(formerly CEDRAB, The National Ahmed Baba Center for Documentation and Research in Timbuktu
or "Centre de Documentation et de Recherches Ahmed Baba")

Created in 1970 through a UNESCO initiative, CEDRAB became operative in 1977 through financial support from Kuwait.

The role of the Center is to:
(1) organize prospecting and collection in the field of historical documents in Arabic and African languages;
(2) establish archives and catalogues of the collected documents;
(3) assure the conservation of the manuscripts according to modern scientific norms;
(4) disseminate through authentic documentation, African literature in Arabic;
(5) develop an Arabo-Islamic culture in Timbuktu, being one of the great centers;
(6) act as an institute charged with the exchange of information, research, and a node for cultural relations between Mali and the Arab world and all other countries interested in African civilizations and cultures.

The Center is currently under the auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education and has recently been given autonomous status. In the year 2000, the Malian Government passed a decree to convert CEDRAB to a full-fledged institute of higher learning, the Institute des Hautes Etudes et de la Recherche Islamique Ahmed Baba (IHERI-AB), creating a great need to train both existing and prospective research staff to undertake high-level research and training activities at the newly established institute.