Encroaching desert and climate change threaten medieval Mauritanian city

AFP English

More than a thousand kilometres from the Mauritanian capital, the medieval town of Oualata has been devastated by the encroaching desert and recent heavy rains attributed to climate change. Many have left the crumbling town, leaving those who remain to try and preserve its historic buildings as well as its store of valuable manuscripts.

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00:00La date de la maison, ça dure plus de 4 à 5 siècles.

00:30La date de la maison, c'est quoi?

00:59This room fell because of the rain, but I don't have the way to do that.

01:14Today, my children and other children come to help me.

01:20They have removed it.

01:22And I want someone to help me to build my house.

01:29It's an old city. It's a beautiful city. It's extraordinary.

01:58They ask that the people of Oualatá come back to Oualatá,

02:04to rebuild their houses and to be in the right conditions.

02:10They ask that the people of Oualatá are in the right conditions.

02:16They ask that the people of Oualatá are in the right conditions.

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