Home to centuries of heritage, Sudan’s biggest museum is looted and wrecked by a 2-year war

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A Meroitic lion statue is seen in the garden of Sudan National Museum, the home to the country's largest artifacts that date to different eras of Sudanese history, after nearly two years of war between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Khaled Abd Al Gader)
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Updated 14 April 2025
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Home to centuries of heritage, Sudan’s biggest museum is looted and wrecked by a 2-year war

CAIRO: Inside Sudan’s biggest museum, the exhibition halls once filled with statues and relics from centuries of ancient civilizations are trashed, littered with debris. The display cases stand empty and shattered. A mummy lies exposed in an open storage box. All the gold artifacts have been looted.
The Sudan National Museum has been wrecked by two years of war in Sudan, with most of its artifacts stolen. Authorities blame the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which held this district of Khartoum along the banks of the Nile River for most of the conflict.
Since the Sudanese military regained control of the capital last month, officials have been working to assess the damage and loss in hopes of one day restoring the museum.
“The losses are extremely big and saddening. A significant number of antiquities were stolen,” Gamal ElDeen Zain Al-Abdeen, a senior official at the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, told The Associated Press. “The RSF destroyed everything ... concerning the civilization of the Sudanese people.”
The National Museum had thousands of pieces, dating back to the Paleolithic era well before the development of agriculture, and through the kingdoms of ancient Sudan. Many came from the Napatan era in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., when pharaohs from Sudan ruled over much of ancient Egypt, or from the later Meroitic kingdom that built pyramids in Sudan. Other halls had later Christian and Islamic material.
Some pieces too heavy to carry remain in place. In the museum’s garden, a line of stone lions remains, as do the Colossi of Tabo, two large pharaonic-style statues. Also remaining are three pharaonic temples that were moved from northern Sudan and reassembled at the museum in the 1960s to escape the rising waters of Lake Nasser from Egypt’s construction of the High Dam.
But many objects are gone. Looters broke into the locked storerooms and made off with all the gold artifacts, Zain Al-Abdeen said. But it was too early to know how much of the museum’s collection had been stolen, he said.


Museums paid a heavy price in the war
He blamed the RSF for the destruction, saying they had fighters in the museum at some point during the war.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, after tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF turned into battles in the streets of Khartoum and rapidly spread around the country. The RSF held much of Khartoum during the war, including the district of the museum.
Now that they have been driven out, the extent of the destruction from fighting and looting is coming clear.
“Khartoum in general has been destroyed, particularly the center of Khartoum,” Zain Al-Abdeen said. “No building was spared from the bloodshed and theft, and this is what I saw with my own eyes.” He said all the city’s museums were damaged, particularly the Ethnography Museum, where walls were demolished and halls and offices burned.
The ransacking is a blow to a country with a rich heritage, one that has deep resonance among Sudanese but is often overlooked abroad because of Sudan’s decades of instability.
 

‘Erasing history’
UNESCO said in September it was concerned about looting at the Sudan National Museum, which it helped renovate in 2019. It warned that sale or removal of artifacts “would result in the disappearance of part of the Sudanese cultural identity and jeopardize the country’s recovery.”
A UNESCO spokesperson said Friday that damage, looting and destruction of museums and cultural sites happened across Sudan’s states of Khartoum, River Nile, Northern State, Gezeira and the Darfur region. An accurate assessment isn’t possible due to the ongoing fighting.
The Sudan National Museum is among several that have undergone “extensive looting and substantial damage,” according to UNESCO.
Sedeeq Mohamed Sedeeq, who lives near the museum, said the RSF vowed democracy and liberation but instead they are “erasing the oldest nation in history, erasing its history.”
Reconstruction plans for destroyed museums will begin after committees assess the damage and recommend proposals for rehabilitation, Zein Al-Abdeen said. The plans are expected to include building repairs, restoration of the antiquities storage areas and fixing the museum’s surrounding grounds.
At least 20,000 people have been killed since the war broke out, though the number is likely far higher. The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.


Morocco to spend $670 million to replenish livestock up to 2026

Updated 12 sec ago
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Morocco to spend $670 million to replenish livestock up to 2026

Six years of drought reduced the cattle and sheep herds by 38 percent this year
The government also includes aid to farmers

RABAT: Morocco plans to spend 6.2 billion dirhams ($670 mln) on a 2025-2026 program to replenish its livestock herd, which has been reduced following years of prolonged drought, agriculture minister Ahmed El Bouari said on Thursday.

Six years of drought caused mass job losses in the farming sector and reduced the cattle and sheep herds by 38 percent this year, compared to the last census nine years ago.

Under the recovery program, 3 billion dirhams will be allocated in 2025 and 3.2 billion next year to measures including debt relief and restructuring for livestock farmers, as well as feed subsidies, Bouari told reporters.

The government also includes aid to farmers who retain breeding female livestock, along with veterinary campaigns, genetic improvement and artificial insemination, he said.

In February, authorities asked citizens to forgo the ritual of slaughtering sheep on the Eid Adha this year, to help restore the sheep herd.

