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UAE, Tunisia Sign MoU to Revamp 'Home of Ibn Khaldun'

Initiative to restore the house of the great Arab scholar and philosopher Ibn Khaldun in Tunis. WAM
Initiative to restore the house of the great Arab scholar and philosopher Ibn Khaldun in Tunis. WAM
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UAE, Tunisia Sign MoU to Revamp 'Home of Ibn Khaldun'

Initiative to restore the house of the great Arab scholar and philosopher Ibn Khaldun in Tunis. WAM
Initiative to restore the house of the great Arab scholar and philosopher Ibn Khaldun in Tunis. WAM

UAE’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Tunisia have concluded an MoU to revamp the ‘Home of Ibn Khaldun’ in the City of Culture, Shazly Kelibi, in Tunis.
Aimed at turning the house into a museum for the renowned scholar Abdurahman ibn Khaldoun, the MoU was signed by Abdurrahman Mohamed Al Owais, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center and Dr. Hayat Qatat Al-Qarmazi, the Minister of Cultural Affairs of Tunisia, in the presence of Dr Yousef Al Obaidli, Director-General of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center in Abu Dhabi, and Dr. Iman Ahmed Al-Salami, UAE Ambassador to Tunisia, along with a number of officials from both countries.

“The initiative to restore the house of the great Arab scholar and philosopher Ibn Khaldun in Tunis, which comes under the noble patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, constitutes one of the initiatives of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center for preserving human heritage at all local, Arab, and international levels," said Al Owais.

“This effort reflects the UAE's commitment to preserving world heritage, in its both tangible and intangible forms, an approach that was initiated by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and maintained by the UAE wise leadership in an example to follow in terms of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and cultural harmony,” he added.

For her part, Al-Qarmazi hailed the longstanding cultural cooperation between the two countries in the field of culture and heritage.

“This signing is a step in the right direction for advancing the partnership between the two nations in a way that showcases the rich cultural heritage of the Arab and Islamic worlds," she added.

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Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Australia moved Saturday to ban mining at one of the world's largest high-grade uranium deposits, highlighting the site's "enduring connection" to Indigenous Australians.

The Jabiluka deposit in northern Australia is surrounded by the heritage-listed Kakadu national park, a tropical expanse of gorges and waterfalls featured in the first "Crocodile Dundee" film.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the national park would be extended to include the Jabiluka site -- which has never been mined -- honoring the decades-long desires of the Mirrar people.

"They were seeking a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land," Albanese told a crowd of Labor Party supporters in Sydney.

"This means there will never be mining at Jabiluka," he added.

Archaeologists discovered a buried trove of stone axes and tools near the Jabiluka site in 2017, which they dated at tens of thousands of years old.

The find was "proof of the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have had with our land", Albanese said.

"The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for more than 60,000 years.

"That beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world," he added.

Discovered in the early 1970s, efforts to exploit the Jabiluka deposit have for decades been tied-up in legal wrangling between Indigenous custodians and mining companies.

It is one of the world's largest unexploited high-grade uranium deposits, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Rio Tinto-controlled company Energy Resources of Australia previously held mining leases at Jabiluka.

The conservation of Indigenous sites has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after mining company Rio Tinto blew up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020.

Australia's conservative opposition has vowed to build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, overturning a 26-year nuclear ban.