Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have taken over the National Museum of Sudan, the largest museum in the country, Reuters reports.
The museum’s deputy director, Ekhlas Abdellatif, told the publication that the RSF fighters entered the museum on Friday, June 2. The National Museum is located in the center of the capital, Khartoum, on the Blue Nile, where fighting between the RSF and military forces led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been heavily concentrated since the conflict broke out. in mid-April.
A video posted on social media late last week appears to show RSF members inside the National Museum. men who Reuters identified as RSF fighters appear to be in a room with mummified remains discovered from the museum’s collections, although it is unclear why these remains are on display and their current condition is unknown. RSF fighters denied any damage or destruction to the museum in the video, but French archaeologist Roxanne Trioux told Reuters her team was monitoring satellite images of the museum and they had already noticed potential signs of burning .
The situation inside the National Museum of Sudan is still unclear, as staff have not been able to work inside the building since the conflict broke out on April 15. Hyperallergic contacted the deputy director and the director of the National Museum of Sudan for more information.
A two-story building built in 1955 and established in 1971, the National Museum of Sudan has one of the oldest and most comprehensive Nubian archaeological collections in the world with artifacts ranging from the Paleolithic period to the Islamic period. Abdellatif told reporters that the mummified remains inside the museum date back to 2,500 BCE, making it one of the oldest archaeological human remains in the world, according to Reuters.
Several other important museums, including the Sudan Museum of Ethnography, the Republican Palace Museum and the Sudan Museum of Natural History, are also located in the city center and have been flagged as potential targets for looting and destruction by an International Council of Museums (ICOM) report published at the end of April.
There was also reports of destruction to other cultural and historical sites, including a social science library at Omdurman al-Ahlia University. Hyperallergic also received an alert that the RSF had attacked and looted a private museum belonging to Abdallah Khalil, who served as Sudan’s second prime minister from 1956 to 1958 during the country’s first democracy.
Since the violent power struggle between the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and al-Burhan’s military forces erupted, at least 1.4 million civilians have been forced from their homes, resulting in the internal displacement of one million people, and more than 330,000 others have been driven to neighboring countries for security reasons, according to the latest reports from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Despite multiple truce attempts, including one brokered between Saudi Arabia and the United States, violence continued to erupt between the rival factions. Last Thursday, June 1, the United States announcement it imposed sanctions on businesses linked to the Sudanese conflict to quell fighting between warring factions. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council also called on the RSF and the Sudanese army in a public statement to stop the fighting in order to allow access for humanitarian aid to the region, as well as “to resume the process with a view to achieving a lasting, inclusive and democracy in Sudan”.
On Saturday, residents reported clashes between the RSF and the army in the southern and northern districts of Khartoum, as well as in Sharg el-Nil, located in the east of the city, according to Reuters.
