Sudan’s priceless archaeological heritage is being looted from museums, with looters smuggling truckloads of statues and fragments from ancient palaces out of the war-torn country and selling them online.
More than a year of fighting between rival generals has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and left the country’s priceless antiquities in the hands of looters.
On Thursday, the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO said that “threats to culture have reached unprecedented levels, with reports of looting of museums, heritage and archaeological sites, as well as private collections.”
In the capital, Khartoum, where fighting between the army and paramilitary forces broke out in April 2023, priceless artefacts have been stolen from the recently renovated Sudan National Museum, archaeologists and officials say.
The museum houses prehistoric artifacts from the Paleolithic era and objects from the famous Kerma site in northern Sudan, as well as Pharaonic and Nubian objects.
First opened in 1971, the museum was established partly to house objects rescued from the area flooded by the construction of Egypt’s massive Aswan Dam.
Now its artefacts are at risk of war.
“The Sudan National Museum has been the subject of large-scale looting,” said Ikhlas Abdel Latif, head of museums at the National Antiquities Authority.
“The archaeological objects stored there have been loaded onto large vehicles and taken to the west and to border areas, especially near South Sudan,” he told AFP.
‘Stay away from business’
The extent of the looting is difficult to ascertain, as the museum is located in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Officials and experts have accused the RSF of looting the site. A spokesman for the force declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
In May, RSF said it was vigilant about the protection and preservation of the antiquities of the Sudanese people.
Throughout history, combatants have used plunder to fund their war efforts.
UNESCO said it was “calling on the public and art markets in the region and around the world to refrain from trading in Sudanese objects.”
The agency also said it plans to hold training in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for law enforcement and judiciary from Sudan’s neighbouring countries.
“The museum and artifacts are not being monitored because of the war,” said Hassan Hussein, a former director of the National Antiquities Authority and a researcher.
The army led by Sudan’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is locked in a conflict with the RSF, led by his former deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Dagallo.
for sale
The island of Meroe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the capital of the ancient Kush kingdom and its dozens of pyramids, is also at risk.
Abdel Latif said artefacts and exhibits were stolen from the museum in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state.
He said part of the Khalifa House Museum in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, was also destroyed.
Last week, the Association of Sudanese Museum Friends “strongly” condemned the looting taking place across the country.
Experts expressed concern after looted artefacts were found available for sale online.
A user on auction site eBay offered items presented as Egyptian antiquities which, according to Sudanese media, were looted from Sudan.
AFP saw the listing, which showed items selling for a few hundred dollars, but could not independently confirm the authenticity or origin of the items.
A Sudanese archaeologist, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, told AFP that pottery, gold objects and paintings listed for sale appeared to have come from Khartoum’s national museum – although at least one statue was a fake.
He said he feared for the larger statues, which “must be handled with precision by experts” and could be damaged if looters got their hands on them.
The issue will be discussed at an upcoming conference in Germany, which Husain will also participate in.
“The current state of the collection is a matter of concern for all those who care about the heritage of humanity,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
