BURKINA FASO REQUESTS U.S. SUPPORT FOR WORLD HERITAGE SITE

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 000170 DEPT FOR IO/UNESCO - GRITZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SCUL OPDC UNESCO UV SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO REQUESTS U.S. SUPPORT FOR WORLD HERITAGE SITE ¶1. This is an action request, please see paragraph 2. ¶2. On February 16, 2009, Post received a dipnote officially requesting U.S. support for Burkina Faso's request to name the Loropeni Ruins in Western Burkina Faso as a UNESCO World Heritage Site during the upcoming June World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, Spain. Post requests Department guidance on preparing a response to this request. ¶3. Informal translation of dipnote: Dipnote Complimentary Opening The Ministry is forwarding a letter dated January 21, 2009 from the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Communication and Spokesman for the Government, regarding Burkina Faso's candidacy for designation of the Loropeni Ruins as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Ministry appreciates the Embassy's assistance in communicating this information to the appropriate American authorities. Dipnote Complimentary Closing ¶4. Informal translation of Letter from the Ministry of Culture: Ambassador, I would like to inform you that my country is a candidate for designation of the Lorpeni Ruins as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Attentive action on Burkina Faso's application to consolidate its role in the cultural concert of nations will be very much appreciated as well as any advice. Complimentary Closing ¶5. Informal translation of dossier Loropeni Ruins The Loropeni Ruins are stone constructions (laterite boulders cemented with a gravel mortar) dating from before the 11th century of our era. The Loropeni Ruins are situated in the rural Commune of Loropeni, Poni Province, in the South-West Region of Burkina Faso. They are a testament to the development of an original concept of fortified housing structures. They are built from a massive rampart in a rectangular shape measuring approximately 100 meters in length, six meters high, with a wall depth of 1.4 meters at the base, which thins toward the top. They are included in the group called the Ruins of Lobi, which occupies the geographic space that today includes Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. They constitute the material witness of a regional civilization at a given moment in its history. These remnants, which have guarded their mysterious character intact, demonstrate the indigenous capabilities that certain African people had to develop elaborate technical solutions, through the judicious use of materials available in their environment and a complex work system. They are a fortified site that served not only as a place of habitation, but also as a defense system. Burkina Faso recognized early the great cultural value of the Loropeni Ruins, which resulted in 1996 in their designation as a National Heritage Site. On this basis, our country, in collaboration with the World Heritage Center of UNESCO, submitted in 2005 to the World Heritage Committee a proposal to include the site on UNESCO's World Heritage list. The deliberations of the World Heritage Committee held in Vilnius in July 2005 recommended additional study. To carry out these additional research works, a call was made to various high-level competent authorities. This included noted archeologists, historians, geomorphologists, botanists as well as international experts. At the end of this research, a workshop allowed a group made up of national and international experts as well as technical experts to review the fruits of these studies. This workshop allowed the experts to enrich the different reports with the objective of responding to the need for additional information expressed by the World Heritage Committee. It is on the basis of these final documents that the candidacy dossier to be included as a World Heritage Site was delivered to the World Heritage Center in January 2009. The next session (33rd) of the World Heritage Committee will take place from the 22nd to the 30th of June 2009 in Seville, Spain, and it is at this session that Burkina Faso's candidacy will be examined. LAEUCHLI