War-torn Sudan’s priceless treasures put up for sale on eBay

The Times

Auction site removes items after being contacted by The Times but experts fear Rapid Support Forces troops have looted national museum in Khartoum
Some of the ancient sculptures displayed in the Sudan National Museum in 2008. Various items are said to have appeared on internet auction sites

Lorry-loads of priceless artefacts plundered from museums in war-ravaged Sudan have been smuggled across borders and are being sold online.

Thousands of relics including shards of statuettes and ancient palaces have been stripped during more than a year of fighting in which up to 150,000 people have been killed and prized antiquities put at the mercy of looters.

The UN cultural body Unesco said that the threat to the country’s greatest treasures had reached “an unprecedented level” and called on private collectors and dealers not to buy them.

Paintings, gold objects and pottery listed on eBay as Egyptian antiquities were likely to have come from the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum, according to experts.

It is in an area of the capital controlled by the Rapid Support Forces