Sudanese Foreign Ministry Accuses (RSF) of Looting Museums and Artifacts
Sudan Events – Agencies
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of destroying Sudanese museums and looting their collections during their control of Khartoum State, including the National Museum, and of “destroying artifacts and relics that document Sudan’s civilization spanning 7,000 years.” The ministry labeled this act a “war crime” and vowed to hold those responsible accountable while working with international organizations to recover the stolen artifacts.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry claimed that “archaeological archives in the National Museum have been looted and smuggled into two neighboring countries,” without naming them. The ministry also accused the RSF of targeting the National Records House, public and private libraries, universities, laboratories, mosques, and churches of historical value in both Khartoum and Wad Madani.
The statement described “the attack on museums and cultural and historical centers as a deliberate plan aimed at erasing Sudan’s national cultural identity,” adding, “The militia has also been targeting Sudan’s historical and cultural heritage.” The ministry asserted, “The destruction of the National Museum and the looting of its artifacts were intentional, aimed at obliterating relics that encapsulate over 7,000 years of Sudanese civilization.”
The RSF was also accused of targeting all major museums in the capital, including:
Khalifa House Museum,
Ethnographic Museum,
Presidential Palace Museum,
Armed Forces Museum,
Natural History Museum at the University of Khartoum, and
Sultan Ali Dinar Museum in El Fasher.
The ministry labeled “the attack on museums and the looting of archaeological artifacts” as “a criminal scheme orchestrated by the RSF,” calling it “an assault on the Sudanese nation—its people, state, cultural heritage, historical memory, and economic and scientific foundations.”
It further stated that “the attack on cultural history is an extension of the atrocities committed against Sudanese civilians,” citing mass graves of thousands of victims, hostages, and detainees, as well as torture centers throughout Khartoum, where survivors have been reduced to skeletal remains.
The ministry declared that these attacks on museums constitute “a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and the 1970 UNESCO Convention prohibiting the illicit trade in cultural property.” It equated the RSF’s actions with those of “terrorist groups that target historical and cultural heritage.”
The ministry pledged to cooperate with UNESCO, INTERPOL, and relevant organizations to protect museums, artifacts, and cultural properties, recover stolen items from the National Museum and other institutions, and prosecute those responsible. It also called on the international community to “condemn these terrorist acts by the militia and their backers.”
The National Museum in Khartoum was inaugurated in 1971 and overlooks the Blue Nile. It houses artifacts documenting Sudanese civilization, from the Stone Age to the Meroitic and Kushite civilizations, including the Nubian period and the Islamic era.
Previous media reports indicated that the statue of King Taharqa, a seven-ton stone sculpture, was the only artifact that remained intact after the museum’s devastation. It was relocated from the museum entrance to a “royal court” with the assistance of UNESCO and international agencies.
