In Mali, ICC Prosecutor Savours Ruling To Punish Timbuktu Destruction By Amaury HAUCHARD 04/01/21 AT 11:58 AM Wearing a green head-dress matching her African robes, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, visited Timbuktu on a mission to turn the page on a chapter of cultural desecration. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Sahara trading post flourished as a centre of Islamic culture -- in Western cultures, it was often a name shrouded in mysticism and remoteness. In 2012, Timbuktu hit the headlines for quite different reasons. Jihadist group Ansar Eddine took pickaxes to 14 of Timbuktu's famous mausoleums of Muslim saints Photo: AFP / STR