Sudan. Destroyed and robbed museums. Experts count losses

After how On Wednesday, the army took over the total control over the capital of Sudanthere is information about the damage, which was made by paramilitary forces of fast support (RSF). On Thursday, the director of the Sudan National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) Ghalia Garelnabi announced that the militia members stole all the golden monuments located in the National Museum in Khartoum, destroying the remaining valuable exhibits.

See also: The army took the Presidential Palace

In the largest Sudan museum, artifacts were stored documenting all periods of Sudan civilization, from the Stone Age, through the Nubian and Christian era, to the Islamic period. Garelnabi in an interview with “Sudan Tribune” said that RSF members just before the takeover of the capital of Sudan by the government troops robbed the most valuable archaeological treasures and all of the golden exhibits. The others “deliberately threw on the floor and crushed them with their legs, which suggests that the goal was not only theft, but to blur the identity and erasing the history of Sudan,” she said. “Sudan Tribune” has published recordings on the website X showing how the area around the museum looks like now.

The only monument of the National Museum, which in intact survived the time of occupation of Khartoum by RSF is the statue of King Taharek from the 25th dynasty of King's King. It was probably not destroyed because of the size and weight of seven tons.

Other Sudan Museums were also plundered and destroyed, including the Nyala Museum in Darfur, which was robbed of collections and furniture. The Chalifa House Museum in Omburman has also been robbed and damaged. Sudan archaeologists described the destruction by the RSF as “a historical disaster in every respect”. According to their cursory review, about 90 percent were destroyed. collections. According to Sudan museum workers, the looted objects have probably already left the Sudan territory.

Ikhlas Abdel Latif, head of the Committee for Recovering Sudan artifacts, said – quoted by “Sudan Tribune” – that the stolen artifacts were transported with trucks through the Omdurman towards South Sudan.

In Sudan, since April 2023, there were fights between the government troops – the Sudan armed forces (SAF) – and paramilitary forces of rapid support (RSF). The conflict consumed the lives of over 20 thousand. people and forced 14 million inhabitants of the country to resettle. At the beginning of the civil war, the RSF took control of most of Khartoum, and the government was forced to move to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The capital was reflected this week.