Meetings with UNESCO to Follow-up and Recover Looted Antiquities

The Tourism Department at the Ministry of Culture and Information revealed that meetings have been held with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to monitor the movement of stolen antiquities from Sudan.

The Ministry’s Director of External Relations, Mohamed Mudather, said that ministerial meetings are being held with UNESCO regarding the recovery of looted antiquities.

He pointed out that the meetings emphasized the need to monitor and track the movement of antiquities and work to return them.
He also discussed the possibility of maintaining the National Museum and studying the extent of its destruction.

Mudather emphasized that tourism sector activity is currently limited to travel and tourism agencies, which in turn operate in the Hajj and Umrah sector.
He added that most hotels are privately owned, meaning their rehabilitation falls on their business owners.

Last year, the Sudan National Museum was subjected to looting of its antiquities and gold artifacts by the Rapid Support Forces militia.

The Museums Administration revealed that it is tracking the Sudanese antiquities stolen from several museums, which passed through South Sudan or across the border.

UNESCO announced that 10 museums and cultural centers have been subjected to looting, theft, and vandalism in Sudan since the outbreak of the war sparked by the rebel Rapid Support Forces militia.