BAMAKO: Oumar Cisse used to lead tours of Djenne, an ancient, fabled city in central Mali known for its towering mud-brick mosque, but he now ekes out a living driving an old motorcycle taxi in Bamako.
Mali’s once robust tourism sector has dried up in recent years after an iron-fisted junta came to power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021 and as Al-Qaeda-linked militants waged a campaign of attacks.
“Under my fingernails, it’s no longer the sacred earth of Djenne, but engine grease,” Cisse told AFP, overcome with nostalgia for his former life.
Cisse left after the security situation deteriorated in the city, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is home to the Great Mosque of Djenne, the largest mud-brick structure in the world.
He is now focused on feeding his children, hopeful that they will remember that their father was once “a guide, a man of culture.”
