Document Exploitation: The Timbuktu Manuscripts, UNESCO & the 1954 Hague Convention The danger to ancient manuscripts in Timbuktu in an internal armed conflict in Mali between military officers (who overthrew the President in March) and Tuarag rebels, who now control much of the North, have been well-documented in several places (see, e.g., here, here, and here - a petition to protect the manuscripts is here).