Sudan War Destroys Thousands of Years of History

 Khartoum – Sudan’s National Museum in Khartoum lies in ruins after being looted during the country’s war between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that began in April 2023. A black granite statue of Kush Pharaoh Taharqa now stands alone among shattered glass and broken stone, as thousands of priceless artefacts have vanished.

Officials believe some items were smuggled into Egypt, Chad, and South Sudan, but most remain missing. Only large, heavy objects that could not be moved were left behind. At its peak, the museum housed over 500,000 items spanning 7,000 years of Sudanese history, including the famed Gold Room with solid-gold royal jewellery and ceremonial objects, now entirely stolen.

The bulk of the missing artefacts come from the ancient Kingdom of Kush, a Nubian civilization that once rivaled Egypt in wealth and influence. Many smaller Kushite statues, prized on the black market, remain untraced. UNESCO has issued a global alert, warning museums and collectors not to buy or import Sudanese cultural property.

The conflict, which pits army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed tens of thousands and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. The looting and destruction of Sudanese heritage sites is being called a “war crime” by government officials.

The National Museum is just one of more than 20 Sudanese museums looted or destroyed in the war, with total losses estimated at $110 million. Other damaged sites include the Khalifa House Museum in Omdurman and the Ali Dinar Museum in El-Fasher, Darfur. Many museums in South Darfur are now inaccessible, and some have been turned into military bases.