RSF Systematic Distruction of the Sudanese Culture and Heritage

By: Ali Noor

In the deliberate attempt to wipe out our nation’s cultural, educational, and heritage land marks, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) embarked on a vicious campaign targeting Sudan’s institutions including mass destruction of cultural properties since the war began in khartoum last April. Recently, the Sudan national museum was raided by the RSF. The museum houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive Nubia archaeological collection.

A video posted on social media showed members of the RSF raiding the biotechnology lab where uncovered mummified remains can be seen. The staff were forced to abandon the institution when the fighting broke out. Several other museums have been occupied and used as bases by the RSF, including the tomb of Al-mahdi in Omdurman. There are also reports of damage to the Presidential Palace,a historic building that includes the Presidential Palace Museum. Meanwhile, thousands of historic books, archives, and research materials were also destroyed in a fire sparked by the RSF bombardment of Ahlia University in Omdurman.

The National Records Office also suffered damage due to bomb explosions fired by the RSF. The facility serves as the national archive of Sudan and is responsible for the preservation of government records and houses a vast collection of over 30 million documents, including newspapers, photographs, and significant manuscripts.

Educational institutions that were once among Africa’s best also suffered significant damage. More than 100 universities have been extensively destroyed, including the University of Khartoum’s main campus, an architectural masterpiece that included a laboratory established by Henry Wellcom at the start of the 20th century. A UN expert said the RSF was responsible for damage inflicted to important cultural treasures inside khartoum and in Darfur.

According to a report by the African weekly magazine ” The Continent,” historic important sites such as Omdurman old Market have been burned down by the fighting, in addition to Mohammed Omer Bashir’s Centre for Sudanese studies, where handwritten manuscripts and rare books simply no longer exist. Muhammed Bakhit, a member of the Sudanese writers’ union, told DW channel that the destruction of such national heritage landmarks by the RSF is being done deliberately in an attempt to erase historical facts, adding that the RSF wanted to create a new era that starts with them. He added that they seem to want to reshape society into an ignorant one with no memory.

Among other scientific institutions that were ransacked and burned to ashes at the hands of the RSF, it is the natural history museum.
The museum houses a collection of rare plants, specimens of species extent in Sudan, as well as living animals and insects.
We conclude by what the famous British author Georg Orwell said” The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”