The town remains home to one of the world’s most important Islamic libraries. The winner will be unveiled on 15 November in London at the opening of Timbuktu to W2, an exhibition by the photographer Stuart Redler, who is acting as an adviser to the Cultural Mission of Timbuktu “Mali doesn’t even have an embassy in London,” he says “It’s an incredible place, but very remote … Getting there takes several days, and the roads are terrible In fact one of the best ways is actually by river. “The town is about the same size as Norwich, and it would make a lovely twin… Of course, it’s a lot more interesting than going for somewhere in France or Germany.” The successful candidate will be registered with the Local Government International Bureau, in London.

Timbuktu is already twinned with Chemnitz in Germany, Saintes in France and Tempe in Arizona. The website address for an application is www.stuartredler An isolated city * Founded by the nomadic Tuareg people in the 11th century, it became one of west Africa’s most influential cities in the 15th and 16th centuries as an international trading centre for gold, ivory, salt and slaves. * Timbuktu was named after a Tuareg woman, Buktu, who dug a well in the area where the city now stands “Timbuktu” means “Buktu’s well” * Timbuktu is in one of the eight regions of Mali. The latest available census of the area was taken in 1998 and put the population at 31,973. * The city is well known for its series of elaborate mud mosques, including Sankore Mosque (also known as Sankore University), which once had 25,000 students.

The architecture is said to have inspired the Spanish-Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. * Timbuktu’s economy is based on trade, subsistence farming and a small, but increasingly important, role as a tourist destination. * The phrase “from here to Timbuktu” is to be found not only in English, but also German, Italian, Dutch and French. * In 1988, Timbuktu was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, and in 1990 was classified as “endangered” due to the region’s sandstorms.

After a restoration campaign, it was removed from the endangered list in 2005 Chris Richardson. Madonna insisted yesterday that she had broken no laws in her efforts to adopt a Malawian baby. As 13-month-old David Banda arrived in London, the singer said it was her wish to open her home “to help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death”. The pop star responded to speculation that she has not been approved as an adoptive parent by the British authorities and accusations that she has fast-tracked the adoption process in Malawi. “We have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child,” she said, adding that reports to the contrary were inaccurate.

She said that she had begun the adoption process many months ago ­ but as it was a “private family matter” she did not wish to “disclose [her] intentions to the world”. In an open letter signed Madonna Ritchie, she said that following an 18-month evaluation period she hopes to make this adoption permanent. ” This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly,” she said. Yesterday, the two local authorities in which Madonna and her husband, the film director Guy Ritchie, have homes ­ Wiltshire and Westminster ­ indicated unofficially that they had not been approached by the couple to be approved as adopters. Under British law, prospective parents must be approved in the UK before they can adopt from abroad, although couples can use private agencies as well as local authorities for the process.