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Mali Case Study This project is funded by the European Union November 2020 Culture in ruins The illegal trade in cultural property Case study: Mali Julia Stanyard and Rim Dhaouadi Summary This case study forms part of a set of publications on the illegal trade in cultural property across North and West Africa, made up of a research paper and three case studies (on Mali, Nigeria, and North Africa). The study aims to describe how the breakdown of security has shaped the long-standing dynamics of illicit trade in Malian cultural objects. The research is focused on the northern and central regions of Mali where archaeological looting is most intense. Key findings • In the early 1980s, large-scale trade in cultural objects from all regions emerged, driven by international demand and drought-related economic hardship in the archaeologically rich regions. • In recent years, the looting of archaeological sites has again increased dramatically as economic pressure on communities in conflict-affected regions has risen. • The key areas for looting are around Djenné, Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao. • Regional middlemen have historically controlled and financed teams of looters. The current economic pressures and breakdown of state structures have introduced new groups of looters while at the same time entrenching the established regional middlemen. • Bamako is still a major centre for illegal trade but other routes across Mali’s porous land borders are being increasingly used. CASE STUDY CASE Introduction A broad range of actors was interviewed including: Situated at the confluence of ancient trade routes • People involved in illegal trading crossing the Sahara and at the centre of major medieval • Members of Malian cultural institutions civilisations, modern Mali is home to an inestimable • Law enforcement members cultural, archaeological and historical wealth.1 However, • Members of the military this heritage is threatened by destruction from both • European-based antiquities dealers engaged in armed groups and illegal trade. trading Malian cultural objects During the 2012–2013 crisis when the northern regions of the country were occupied by jihadist insurgents, Legal and institutional context cultural sites and artefacts became the focus of targeted, Since 1985, Mali has developed an arsenal of ideologically-based destruction.2 These sites and legislation to fight illicit trade in cultural property.8 artefacts included medieval manuscripts in Timbuktu, Among other things, this legislation controls the numerous mausoleums, sites in Gao such as the Tomb export and trade in cultural property,9 regulates of Askia and monuments in the Pays Dogon region. archaeological excavations and aims to promote Several thousand of the famed medieval manuscripts and protect Mali’s cultural heritage.10 of Timbuktu were burned while thousands more were Under this legislation, it is illegal to export any rescued by much-lauded ‘smuggling’ operations that cultural object without a licence for that specific covertly brought collections to Bamako under the object granted by the National Museum in Bamako. tutelage of preservation organisations.3 The licence will either authorise that the object is a modern copy (and hence legal to export) or The 2016 prosecution in the International Criminal that it is to be temporarily exhibited abroad. The Court of former Ansar Dine militant Ahmad al-Faqi licences are co-signed by the Direction Nationale du al-Mahdi for crimes of cultural destruction in Timbuktu Patrimoine Culturel (DNPC) to ensure transparency was the first case of its kind.4 Military and civil authorities and accountability in the system.11 in Mali,5 along with international organisations such as Mali and the United States (US) have a bilateral the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural agreement that prohibits the importation of Malian Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Council objects to the US without an export licence.12 of Museums (ICOM),6 have stressed that the ongoing conflict and civil strife in Mali have led to a surge in the Mali’s cultural heritage and the fight against illicit trafficking are managed by the DNPC, the National looting of cultural heritage sites.7 Museum of Mali and Cultural Missions located in 13 Illegal trade in Malian cultural heritage encompasses important cultural regions across the country. These institutions are responsible for: both archaeological and ethnographic objects. These include the Djenné terracotta figurines (excavated from • Safeguarding national cultural collections archaeological sites in the Niger River Valley, especially • Engaging with communities in cultural areas on the harm and illegality of trading in antiquities around Djenné), Timbuktu manuscripts, bronze • Collaborating with the Ministry of Culture, sculptures and jewellery, ancient beads and the highly national and international law enforcement, the valued wooden sculptures of the Pays Dogon region. military police and customs on investigations into illicit trafficking14 This case study aims to describe how the breakdown of security has shaped and altered the long-standing The national institutions also engage with dynamics of illicit trade in Malian cultural property. international bodies such as ICOM to promote Interviews were conducted in Bamako in June 2019. international awareness of illicit trafficking and These were followed by remote interviews with other collaborate with UNESCO on projects such as engaging with local communities. Until interviewees both in Bamako and in the northern and September 2018, the protection of cultural sites central regions of Mali where archaeological looting is was also within the mandate of the United Nations most intense but to which travel is currently restricted Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission due to the conflict. Interviews were also conducted with in Mali (MINUSMA) and its activities included the European-based antiquities dealers engaged in trading protection of cultural sites in the region of Gao.15 Malian cultural objects. 2 Culture in ruins: The illegal trade in cultural property, Mali Historical development: a long- Powerful dealers, able to command the more localised standing illegal market dealers on behalf of established international clients, including art collectors and dealers, based themselves The modern looting of Malian cultural objects in Bamako.22 So too did traders dealing in less has its roots in the exploitative and violent rarefied archaeological artefacts, who would offer acquisition of objects during the colonial period, these alongside other legal wares, catering to a more which subsequently shaped tastes and practices opportunistic expatriate and tourist market passing through the hub of Bamako. These traders would use in international art markets. Post-independence, individuals within the tourist industry as intermediaries archaeological excavation work and publications between the customer base and those offering illustrating the Djenné terracottas in the late 1970s archaeological objects for sale.23 helped to bring the ancient empires of Mali and their associated forms of figurative art into the The primary destinations, particularly for terracotta international spotlight.16 objects, were repeatedly emphasised by interviewees as being Europe (in particular France and Belgium) Observers described the emergence of a burgeoning and the US. This historical trend is well documented trade in objects from all regions during the early and was confirmed confirmed in interviews with both 1980s, spurred both by international demand and Malian and internationally-based archaeologists,24 through drought-related economic hardship in museum officials in Mali, dealers within the Malian 17 archaeologically rich regions. It was during this art market and European-based dealers. These period that an increasingly sophisticated and large- interviewees verified that a large proportion of material scale trade in archaeological material emerged. Local on Western antiquities markets emerged during the antiquities dealers began to recruit and employ large late 1980s and early 1990s.25 teams of looters for individual sites, predominantly Controversies have emerged over the past decades local farmers and residents of villages near the around key individuals, collectors and museums over archaeological sites.18 exhibiting objects that appear to have been looted during this period.26 The emergence of a thriving market Archaeological excavation in looted archaeological material caused alarm among archaeologists and the heritage sector both within Mali brought the ancient empires and internationally.27 of Mali and their art into the The emergence of a thriving international spotlight market in looted archaeological The Belgian journalist Michel Brent conducted material has caused alarm extensive investigative work on the looting of Malian heritage. He estimated that as the market Heritage preservation initiatives were introduced grew, more than a thousand local looters were within the country, including the establishment of the employed within a hundred-mile radius of the Mission Culturelle de Djenné and efforts to sensitise town of Mopti, which served as a central waypoint local populations to the importance of preserving in the movement of archaeological goods towards archaeological heritage through, for example, radio 19 Bamako. This was corroborated by interviewees campaigns.28 The consensus among the archaeologists 20 with experience in the market at this time. and museum staff interviewed
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