Mali

"He rents a little room on a piece of land in Sirakoro, a district of Bamako which also draws displaced people. The old philosophy professor carried off a bit of literature with him in his exile. He reads Flaubert pending an improvement of the situation up there. Before closing up his place when Islamist groups arrived in Tessalit, the old man took care to bury his book collection under sand on his patio.

At nightfall, not far away, people from the North gather to share tea over a game of draughts and a bowling pitch improvised from dirt ground on a calm road. I seem to recognize, amongst the throwers and shooters, protagonists from the conflict who I thought were totally opposed to one another. Whether they’re ardent nationalists or secessionist supporters of the MNLA, they’re no less cousins and game partners."

Extract from Retour à Tombouctou, 2015, Éditions Gallimard