QUEBEC CITY, CANADA - UNESCO'S World Heritage Committee on Sunday added three new sites to its heritage list, including a former slave hideout in Mauritius, the Nabataean archaeological site in Saudi Arabia, and China's Fujian Tulou earthen houses.

The Archaeological Site of Al-Hijr, the largest conserved site of the civilisation of the Nabataeans south of Petra in Jordan, is the first World Heritage site in Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation also chose the Morne Cultural Landscape, a rugged mountain jutting into the Indian Ocean in southwestern Mauritius that was used as a shelter by runaway slaves, maroons, through the 18th and early years of the 19th centuries.

Also making the heritage list were the Fujian Tulou property of 46 houses built between the 12th and 20th centuries as homes to entire clans in south-west of Fujian province, inland from the Taiwan Strait.

The three new entries bring Unesco's World Heritage List to 854 sites in more than 140 countries around the world.

The 21-member World Heritage Committee meeting until 10 July is considering another 40 candidate sites to its World List.

Canada is presiding at this year's meeting as Quebec City celebrates its 400th anniversary. -- AFP