The 2026 edition of the National Cultural Heritage Day is taking place in Mali on May 18 and 19, 2026. On this occasion, His Majesty Guide Bamba El Hadj Mahamed Sâanwi has left for posterity this declaration, published below in its entirety.
DECLARATION BY HIS MAJESTY GUIDE BAMBA EL HADJ MAHAMED SÂANWI
National Day of Cultural Heritage - 2026 Edition CICB, June 18-19, 2026
Theme: Role and Responsibility of the Dambekolosibaw Corps in Transmitting the Values of Cultural Heritage
Brothers and Sisters of Mali, Guardians of our memory,
I do not come today with grand titles. I come as a son of this land, to speak of what keeps us standing: our culture.
This 2026 edition confronts us with a simple truth. The Dambekolosibaw are our guarantors of customs, guardians of traditions. The name itself is a mission. Not an honor. A sacred charge carried for centuries by those who prevent the soul of Mali from fading.
What is their responsibility?
1. Guarantee customs: Our unwritten constitution. Respect, the word given, the sense of community. The Dambekolosibaw must ensure they are neither distorted nor forgotten in the face of modernity.
2. Guard traditions: To guard is to protect from time. Our remedies, our rites, our arts, our wisdom. The Dambekolosibaw is the living chest where the memory of the Manding and the United Kingdoms of Africa rests.
Without Dambekolosibaw, there is no transmission. Without transmission, there is no rooted future.
This is the meaning of Massakunda that I carry: a Royalty at the Service of the People. A royalty of duty, not privilege. For years, alongside Chiefs across Africa, we have worked to revive this institution in the land of great empires. To restore its place, its respectability, and its radiance throughout the world.
This restored royalty does not compete with the Republic. It complements it. It is an arm for cultural diplomacy. I live this already, voluntarily, in the field. Just recently, I carried this voice to South Africa, at the Summit organized with the Bill Gates Foundation, on the theme of child health and pregnancy safety. Wherever sovereigns and legitimacies gather, Mali must make its wisdom heard.
So I call upon:
To the State: Recognize and structure this corps. The guarantor must have the means to fulfill his mission.
To the youth: Sit at the feet of the Dambekolosibaw. Listen. For he who does not know where he comes from will never know where he is going.
To all of us: Let every family become a school of tradition.
May these two days at the CICB seal a pact: to entrust our Dambekolosibaw with the mission of transmitting to future generations the values that made Mali great.
May the ancestors hear us.
Long live Mali Koura, rooted in its culture!
Long live Royalty at the Service of the People!
Done in Bamako, June 18, 2026
His Majesty Guide BAMBA El Hadj Mahamed Sâanwi
Supreme Chief of the United Kingdoms of Africa Mansa of Mali
L'Afrique en marche du 19 juin 2026 No 1207
