Realize History

Feel It

Haffiya Elyas
hafielyas@yahoo.com

Throughout the ages, humanity has suffered from the scourges of war and other forms of armed conflict. This suffering did not stop at the limits of harm to a person and his personal property, but rather extended to antiquities and human heritage, which is considered an integral part of the nation’s memory and cultural history.
In many cases, colonialism and aggressors deliberately Assault on antiquities to their opponents, in order to obliterate the features of their civilization and work towards their backwardness, especially after the worsening phenomenon of wars and the resulting attacks on antiquities, considering that the latter constitute a war crime against humanity.
In the face of the seriousness of this situation, the international community has put in place mechanisms and aimed at ensuring the protection of antiquities and archaeological sites, whether that by concluding international agreements or bodies concerned with protecting these antiquities by limiting attacks on the antiquities during armed conflicts and imposing obligations of respect and protection on the parties to the conflict, the traditional protection of international humanitarian law is no longer there.
The best example of this the attacks carried out by the militia and its systematic effort to destroy the cultural heritage in Sudan and obliterate its features, which included sabotaging the Sudan National Museum, the National Archives, a number of universities, public libraries and historical places of worship, the Evangelical Church in Wad Madani, the militia concluded its attacks on the site ,
the well-known archaeological site “Al-Naqa and Al-Musawarat” is located north of Khartoum, in the River Nile State, which is one of the most prominent archaeological sites dating back about 3 thousand years and has been on the list of human heritage since 2011 AD.
The reality of the situation makes us wonder why the militia is targeting the history, identity and heritage of Sudan. Does the militia want to erase traces of the past and make it disappear, so that a new history can be written? We must condemn this act, considering the destruction of cultural and historical sites is a “war crime” according to the Hague Convention of 1954 , Which is the first and the most comprehensive multilateral treaty dedicated exclusively to the protection of cultural heritage in times of peace as well as during an armed conflict.
It is also important for those in charge of the matter to realize and preserve what remains of history and civilization, because this is the beginning of the destruction of the identity of an entire society.