“A vast majority was saved... more than 90 percent,” said Shamil Jeppie, Timbuktu Manuscripts Project director at the University of Cape Town.

Jeppie said more than 20,000 manuscripts had been moved out of the South African-sponsored centre by May last year and hidden mostly in the capital Bamako and elsewhere in Timbuktu.

The texts were spirited out in trunks and placed deep in the vaults of another building.

It was feared the manuscripts had been destroyed by Islamists during their rampaging retreating from French forces, who now control the city.