A Malian refugee shows a document at Burkina Faso's Goudebou camp on Saturday, northern Burkina Faso. The conflict in Mali has caused nearly 150,000 people to flee the country, while about another 230,000 are internally displaced, the UN humanitarian agency said on January 15. Photo: AFP

The UN's culture organization will restore the world heritage site of Bandiagara, in central Mali, which has been hit hard by the country's long-running conflict, it announced Tuesday.

The work will focus on sites devoted to traditional culture, as well as restoring ceremonial objects in a memorial collection, UNESCO said.

It will be able to launch the three-year project thanks to $1 million in funding from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), the organization added.

Bandiagara is in the central region of Mopti, the site of repeated attacks by the jihadists who have been active in the country since 2012. 

"In addition to claiming civilian lives and creating insecurity, the crisis caused the total or partial destruction of close to 30 villages, of which half are located within the boundaries of the World Heritage property of the Cliff of Bandiagara [Land of the Dogon]," said UNESCO.

"The gradual disappearance of such cultural practices as traditional funerary rituals, and masked dances, as well as the Yaaral and the Degal festivities fueled intercommunal strife."

UNESCO said the project would also work on restoring paid work for women, which was central to promoting "reconciliation between communities."

Mali has been struggling to quell a jihadist revolt that first broke out in north in 2012, before spreading to the center, as well as neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

AFP