Ca y est

The illusive CREPISSAGE of the Great Mosque of Djenne finally took place this morning, after one or two false starts. Hotel Djenne Djenno has some guests tonight who have enjoyed themselves thoroughly apparently- I am in Bamako and talking on the phone.
For those who are disappointed they did not make it, there is still a chance: it was only half the mosque that was done. The other half is next Sunday. Still time to book yourself a room at Djenne Djenno for your once in a lifetime Mali experience!

Timbuktu in Bamako

Today was syttende maj , or the Norwegian National Day, celebrated tonight in a style far removed from the fjords of Norway  at Norwegian Consul Alida Boye’s house in Bamako where  the luminaries of Timbuktu’s manuscript world  had congregated.  Here they are all getting stuck into a whole roast sheep stuffed with cous cous  a la Timbuktu: centre top Ben Essayouti, second to the right of him Adel Wahid Haidara and picture bottom right Abdel Kader Haidara, all known to readers of this journal through their work at various times as consultants with the Djenne Manuscript Library.

Alida Boye has worked a lot with the manuscripts of Timbuktu and written a beautifully illustrated and conceived book called ‘ The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu’ with John Hunwick,  the  distinguished American Arabist and scholar who put Timbuktu on the map and opened the world’s eyes to the fact that sub-Saharan West Africa does indeed have a written past – something previously ignored.

 

 

My days are spent either in the Artisanat with Adama for my UK shoe order- here are the colours we have come up with: zinging bubblegum shades which will look great with the MaliMali rope sandals,

 

or at Moussa’s tailoring atelier, where I am trying to finish off the last orders to send off Down Under, which we were not able to finish in Djenne because of incessant power cuts.

The evenings are spent having fun with the Bamako diplomatic crowd in the company of my hostess Anne Maria. Last night we went to a lovely Thai restaurant and I finally met someone from the British Embassy. You might recall that my relationship with the British Embassy has not always been plain sailing, and it has been particularly strained since I attacked the last British Ambassador in a letter for not doing his job properly. He said he was not allowed to come to Djenne for security reasons: the Foreign Office told him he could not travel. I wrote back saying that I thought it was his job to tell the Foreign Office whether people were allowed to travel in Mali and not the other way around.

Anyway, that one is gone now. And the new generation has arrived in the shape of Adrian, a darling thing of not even thirty, fresh faced and fresh out from working at the Ministry of Defense. He is the second in command and Philip, the ambassador is just a little older and very nice too, so everyone tells me. And there was Stephanie, the bubbly and lovely second-in-command at the American Embassy.

So, another fun evening at the end of a gruelling day...

Back in Bamako

 Another day of dusty hardship on the Djenne bus brought me safely to Bamako last night- here we are arriving at sunset directly into in the madness which is the central market of Bamako where the Djenne bus terminus is located, next to the  Great Mosque.

 

 To travel on the main artery between Bamako and Mopti these days almost always brings an encounter with a very long convoy of French military vehicles either on their way north with loaded lorries or on their way back south with empty loads. The vehicles are always driven by young French soldiers. There is an almost palpable sense of POWER as the long convoy- often in numbers of 60-80- vehicles pass.  We wave and they wave back.

I am here to send off lots of parcels to Australia- the fruit of the ABC TV programme!- and also to  work with Adama the MaliMali cobbler- more of this later!

After the hardship  of the road I found myself rapidly consoled and in the lap of luxury once more, this time invited by my friend Anne Maria from the Danish Embassy, and this is where I am now about to escape for a dip in her pool!

Mud Slinging Mad!
The Masons of Djenne had a meeting this afternoon and decided that the mud was not 'ready'! It needs to lie in the vats a few days longer and infuse with the rice husks to produce the correct consistency. So this Thurday's Crepissage has been postponed. Meanwhile a photographer and reporter from the Swedish broadsheet Dagens Nyheter are winging their way here, arriving tomorrow! I have been able to find a few of the others who were to make up our jolly Crepissage Party, to warn them and give them the chance to cancel.
So annoying!

Red Berets and Orange Sandals

 

Much is happening and about to happen...

On the national scale there has been a reconciliation between the Beret Rouges – the elite para troop regiment which serves as the Presidential Guard and which had remained loyal to ATT- and the Berets Verts- more or less a euphemism for the rest of the Malian Army. The Beret Rouges are in Gao with a large contingent of the army and it is rumoured that it is these soldiers who will lead the Malian army into Kidal, and that this will happen imminently.

