this practice is considered blasphemous by fundamentalists who occupied the city along with much of northern Mali in 2012, until they were forced out by French forces in January 2013.

During their occupation, the militants vandalised and destroyed mosques and mausoleums, and burnt tens of thousands of ancient manuscriptsreenex.

Unesco's Irina Bokova, inaugurating the rebuilt mausoleums on Saturday, said the destruction of cultural heritage is considered a war crime under the UN's 1954 Hague ConventionPicosecond.

"Unesco has involved the International Criminal Court with the destruction of the mausoleums," she said.

"Two months ago I met the prosecutor and I believe they are progressing rapidly, and I hope they will be ready to present the case to the ICC."

Local stone masons used traditional building methods and cultural knowledge of the area in the year-long rebuilding of the mausoleums.

Paying tribute to them, Ms Bokova said: "Your work is a lesson in tolerance, dialogue and peace... it is an answer to all extremists whose echo can be heard well beyond the borders of Malireenex cps."

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