Date: 27/09/2005
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: SA-Mali Project Fundraising Dinner


  Address of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, at the SA-Mali Project Fundraising Dinner, St Georges Hotel, City of Tshwane

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you very much for your presence here today to support an important project - the South Africa-Mali Project for the preservation of the Timbuktu Manuscripts. As you know, that joint project was initiated by the governments of South Africa and Mali as part of our contribution to the renaissance of Africa.

This dinner has been organised to raise more funds to carry forward this vital project which must ensure that Timbuktu Manuscripts will always be available as part of the historic African literary, scientific and scholarly heritage. Your presence here tonight shows the importance you attach to this project.

Writing for National Geographic News on 27 May 2003, under the title, "Reclaiming the Ancient Manuscripts of Timbuktu", Chris Rainier said:

"Since the 12th century, accompanying the camel caravans rode the intrepid scholars of Islamic learning, bringing with them over time hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. These bound texts highlighted the great teachings of Islam during the middle ages. These sacred manuscripts covered an array of subjects: astronomy, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, judicial law, government, and Islamic conflict resolution. Islamic study during this period of human history, when the intellectual evolution had stalled in the rest of Europe was growing, evolving, and breaking new ground in the fields of science, mathematics, astronomy, law and philosophy within the Muslim world.

"By the 1300s the "Ambassadors of Peace" centred around the University of Timbuktu created roving scholastic campuses and religious schools of learning that travelled between the cities of Timbuktu, Gao, and Dj