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Save our heritage sites, Nobel winners urge

Five Nobel prize winners are calling for urgent international action to protect the world's heritage sites from destruction caused by armed conflicts and extremist groups.
The appeal comes as world leaders gather in Abu Dhabi for the two-day Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage conference, that starts today.
The crucial and timely event aims to support the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (Unesco) mandate to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts, and to safeguard historic sites and monuments from looting or destruction.
"Part of our history has been lost forever, with the goal of fan-aticism being to undermine our hope for the future," the Nobel prize winners said in a statement. "Urgent action must be taken - the time for powerless expressions of indignation is over."
The signatories include former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Peruvian writer Maria Vargas Llosa; Turkish novelist and screenwriter Orhan Pamuk; Liberian President Helen Johnson Sirleaf; and Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de-facto leader.
As examples, they pointed towards terror group Daesh's destruction of cultural heritage sites such as the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and the collection of the Mosul Museum in Iraq, as well as the Taliban's 2001 destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. They also discussed the destruction of ancient mausoleums and manuscripts by militant group Ansar Al Dine in Timbuktu in 2012 and 2013.
Presidents, heads of states, delegations and representatives from over 40 countries are among those in attendance at the summit.
The conference was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; and French President Francois Hollande as a global partnership between the two countries to combat the growing threats to the world's cultural resources by armed conflicts, terrorism, and illicit trafficking of cultural property.
Among those in attendance were His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait; His Highness Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of Qatar; Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras; and Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova, besides private and public institutions involved in world heritage conservation.
What the heritage conference will discuss: 
> Improving legal and funding mechanisms to facilitate emergency protection of heritage sites.
> Post-conflict rehabilitation efforts.
> Discuss solutions and create a global framework of immediate and long-term goals.
> Launch the creation of a global network of safe havens as refuges for endangered works.
> An additional financial fund will sustain long-term programmes to preserve cultural heritage.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com