Timbuktu’s ancient manuscripts return after years away

In a room at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, staff photograph and scan fragile manuscripts, page by page.

These texts, some dating back hundreds of years, contain knowledge that scholars say exists nowhere else.

Thirteen years ago, when al-Qaida-connected fighters swept into the city, staff and local families smuggled tens of thousands of manuscripts south to Bamako for safety.

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