Artefacts Looted from War-Torn Sudan’s Museum Being Siold Online, UNESCO Expresses Concern

Sudan’s priceless archaeological artefacts looted from museums and smuggled out of the war-torn country are being sold online.

The looters smuggled the historical statuettes and fragments of ancient palaces out of the country using lorries.

On Thursday, UNESCO, said that “threat to culture appears to have reached an unprecedented level, with reports of looting of museums, heritage and archaeological sites and private collections”.

In the capital Khartoum, where fierce fight erupted in April 2023 between the army and paramilitary forces, the artefacts in the Sudan National Museum were stolen.

The museum had prehistoric artefacts from the Palaeolithic era and items from the famed site of Kerma in northern Sudan, as well as Pharaonic and Nubian pieces.

The extent of the looting is hard to determine because the museum is located in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and experts have accused the RSF of looting the site.

UNESCO said it was calling on “the public and the art market… in the region and worldwide to refrain” from trading in Sudanese items.

The Island of Meroe, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kush and dozens of its pyramids, is also under threat.

On the auction site eBay, a user offered items presented as Egyptian antiquities that, according to Sudanese media, were looted from Sudan.