Sudan’s National Museum Devastated by Two-Year War

The Sudan National Museum, home to centuries of heritage, has been severely damaged and looted amid a two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Arab News reported. Once filled with invaluable artifacts, the museum now stands in ruins, with exhibition halls littered with debris and display cases shattered. All gold artifacts have been stolen, and many ancient relics are missing, leaving only a few heavy pieces like stone lions and colossal statues intact.

Authorities attribute the destruction to the RSF, which occupied the museum district during the conflict. Gamal ElDeen Zain Al-Abdeen, a senior official at the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, lamented the significant losses to Sudanese cultural heritage, stating that the RSF destroyed invaluable pieces of the nation’s history.

UNESCO has expressed concern over the looting and destruction, warning that such acts threaten Sudan’s cultural identity and recovery. Reconstruction plans for the museum will commence once damage assessments are completed. The war has claimed at least 20,000 lives and displaced over 14 million people, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region.