World’s oldest mummies at risk as rebels storm museum

SUDANESE paramilitary fighters have taken over the national museum in Khartoum raising fears for the safety of important artefacts including some of the world’s oldest mummies, its deputy director said yesterday,

Members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group that has been fighting the army for seven weeks for control of Sudan entered the museum on Friday, said deputy director Ikhlas Abdellatif, who urged combatants to protect the nation’s heritage.

The museum’s doors have been closed since the conflict erupted on April 15, forcing police guarding the facility to quit, Mr Abdellatif said.

It is housed in a large building on the banks of the Nile in central Khartoum, in an area where some of the fiercest fighting has taken place, and there had been previous fears of looting.

Among its thousands of priceless relics are embalmed mummies dating to 2,500BC, making them among the oldest and archaeologically most important in the world.

In 2019, the British Museum helped the Sudan National Museum set up a bioarchaeology lab to conduct research on ancient human remains and other items dating back 12,000 years.

A video posted online, allegedly by an RSF fighter, appeared to be taken from inside the lab, Middle East Eye reported.

The museum also contains statues, pottery and ancient murals, with artefacts from the Stone Age through to the Christian and Islamic eras.

Mr Abdellatif said staff do not know the extent of the damage inside the museum.

However, Roxanne Trioux, part of a French archaeological team that was working in Sudan, said they had been monitoring satellite pictures of the museum and had already seen potential signs of damage, including burning, before Friday. “We don’t know the extent of damage inside,” she said.

Fighting has continued this week despite repeated truces including one negotiated by Saudi Arabia and the United States to which both sides signed up.

On Friday, the UN Security Council called on the warring factions to cease hostilities to allow humanitarian access.

The war has already displaced 1.2 million people inside the country and forced another 400,000 to flee into neighbouring states, pushing Sudan to the brink of disaster and raising fears of a wider conflict.

2,500BC Mummies in the national museum date back thousands of years, making them some of the most important in the world