Al Jazeera speaks to Lazare Eloundou Assomo, chief of the Africa Unit at UNESCO, the UN's cultural body, about the destruction of ancient Muslim shrines in Timbuktu by the group Ansar Dine.

Assomo says though UNESCO cannot apply force to stop the smashing of the shrines and mausoleums, they can remind the world of the importance of the world heritage present in northern Mali's ancient structures.