In north Lebanon, Syrian Alawites shelter among graves

Updated 42 min 6 sec ago
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In north Lebanon, Syrian Alawites shelter among graves

  • “We each have our own horror story that drove us to this place,” said a man with sunken eyes
  • Around 600 people have sought shelter at the Hissa mosque

HISSA, Lebanon: Behind a ramshackle mosque in Hissa, north Lebanon, the living are making a home for themselves among the dead.

Beside mounds of garbage in the shade of towering trees, men, women and children from Syria’s minority Alawite community seek shelter among the graves surrounding the half-built mosque — grateful to have escaped the sectarian violence at home but fearing for their future.

“We each have our own horror story that drove us to this place,” said a man with sunken eyes.

One such story was of a mother who had been killed in front of her children by unknown militants as they crossed the border, said others staying at the mosque.

All of the refugees that spoke to Reuters requested anonymity for fear of retribution.

Around 600 people have sought shelter at the Hissa mosque. Hundreds sleep in the main hall, including a day-old baby.

On the building’s unfinished second story, plastic sheets stretched over wooden beams divide traumatized families.

Others sleep on the roof. One family has set up camp under the stairwell, another by the tomb of a local saint. Some sleep on the graves in the surrounding cemetery, others under trees with only thin blankets for warmth.

They are among the tens of thousands refugees who have fled Syria since March, when the country suffered its worst bloodshed since Bashar Assad was toppled from power by Islamist-led rebels in December.

Almost 40,000 people have fled Syria into north Lebanon since then, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement.

The outflow comes at a time when humanitarian funding is being squeezed after US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze foreign aid and dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year.

NEEDS BUT NO RESOURCES

The recent violence in Syria, which has pitted the Islamist-led government’s security forces against fighters from the Alawite minority, the sect to which Assad’s family belongs, has killed more than 1,000 people since March.

For more than 50 years, Assad and his father before him crushed any opposition from Syria’s Sunni Muslims, who make up more than 70 percent of the population. Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, took many of the top positions in government and the military and ran big businesses.

Alawites now accuse the new government of President Ahmed Al-Sharaa of exacting revenge, but Sharaa says he will pursue inclusive policies to unite the country shattered by civil war and attract foreign investment.

Trump said last week he would lift sanctions on Syria, triggering hopes of economic renewal. But this has provided little comfort to the refugees in northern Lebanon, who are struggling to meet their basic needs.

“UNHCR, but also other agencies, are not now in a position to say you can count on us,” said Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR representative in Lebanon, in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation in April.

“So, in response to new arrivals, yes, we will try, but it will be less (than before).”

More refugees come from Syria every day. Almost 50 people arrived over two days last week, said one camp representative, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

UNHCR is equipping new arrivals with essential items like mattresses, blankets and clothes, as well as providing medical help and mental health support, said a spokesperson.

“UNHCR is also conducting rehabilitation works in shelters to make sure families are protected,” the spokesperson added.

’FORGOTTEN’ REFUGEES

At the mosque, food is scarce and the portable toilets provided by an aid group have flooded. Garbage is piling up and is attracting vermin. Snakes have been killed in the camp, and one refugee spoke of the “biggest centipedes we have ever seen.”

The camp’s children have nowhere to go.

It can be difficult for refugee children to access Lebanon’s school system, Human Rights Watch has said, while the refugees at the mosque say private schools are too expensive and may not accept children enrolling mid-year.

“We are becoming a refugee camp without realizing it,” said another man, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We need schools, we need toilets, we need clinics.”

He said he fled his home in Damascus after being warned by his neighbor that militants were asking about him. He never expects to go back and is hoping to move abroad.

But in the meantime, he said he needs to create a life for his children.

“What’s his fault?” he asked, beckoning to his nine-year-old son. “He was a computer whiz and now he is not even going to school.”

The refugees sheltering in the mosque are among the millions of people affected by Trump’s decision to freeze US funding to humanitarian programs in February.

The UNHCR has been forced to reduce all aspects of its operations in Lebanon, Freijsen said, including support to Syrian refugees.

The UNHCR had enough money to cover only 14 percent of its planned operations in Lebanon and 17 percent of its global operations by the end of March, the UN agency said in a report.

“Our assistance is not what it is supposed to be,” Freijsen said. “In the past, we always had the resources, or we could easily mobilize the resources. These days are over, and that’s painful.”

The people in the mosque fear that they have been forgotten.

“Human rights are a lie,” a third man said, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. “It is just something (that the powerful) instrumentalize when they want.”


More than 70 UN member states demand protection of civilians amid mounting fears over Gaza

Updated 48 min 38 sec ago
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More than 70 UN member states demand protection of civilians amid mounting fears over Gaza

  • Joint statement ahead of UN debate on the issue highlights plight of Palestinians as Israel launches major offensive
  • ‘Today, we come with one clear message: The protection of civilians is not optional,’ the states say

NEW YORK CITY: More than 70 UN member states signed a joint statement calling for the urgent protection of civilians in armed conflicts, amid fears that thousands of Palestinians in Gaza could face starvation.

The statement preceded an annual open debate at the UN on the issue of protecting civilians, which included a briefing from the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, who this week warned that 14,000 babies in Gaza were at risk of dying from hunger. Israel launched its latest major military offensive in the territory this week.