The Tuareg group ‘Platform Kal-Tamachek’, a national association representing the interests of Tuaregs in Mali held a press conference in Bamako two days ago, inviting all diplomats and international press, in order to voice their support for the Malian state and army, and in order to distance themselves from the MNLA, which they insist do not represent them. The COREN, the  important  group which represents Northern Malians of all ethnic back grounds have just held a forum with the same message. 

And on local level there is going to be the CREPISSAGE of the Great Mosque this Thursday! There are already enough journalists and photographers coming to fill up half of the hotel, and we are going to call in the Griots and the Balafon players and AN BE TA DONKE! (we will dance), for the first time in a very long time.

And MaliMali has a lot of orders  including one for 30 pairs of  leather rope sandals in different colours including burnt orange- will add picture  soon- from London (see accessories page www.malmali.org). So I will sit down at the Artisanat in Bamako very soon again and oversee the work with Adama, the MaliMali cobbler.

Rush, Rush Rush!

'Sophie Sarin Screen Goddess'

ahem...well...those are in fact the words of David Nice, my most frequent commentator and fellow blogger on his energetic, broad-ranging and always readable blog www.davidnice.blogspot.com when he gives a resume of the Australian TV programme 'the Road the Timbuktu'. Scroll down until you get to the 1st of May.
And what else? Well the Flamboyant tree is in splendid bloom- it always amazes me how it can explode in such blooms at the driest and hottest moment of the year- how does it have the strength?

KIDAL again…

It has now become virtually impossible to meet with friends for a drink, to have a dinner conversation, to travel on a bus or to spend more than five minutes in the company of Malians  without arriving at the thorny subject  of Kidal. It is the one preoccupying thought for the whole nation, causing distress and feelings of confusion about Mali’s relationship with France which so recently had been powerfully healed and enhanced by the French intervention and Francois Holland’s promise to stand by the Malian nation until the entire territory had been regained.   The French were hailed as great heroes and tricolors were once more flying on the streets of Mali. Some Malians are now beginning to remove their tricolors because of what is seen by many as France’s betrayal in their attitude to Kidal.

On the 30^th April  there was an interesting display of working democracy in Bamako. At the Assemblée Nationale  the deputies , put in place  at the last local elections under ATT and  representing all corners of Mali, had the opportunity of asking questions to a group of ministers from the interim government including the ministers of Defense, Interior and  Finance. The whole debate was televised and ran from 9h in the morning until 21h at night.

The two burning questions were: 1. clarification on the situation of Kidal and  2. the feasibility of elections in July. These two questions are linked of course: the elections which have been insisted upon by the French and the entire international community should be held by all the people of Mali, including the town of Kidal. But meanwhile it appears that the French and Chadian troops are patrolling the town of Kidal together with the MNLA . Once again it is perhaps useful to reflect on the fact that the MNLA is a group of rebels who holds no mandate from the Touareg people. On the other hand   there were around ten democratically elected Touareg representatives from locations in the north including Kidal present and voting for their communities at this meeting of the National Assembly.

The defense minister Yamoussa Camara once more performed the diplomatic feat of speaking  about Kidal without exactly spelling out the situation, which still remains vague. We still do not know if the absence of the Malian army in Kidal is because they have orders from the French to keep out, or because they are not ready to go. The MNLA that remains in Kidal are not many, but they refuse steadfastly to lay down their guns. The defense minister did however state that the Malian army will be in Kidal within two weeks. Yesterday a new Governor of Kidal was announced. Whatever will happen is going to happen quite soon…

The resolution that was voted unanimously by the assembly at the end of the long day stated that elections will be held in July in the entire territory of Mali.  The condition for the elections to be held is therefore the liberation of Kidal and its restoration into the Malian state.

So what do people think will happen next?  Some are of the opinion that the arrival of the Malian Army and administration in Kidal will go ahead without a fight. The MNLA will lay down their weapons.  Some are wondering who will fight on what side if there is a fight. Will the French step aside and let the Malians’ sort out what they perceive, perhaps, as their internal problems themselves? They will probably not intervene. What will the Chadians do? Surely they would fight on the side of the Malian army? Perhaps they will also remain on the sidelines?

It is very hazy...What is going to happen?