Mali Says Rebel Tomb Desecration a War Crime - Voice of America

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has warned Islamist rebels in northern Mali that their systematic destruction of revered Muslim tombs in Timbuktu is a war crime, which her office has authority to investigate.  

In an interview with the French News Agency Sunday, Fatou Bensouda called on Islamist rebels to stop the desecration of Mali's religious sites.  

Butty interview with Hamadoune Toure

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The hardline Islamists, who seized control of Timbuktu along with the rest of northern Mali three months ago, consider the shrines to be idolatrous and have destroyed seven tombs. 

Hamadoune Toure, Mali's Minister for Communication, and government spokesman, said his government is in the process of submitting a request to the ICC to bring charges of war crimes against the Islamist rebels.

"We are planning to see the ICC so that these people can be tried by the International Criminal Court.  At the same time, on the national level, we have also started a procedure to try these people," he said.

Toure said the request to the ICC is being prepared by a ministerial committee and should be ready as soon as possible.

The attack on the ancient mausoleums comes just days after the UN cultural agency put Timbuktu on its list of sites that are in danger. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee urged the African Union and the international community to help protect Timbuktu and its 16 ancient mausoleums.

Toure said the destruction of tombs had nothing to do with Islam, adding that the Malian people will continue to defend their cultural values.

"We know it is something unacceptable; it has nothing to do with religion; it's a violation of our culture, but they can do whatever they want.  They cannot destroy the links we have with our people who are resting there in peace," Toure said.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is working on a plan to send about 3,300 troops to Mali, but the group needs international support in the form of logistics.

ECOWAS leaders met Friday in Yamoussoukro to discuss the crises in Mali and Guinea-Bissau.

ECOWAS negotiations with the northern rebels have been led by Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore. Toure said his government has made clear that Mali's territorial integrity is non-negotiable.

"We just went to Ouagadougou to talk with the mediator.  We told him we had two non-negotiable issues: the integrity of the Malian territory; it's also a republic; it cannot be an Islamic Republic, and we cannot accept the partition of our country," Toure said.

During the past week Ansar Dine and other Islamist groups in northern Mali fought with separatist Tuareg rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, or MNLA.  The Islamists succeeded in pushing the MNLA out of the main northern cities of Gao and Timbuktu.