Sudan’s National Museum in Khartoum has been looted, with its artefacts carried out of the country, Middle East Eye reports.
SBC, the national broadcaster, identified fighters from the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as the culprits. The UAE-backed rebels have been in an ongoing bloody conflict with the Sudanese army since April 2023.
Over a thousand people have been killed in the civil war which has displaced a further 3.7 million.
In unverified claims, the state broadcaster reports that satellite imagery shows the ransacking of the East African country’s largest and oldest museum, with objects which the TV station did not identify, subsequently appearing on online auction sites.
The collection showcases archaeology on its ground floor with early Christian frescoes on display upstairs.
Though partisan, the reports concur with the findings of international observers. In April 2024, UNESCO said it was aware of claims that similar pillage had occurred at the Sudan Natural History Museum, the National Ethnographic Museum and the Republican Palace Museum in Khartoum, as well as institutions in the Darfur region. The Beit Khalifa Museum was occupied by militias who removed its collection of ancient utensils and manuscripts. Such is the scale of the problem the NGO Heritage for Peace has established its Sudan Heritage Protection Initiative to monitor such vandalism.
.jpg){kind=link}