The director of Sudan’s National Authority for Antiquities and Museums, Ghalia Gar Al-Nabi, has condemned the pillaging of the country’s premier museum as a “humanitarian catastrophe,” amid a broader collapse of national heritage infrastructure during the ongoing conflict.

In an interview with Al-Karama, Ms Gar Al-Nabi confirmed that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized more than 100,000 archaeological artefacts from the National Museum in Khartoum. The looting forms part of what she described as a wider campaign of destruction, in which seven of Sudan’s 13 museums have been either razed or ransacked.

Among the plundered objects were large quantities of ancient gold, jewellery and ceremonial items from the Napatan and Meroitic civilisations — kingdoms that flourished along the Nile centuries before the Common Era. The disappearance of such artefacts, some of them of global historical significance, represents a devastating loss not only to Sudan but to the wider understanding of early African civilisations.

Ms Gar Al-Nabi said the National Museum had also sustained extensive structural damage. In addition to looting exhibits, militia forces reportedly dismantled key utilities, stripping the facility of electricity and running water.

Efforts are under way — both within Sudan and in collaboration with international partners — to trace and recover the stolen antiquities. The director appealed to the global community to assist in safeguarding Sudan’s cultural patrimony in the face of war and lawlessness.

Agencies.