civilian as well as one UN soldier, apparently Togolese. Une further UN soldier from Burkina Faso was seriously wounded and operated on at the Swedish camp . He regained consciouness and was in a stable condition the following day.

Once we arrived at the Camp Nobel we had to hand in our telephones and our laptops. Then we were shown around : the large canteen ; the bathrooms ;  our air conditioned tent with about ten camp beds, each with a separate mosquito net structure and bedding. Next to our tent was the Chapel tent where Fr. Columba said mass the following morning : it was the Feast of the Assumption and also Walid’s birthday.

We are very grateful to Eva for arranging our evacuation to the Swedish  camp,  and also for  the kindness and hospitality shown to us by the Swedish soldiers. We  were extremely well looked after in the camp.  It soon became quite clear that we were not going to be able to return to the town  of Timbuktu, however.  We had to arrange our flights out of there and there was only one way out of the camp : escorted by the Swedish military to the airport. Nevertheless, we were able to arrange a meeting with Ben Essayouti and his nephew Alpha, who is the archivist in the Imam Ben Essayouti library by the Jingerey Ber Mosque. They were allowed into Camp Nobel for an hour’s meeting in the Church tent where we made emergency plans.  It was decided that the next day they would open up the boxes which have arrived for the project and they will begin the first task together with four of the people I chose  when I came on my recruitment visit last month. They are already  able to prepare the manuscripts for digitization by cleaning  the manuscripts with the special brushes supplied and they can begin the numbering of the pages with pencils.  We are going to try and send up a Malian  digitization expert from Bamako next week, someone already trained by Walid who will be able to carry out the instruction. Walid is trying to arrange this as I am writing . I have been in touch with the young Timbuktu staff I chose in July : they are all well educated but most  have never been able to find work. One has spent two years in a Mauritanian refugee camp. I was so happy and proud that we were able to offer them employment.
The project will go ahead. Of this  we are certain.