Timbuctoo Was Never Like This

The new West African nation of Mali is noted for little save its peanuts, a pro-Communist political line, and a dusty town that bears the still vibrant name of Timbuctoo.

Last week little Mali established its sovereignty over 26 verdant acres of New York's Westchester County, near another historic spot of no economic significance: Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow. To create a home that was never like home for its U.N. staff, Mali paid $300,000 for two mansions overlooking the Hudson at Tarrytown: Linden Court, with 19 bedrooms and ten baths, and Uplands, which has only seven bedrooms and six baths. Both were sold by the Biddle clan.

After a hard day's doom-crying in Manhattan, the Malian diplomats and their families, led by Ambassador Sori Coulibaly, will be able to relax in the Pine Room listening to piped-in Muzak, or stroll through the formal gardens and the three greenhouses. Muscular Malians can choose between a lighted swimming pool, a bowling alley, a championship tennis court housed in a heated, glass-roofed building or, of course, lawn mowing.

In settling for suburban elegance. Mali is following the lead of such other African nations as Guinea, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, which last year bought a 36-room mansion for its U.N. ambassador on Long Island. One unvoiced reason for the exodus is the difficulty that Africans have encountered in obtaining adequate quarters in New York City. And. like those of many other small nations, Mali's foreign service is largely concentrated in the U.N. --it has only eight other ambassadors throughout the world outside Africa.

Therefore, Mali's negotiations with other nations are mostly conducted in New York, and Malians believe that their ambassador should be housed in style.

Mali's annual per capita income is $53, and its national budget this year amounted to a sizable $58 million. It recently got a U.S. grant of $2,500,000, while Communist-bloc aid has totaled some $100 million over the past two years. But its most pressing need is for still more foreign aid.

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