KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Sudan National Museum has suffered extensive damage due to the ongoing civil war, with ancient statues and artifacts being destroyed or looted. Umaima Abdul-Rahman Al-Sanusi, a curator at the museum, reported that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, systematically stole items from the museum while it was under their control from April 2023 until March 2024. The museum lost nearly two-thirds of its inventory, which included approximately 100,000 artifacts spanning various historical periods.
The conflict, described as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, has led to the looting of at least 76 heritage sites and 20 museums, with an estimated loss of over $150 million in archaeological treasures. The RSF has been accused of engaging in widespread looting, with officials noting that stolen artifacts are often smuggled across borders to countries such as Egypt, Libya, and Chad, and even reaching markets in Europe and the Gulf.
The museum was undergoing renovations prior to the war, and many artifacts were stored in boxes that the RSF easily accessed. Jamal Zaid Al-Abideen, an official at the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, described how the RSF did not need to break into secure areas to steal valuable items, including gold artifacts and ancient jewelry.
The destruction of the museum reflects the broader devastation in Khartoum, where many buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The civil war began in April 2023 when the RSF launched attacks against the Sudanese military, leading to a conflict that has drawn in regional and international actors. Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have faced accusations of war crimes.
Efforts to recover looted artifacts have seen some success, with Sudanese authorities recovering around 570 items from the national museum in January. However, the full extent of the losses remains unclear, as there has not been a comprehensive inventory of the museum's holdings prior to the conflict. The looting of cultural heritage in Sudan is part of a larger pattern observed in other war-torn regions, where antiquities are often sold to fund armed groups and criminal networks.