Timbuktu Manuscripts appeal to preserve the Timbuktu Manuscripts. A former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, said that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu. U.S. based book preservation expert Stephanie Diakité and Dr. Abdel Kader Haidara, curator of one of the most important libraries of Timbuktu, a position handed down in his family for generations, organized the evacuation of the manuscripts to Bamako in the south of Mali. Timbuktu has a long tradition of celebrating and honoring family manuscript collections. It is traditional for
Second Battle of Timbuktu A Malian soldier taking part in the fighting said, "The jihadists are a few. They sneaked into the military camp and the city of Timbuktu. There is shooting at the moment, but we'll get to the end." Timbuktu residents said as of that Sunday afternoon shooting could still be heard in the city. On Sunday morning, the Malian army launched operations to track down the infiltrated jihadists. By the mid-afternoon, heavy street-fighting left a Malian soldier and two jihadists dead. A French unit of around 50 soldiers were dispatched to reinforce the Malian army in Timbuktu, and got further back-up