“Civilians in armed conflicts continue to live under unthinkable conditions of constant danger, insecurity and suffering,” the joint statement said.

At least 36,000 civilian deaths were recorded in 14 armed conflicts last year, and tens of thousands of people were injured as a result of explosive devices, it added.

It cited reports from the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, that warned Gaza is facing the “worst humanitarian crisis” since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023.

“This cannot continue,” the statement continued. “Today, we come with one clear message: The protection of civilians is not optional. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law, and a moral imperative we cannot afford to neglect.

“Civilian women and men, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities, all suffer. Health workers, farmers, teachers are killed, injured and forced to flee. Civilians are too often targeted or simply abandoned in the calculus of war.

“Their protection must not be a secondary consideration — it must be central to all military planning and political decisions.”

The UN debate on Thursday also included a briefing by Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The organization has repeatedly warned of imminent famine in Gaza, following Israel’s implementation in March of a blockade on humanitarian goods entering the territory.

Although the blockade was lifted this week, the UN has still struggled to transport desperately needed aid into the enclave. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday that the Israeli military has provided aid trucks with access to Gaza only via an unsafe road. Discussions between the international organization and Israel are ongoing, he added.

The joint statement said: “We commend the vital role of humanitarian actors, and we condemn all acts of violence and threats against them. Last year was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel, when more than 360 humanitarians were killed in 20 countries.

“This has to stop. We reaffirm our determination to take concrete measures and use diplomatic means to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel, and to enable them to carry out their activities and mandate in accordance with humanitarian principles.”

Several major countries were absent from the list of signatories, but those who did sign included the EU, China and France, as well as Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Arab world.

“Let us reiterate our collective responsibility to protect the most vulnerable, to uphold international law, to prioritize the safety, dignity and rights of civilians, and to ensure that their faces and voices — so often invisible and silenced behind statistics — remain central to our actions,” the statement added.

“Let us recommit not only to words, but to concrete steps — toward protection, toward accountability, and ultimately, toward peace.”


UAE calls for investigation after Israeli forces fire near visiting diplomats

Updated 50 min 10 sec ago
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UAE calls for investigation after Israeli forces fire near visiting diplomats

  • ‘Warning shots’ reported as envoys toured Jenin in West Bank
  • Action ‘clear violation of international laws,’ foreign ministry says

LONDON: The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called for an investigation into Israeli forces opening fire during a visit by foreign diplomats to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

The ministry on Thursday condemned the incident near the Jenin camp entrance which drew condemnation from more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UK, Italy, China, Egypt, France, Jordan, Turkiye and Russia.

It said the Israeli action was a clear violation of international laws and norms that ensure the protection of diplomats and their missions and obstructed international efforts to achieve peace and stability, the Emirates News Agency reported.

It called for the violations to be investigated and the perpetrators punished.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces reported firing “warning shots” during a visit by foreign diplomats to Jenin. It said it “regrets the inconvenience caused” by the shooting, which resulted in no injuries.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to hold to account those responsible for the shootings.

The incident came as international pressure intensified over the war in Gaza, where Palestinians remain desperate for supplies despite the easing of a two-month aid blockade.


Gaza ambulance fleet down to a third, Palestinian Red Crescent says

The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent said its ambulance fleet was running at only a third of capacity due to fuel shortages.
Updated 49 min 57 sec ago
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Gaza ambulance fleet down to a third, Palestinian Red Crescent says

  • “We are running out of fuel. The capacity of ambulances we work with now is one third,” Al-Khatib said
  • Gasoline-powered ambulances had already halted but PRCS had some that were running on solar power provided by UN, he said

GENEVA: The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday its operations in Gaza may stop within days in the absence of fresh supplies and its ambulance fleet was running at only a third of capacity due to fuel shortages.
Flour and other aid began reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas on Thursday after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week Israeli blockade, Palestinian officials said.
Israel said it let in 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the blockade under mounting international pressure amid warnings of starvation in Gaza.
Asked how long his organization could continue operating in Gaza, Palestine Red Crescent Society President Younis Al-Khatib told reporters in Geneva: “It’s a matter of time. It could be days.
“We are running out of fuel. The capacity of ambulances we work with now is one third,” he added, saying its gasoline-powered ambulances had already halted but it had some that were running on solar power provided by the United Nations.
The PRCS is part of the world’s largest humanitarian network, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and provides medical care in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Al-Khatib criticized the small amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza so far, warning of the risk of mob attacks.
“I think that is an invitation for killing. These people are starving,” he said.
Israel, at war with Gaza’s dominant militant group Hamas since October 2023, has repeatedly defended its controls on aid in the enclave, saying there is enough food there and denying accusations of causing starvation.
He added his voice to criticism of a US-backed organization that aims to start work in Gaza by the end of May overseeing a new model of aid distribution. “It’s not up for discussion. No, no, no,” he said.
“The world should not give up on the system as we know it.”
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation intends to work with private US security and logistics firms to provide aid to 300,000 people from distribution hubs in Gaza’s south. Gaza’s total population is 2.3 million, most of it displaced.