Two Years into the War in Sudan.. Difficulty in Tracing the Fate of Stolen Artifacts

SadaNews - Majestic and unique, the massive statue of King Taharqa, who ruled the ancient Kingdom of Kush for more than two decades, stands alone in the courtyard of the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum. No longer surrounded by admiring visitors or contemplative researchers, it is instead encircled by the rubble of other statues and smashed glass display cases, in a scene that silently narrates the tragedy of an entire nation. Two years after the official announcement of the museum's looting, the search continues for tens of thousands of artifacts that have vanished into the darkness of war, some of which have begun to appear sporadically in neighboring countries like Egypt, Chad, and South Sudan.

Rawda Idris, the Sudanese public prosecutor representative in the Committee for the Protection of Museums and Archaeological Sites, summarizes the magnitude of the disaster with a painful statement: "Only the large or heavy artifacts that are difficult to carry survived from the National Museum's collections."

At the museum's entrance, the garden that once held rare trees and a miniature model of the Nile River has turned into a barren courtyard filled with dry grass, guarded by silent statues of Kushite war deities, while the ceiling bears marks of treacherous shells. Hatem Al-Nour, the former director of the Antiquities and Museums Authority, describes the lost heritage, stating to AFP that the National Museum "hosted more than 500,000 pieces covering a vast temporal span that shaped the deep history of the Sudanese identity."

In March, museum staff first stepped onto the museum’s grounds since the war began two years prior, after the army regained control over central Khartoum. The shock exceeded all imagination, as they were taken aback by the scale of the destruction that encompassed priceless exhibits. The greatest tragedy was the "Room of Gold," which contained, according to Ikhlas Abdul Latif, director of museums at the Sudanese Antiquities Authority, "irreplaceable treasures... pure gold artifacts of 24 karat, some dating back nearly 8,000 years."

Abdul Latif, who also heads the unit for monitoring stolen artifacts, confirms that this room "was completely looted." She explains that the lost treasure included unique jewelry belonging to members of the ruling families of the Kushite civilization, alongside their gilded tools and decorated statues made of precious metals. These treasures belonged to a civilization that flourished alongside the Roman civilization, with its capitals in the cities of Napata and Meroë in northern Sudan, a civilization that is no less wealthy than ancient Egyptian civilization, despite being less globally renowned.

A War Crime in the Face of History

The war erupted between the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, in April 2023, resulting in the division of the country and causing tens of thousands of deaths and millions of displacements. Amidst this tragedy, the Sudanese government directly accused the Rapid Support Forces of "destroying artifacts and collections that record the 7,000-year history of the Sudanese civilization," deeming it a "war crime," an accusation that the Rapid Support Forces categorically deny.

Ikhlas Abdul Latif had confirmed in June 2023 that the Rapid Support Forces had taken control of the National Museum. Earlier this year, she disclosed to local media that the museum's artifacts were transported by large trucks via Omdurman to western Sudan, and from there to the borders of South Sudan.

This systematic looting prompted the United Nations cultural organization (UNESCO) at the end of last year to launch a global appeal, urging the public to refrain from trading in artifacts, emphasizing the importance of what the museum contained in terms of "important artifacts and statues with significant historical and material value."

A Race to Recover the Stolen Memory

In the face of this destruction, Sudanese authorities have begun a race against time. A responsible source from the Antiquities Authority confirmed to AFP that there is close cooperation with neighboring countries to monitor and recover artifacts being smuggled across borders. Abdul Latif notes that Kushite funerary statues, in particular, are experiencing "great demand in the illegal market because they are aesthetically pleasing and small-sized, making them easy to carry."

However, uncertainty still surrounds the fate of the most valuable pieces. None of the artifacts from the Room of Gold or the funerary statues have appeared in public auctions or parallel market routes thus far. Abdul Latif believes that the majority of transactions occur secretly and within narrow circles, assuring that the Sudanese government, in cooperation with Interpol and UNESCO, is "monitoring all markets."

Interpol has confirmed to AFP its involvement in efforts to trace the stolen Sudanese artifacts, without disclosing the details of ongoing operations. Yet signs of these efforts are beginning to surface, as Rawda Idris reported the arrest of a group of individuals in the Nile River State in northern Sudan, "including foreigners in possession of artifacts," adding that "investigations are ongoing to determine from which museum those artifacts originated." Additionally, two sources from the Antiquities Authority revealed a notable incident where one of the groups that crossed to Egypt contacted Khartoum, offering to return stolen artifacts in exchange for monetary sums.

Destruction Across Geography

The tragedy of the National Museum of Sudan is not an isolated incident. The destruction has swept through the cultural heritage across all war zones. Idris laments: "More than 20 museums have been looted in Sudan, in Khartoum, Al-Jazeera, and Darfur." She adds, "We are still unaware of the extent of the damage in areas that have not yet been liberated." The National Authority for Antiquities and Museums estimates the losses that can be accounted for thus far at "110 million US dollars."

In Omdurman, on the opposite bank of the Nile, the walls of the Khalifa House Museum bear the marks of gunfire and artillery shells, while its 18th-century artifacts lie shattered. Hatem Al-Nour affirms that "the Ali Dinar Museum in the city of Al-Fasher was also destroyed, being the largest museum in the Darfur region," along with the museums in Al-Jeneina and Nyala in the same region.

The Nyala Museum in South Darfur has witnessed "fierce fighting" in its surroundings, according to a local source, who continues: "The area has become completely devastated, and no one can move around it except for members of the Rapid Support Forces." Ikhlas Abdul Latif confirms that the museum has turned into a "military barracks," an image that encapsulates the fate of Sudanese cultural heritage in times of war; the memory of a nation crushed under the feet of fighters.

Source: AFP