Hosted at the "Assia-Djebbar" space at the Exhibition Center (Pins Maritimes), as part of the literary program of SILA dedicated to Africa, the meeting was moderated by teachers from the University of Adrar, namely Mebarek Djaafri and Abdeslem Kamoun.

On this occasion, Djaafri indicated that the Algerian cultural heritage "includes all knowledge, arts, traditions and intellectual works expressing national identity, including manuscripts that cover many areas, such as Islamic law, grammar, medicine, astronomy, history and Sufism, among others."

In Arabic or Tamazight, these manuscripts are found both in Algeria and in Africa, dating back to the periods when knowledge centers thrived in Tlemcen, Touat, Mzab, Tamanrasset, Tombouctou, Gao and Kano, promoting trade exchanges between many African countries through "pathways that have also allowed the transfer of Algerian manuscripts to Africa", said Djaafri.

This circulation of Algerian manuscripts towards Africa, he added, was notably brought about by "the displacement of populations on their way to the pilgrimage, the crossing of the old trade routes linking Touat to Tombouctou, and the links between Algerian merchant-scientists and those of western Sudan".

This imperative could be realized, according to Kamoun, by increasing bilateral and diplomatic cooperation with African countries in possession of Algerian manuscripts and referring to the 1954 Hague Convention and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which, considering the manuscripts as "a cultural good", stipulate in essence the "prohibition of any use that could expose them to destruction", obliging the member states to "protect" them.*

The speaker thus highlighted the importance of "raising awareness among the actors likely to speed up the process of identifying and safeguarding the Algerian manuscripts" occupying the shelves of African libraries.

Algerian manuscripts in Africa, focus of conference at SILA 2025