CGD's Todd Moss was referenced in a Daily Beast article on Mali and the destruction of Timbuktu.
From the article:
In January, the secular Tuareg separatist group, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), started a revolt against the Bamako-based government and by March had control over the country’s entire northern territory. But in April, after a military coup in Bamako, Islamist groups—most notably, Ansar Dine, which has aligned itself with al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb—took over most areas held by the MNLA. Unlike the MNLA, Ansar Dine wants to institute Sharia.
The Islamist group comprises a small foreign group of fighters, who, according to former deputy assistant secretary for Africa at the State Department Todd Moss, number “in the hundreds, not the thousands,” though they are well trained and well funded.
And in a few short months, they have wreaked havoc in Mali.
Since the April coup, 230,000 people are reported to have fled the country while more than 155,000 have become internally displaced. In the past, Mali, like Afghanistan, has been ignored by the West, presenting an opening for al Qaeda strategists who see opportunity in places of poverty, chaos, and weak governance. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé has been warning of the “expanding terrorism threat” in the area.
The presence of Ansar Dine in Mali won’t be tolerated by either the West or the African Union, predicted Bandarin of UNESCO. “This is a sign of things to come. I can’t predict anything but…a military intervention is very possible.”
Moss, now the vice president for programs at the Center for Global Development, agrees that the situation is “extremely fluid” and that the international community won’t allow al Qaeda–affiliated groups to establish a safe haven in Mali. “If that means war from the air, that’s what it means,” he said. (The United States has already dispatched a small number of special forces. But Moss said he didn’t believe that the U.S. or France would put a significant number of troops on the ground.)
While the West and Africa try to figure out what is to be done, the treasures of Timbuktu continue to be destroyed—and many fear the historic libraries full of ancient manuscripts will be destroyed or pillaged next.
“Malian Islamic scholars have worked for years protect them, with foreign backing,” Bandarin said. “I have no idea what has happened with the manuscripts so far, but the situation can change very rapidly. These are valuable goods and can be pillaged. We have warned all surrounding countries to watch for stolen goods, but the borders [of Mali] are huge, in the middle of nowhere and not patrolled. The manuscripts are at high risk of being of lost.”