The Tomb of Askia had finally begun its restoration when a roof gave way under the effect of the years and the rains, highlighting the vulnerability of the monument made of raw earth in Gao (northern Mali), listed as a world heritage site in danger, and the threat of climate change.
It was mid-August, when the Sahel was experiencing torrential rains. “We haven’t had this amount of rain in ten years,” says Abdoulaye Cissé, an architect who is bringing his expertise in raw earth architecture to the rehabilitation on behalf of a French NGO.
Part of the ceiling of the men’s mosque, which flanks the tomb itself, a 17-metre-high stepped pyramid, with the women’s mosque, gave way under the weight of waterlogged earth during the repair of a pillar.
Abdoulaye Cissé puts things into perspective: the construction site opened in March, four years after its announcement, would have been stopped anyway during the rainy season and will resume later, perhaps at the end of September. And then this setback, after many others, was predictable. The work carried out since March has confirmed it: “The structure is weakened, the wood is very, very old.”
The Tomb was built in 1495 by Askia Mohamed, under whom Gao became the capital of the Songhai Empire and Islam the official religion.
Listed as a World Heritage Site in 2004, the tomb, with its flat-roofed mosques, necropolises and open-air assembly area, was added to the endangered heritage list in 2012 when the jihadists and separatists took Gao and Timbuktu, also recognised by UNESCO for its exceptional interest.
UNESCO concluded that the protection of the site could no longer be guaranteed. The rebels have since been driven out of the towns. But the region is still plagued by violence and foreign experts no longer come.
The construction site opened in March is therefore welcome news. Ali Daou, programme manager at UNESCO, is “not aware of any intervention of such magnitude on the tomb” in half a millennium of its existence.
Of course, every two years or so, the inhabitants gather for the traditional “crepissage”, the resumption of the mud plaster, a mixture of clayey earth and chopped straw. They lean on the permanent scaffolding of poles that protrude from the pyramid and give it its unique appearance.
– Conscious Masonry –
But this constant care can alter the conservation. The overloads of earth create fragilities, the use of exotic wood in place of the local hasu which is becoming rare compromises the authenticity of the whole.
Part of the project involves replacing wood that is out of place or has been eaten by termites, Mr. Cissé said. Another part aims to restore the original shape of a building that has been “very eroded by rain and wind.”
The company, under the supervision of the Malian State, is financed to the tune of 500,000 dollars by Aliph, an international foundation for the defense of heritage in conflict zones. The CRAterre association, which promotes the use of raw earth, provides its skills.
The parties to the project insist on its global and sustainable dimension. A nursery has been planted near the tomb to supply it with hasu wood. The project employs local craftsmen, and works to safeguard and transmit ancestral know-how.
For Valery Freland, director of Aliph, “one of the real challenges is how traditional earthen architecture can cope with climatic phenomena that are a priori more significant than in the past.” Aliph is confronted with this reality everywhere it operates, in Niger, Sudan or Yemen, he says.
The Sahel, on the edge of the Sahara, is one of the regions in the world most severely exposed to the consequences of global warming. Along with the north of the Gulf of Guinea countries, it has experienced rains in recent weeks “overall 120 to 600% higher than the average for the 1991-2020 reference period”, reports the food security organization Agrhymet. The floods have caused hundreds of deaths.
A study by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (France) showed in 2022 that the Sahel had experienced a “highly significant” increase in extreme precipitation between 1983 and 2015. An event that had an average chance of one in ten occurring every year now occurs one year in five.
Despite the departure of populations fleeing desertification and war, Ali Daou of UNESCO and the architect Cissé have faith in the attachment of local people to the tomb in the face of danger.
When jihadists destroyed the mausoleums of Timbuktu, the people of Gao protected the site. Masons know the place by heart because they “pray there five times a day,” says Mr. Cissé. And “their vigilance can strengthen resilience,” including in the face of climate change.
bur-lal/blb/emp
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