Katikkiro Mayiga to update UNESCO on Kasubi Tombs restoration
Sep 12, 2023
The fire engulfed the Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, the main structure housing the tombs of four of the kingdom’s former kings.
A group of traditional artisans work on the reconstruction of one of the buildings belonging to the Kasubi Royal Tombs in Kampala. (Courtesy photos)
Umar Kashaka
Journalist @New Vision
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The Katikkiro of Buganda Kingdom Charles Peter Mayiga is in the Saudi capital Riyadh for the meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) which will decide the status of World Heritage sites.
The extended 45th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee started on Sunday, September 10, and will end on September 25.
It will examine the state of conservation of 260 sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, 55 of which are also on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Kasubi Royal Tombs are currently among the sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger. They are the Ugandan equivalent of the Egyptian pyramids, the ancient masonry structures that were constructed as burial grounds for the Pharaohs.
On Monday, Mayiga posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he hopes to update the Committee on the restoration works of the tombs following a fire that razed them down on March 16, 2010, nine years after UNESCO declared them a world heritage site.
The fire engulfed the Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, the main structure housing the tombs of four of the kingdom’s former kings.
At the Committee meeting, the Katikkiro met Uganda’s Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal, and UNESCO, Doreen Amule, and they discussed various issues that will benefit Buganda and Uganda at large.
The construction works are in the final stages and will be completed by December 2023, according to the kingdom’s minister for culture and tourism, Anthony Wamala.
“Tourists will be allowed to visit the heritage site again by October as restoration works are in final stages,” he said on September 1, 2023, during the meeting with Japan’s deputy head of mission, Yoshimura Tomotaka, at the Embassy of Japan in Kampala.
From September 16, the World Heritage Committee will begin examining the nominations of sites to the UNESCO World Heritage List, starting with the nominations that could not be examined last year, UNESCO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, said on its website.
The Committee decides on how the World Heritage Fund and financial assistance is used. It also supports countries around the world in the preservation of World Heritage sites.
There are over 1,000 World Heritage Sites around the world, with more still being added to the list.
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