In Mauritania, a medieval town and its centuries-old manuscripts face the desert

Nicknamed "the shore of eternity," Oualata is one of the four ksour of Mauritania, along with its contemporaries Chingetti, Tichit, and Ouadane. Thanks to their key positions on the caravan routes across the Sahara, these cities, founded between the 11th and 12th centuries, prospered to become important centers of Islamic cultural scholarship.

In the empty streets of the city, under the oppressive heat, piles of stones and ripped-up walls bear witness to the ravages of the last rainy season, which was particularly violent.

"Many houses have collapsed because of the rains," laments Khady, a resident, in front of the collapsed house she inherited from her grandparents.

"The houses have become ruins because their owners have left them," says Mr. Sidiya, representative of the National Foundation for the Preservation of Ancient Cities in Oualata.

Exode

For decades, Oualata has suffered an exodus of residents in search of economic opportunities, making the maintenance of historic buildings difficult. Its population has declined significantly: today, there are around 2.000 residents, including the surrounding area.

These traditional buildings, covered with banco, a red earth coating characteristic of the region, are designed to adapt to this extreme environment. But they must be maintained after the rains.

Of the 293 plots of land in the old town, only about a hundred are still occupied.

"Our biggest problem is desertification. Oualata is covered in sand everywhere," explains Mr. Sidiya.

The phenomenon of desertification affects 80% of the national territory, caused in particular by "climate change and inappropriate exploitation practices," according to the Mauritanian Ministry of the Environment.

"The desert experienced a green period before the great desertification of the 70s," which saw "the installation of sand dunes," notes Boubacar Diop, director of Nature Protection in Mauritania.

In the 80s, the interior of the Oualata mosque was so covered in sand that "people prayed on the mosque," recalls Béchir Barick, a geographer at the University of Nouakchott. It has since been freed from the sand.

Battered by wind and sand, Oualata has preserved its former glory with its superb acacia doors painted by women with traditional motifs, and several thousand century-old manuscripts passed down from generation to generation in 16 family libraries.

Sitting cross-legged on a rug, Mohamed Ben Baty turns the pages of a three-century-old manuscript. "We inherited this library from our ancestors, the founders of the city," he emphasizes.

Like his ancestors before him, this imam is the repository of almost a thousand years of knowledge, descending from a long line of scholars of the Koran.

Outside, the morning air of the Sahara is already hot, but the mud-brick building retains a certain coolness.

223 manuscripts

The family collection includes 223 manuscripts, the oldest of which dates from the XNUMXth century, according to Mr. Ben Baty.

In a tiny, cluttered room, he half-opens a cupboard and reveals his treasure: centuries-old writings whose preservation is sometimes nothing short of miraculous.

"These books were once very poorly maintained and exposed to destruction," says Mr. Ben Baty, showing water stains on pages slipped into plastic sleeves.

In the past, books were stored in trunks, "but when it rains, water seeps in and can spoil the books."

Part of the roof of the small room collapsed eight years ago during the rainy season.

In the 90s, Spanish cooperation helped finance a library containing more than 2.000 works, which were restored and digitized. Due to a lack of funding, the preservation of these writings depends on the goodwill of a few enthusiasts like Mr. Ben Baty, who does not live in Oualata year-round.

"The library needs a qualified expert to ensure its management and sustainability because it contains a wealth of valuable documentation for researchers in various fields: languages, Quranic sciences, history, astronomy," he summarizes.

Tourist revenue is virtually nonexistent. Oualata, located two hours by road from the nearest town, has no hostels and is located in an area "formally not recommended" by many countries due to the jihadist threat.

Faced with the inexorable advance of the desert, trees were planted around the city in 1994. Insufficient, notes Mr. Sidiya.

A few initiatives have helped save Oualata and its contemporaries from certain extinction. A festival of ancient towns is organized annually in one of the four towns, providing funding for renovations and development investments to keep the population in place.

At the end of the day, the sun sets behind the Dhaar mountain range and in the new-found coolness, hundreds of children fill the streets: Oualata comes back to life.