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Sudan's government said it has recovered what it described as large collections of antiquities looted from museums in Khartoum during the war, and it plans to announce details at a Tuesday ceremony in Port Sudan.
The government said it will hold an official ceremony Tuesday in Port Sudan, in the east of the country, to announce the recovery of a significant number of looted Sudanese antiquities. It described the event as part of national efforts aimed at protecting cultural heritage and safeguarding the country's historical memory.
In a press statement Monday, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism Khalid Al-Aiser said the aim of the Rapid Support Forces and their allies at home and abroad was to "dismantle Sudanese identity" through a project of "replacement and substitution," a new demographic change, and the erasure of human memory shaped by the long accumulation of Sudanese cultures.
Al-Aiser said his ministry, working with the General Intelligence Service, will disclose what he described as breakthroughs achieved in "safeguarding national sovereignty and identity and strengthening social cohesion," reflected in antiquities and historical artifacts inherited by the Sudanese people.
He said that "in complete secrecy and through serious work" that was not disclosed at the time, authorities were able to secure and reach large collections of Sudanese holdings and antiquities.
Al-Aiser said the Port Sudan ceremony, held in the temporary capital, comes as the culmination of his ministry's activities at its interim headquarters in the city under the slogan "Its finale is fragrant." He said antiquities are not merely relics of the past, but roots of identity and an inherent right of future generations.
According to Reuters, Rehab Khodr, head of a committee formed to assess damage and secure museums and archaeological sites in Khartoum, said the museum had "suffered severe damage" and that "a large quantity of very important archaeological pieces" had been stolen.
"Every piece in the museum has a story. All of the pieces are important, but those that were stolen were extremely important to us as archaeologists." She pointed to repair efforts, "although they are being carried out with very scarce resources," Khodr said.
Ikhlas Abdel Latif, director of the Museums Department at the National Corporation for Antiquities, said that about 4,000 archaeological pieces have been recorded as missing in Sudan.
Abdel Latif said about 700 archaeological pieces disappeared from the museums of Nyala and El Geneina, and that gunmen in El Geneina killed the museum curator after shelling the building. She also said in 2024 that "large-scale looting" took place at the National Museum, and that stored artifacts were transported in large trucks to the west and to border areas, particularly near South Sudan.
UNESCO said in a statement Sept. 12, 2024, that it was "deeply concerned" by reports of the looting of Sudan's National Museum. UNESCO said it has coordinated restoration work at the museum since 2019 with funding from Italy, and noted the museum houses important historical and archaeological artifacts, statues, and collections of significant historical and material value.
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