Sudanese archaeologist Shadia Abdrabo is working urgently from France to create an online database of Sudan’s archaeological sites and museum collections, as the country’s cultural heritage faces destruction and looting in the ongoing conflict between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Abdrabo, a curator from Sudan’s National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, is on a year-long research grant at the French National Institute for Art History. She confirmed that two regional museums in El Geneina and Nyala have been almost entirely destroyed. The National Museum in Khartoum, which held an estimated 100,000 objects, was ransacked by militias who posted videos online showing fighters inside the storeroom.
The National Museum’s collection spanned millennia, including artefacts from the Kerma Kingdom, the Napatan era, the Meroitic civilisation, and later Christian and Islamic objects. Among its most valuable items were mummies dating back to 2,500 B.C., considered among the world’s oldest and most archaeologically significant, as well as royal Kushite treasures.
UNESCO has voiced grave concerns, stating that the “threat to culture appears to have reached an unprecedented level.” Abdrabo expressed her sorrow, saying, “My heart was broken… It’s not just objects that we lost. We lost research, we lost studies, we lost many things.”
Abdrabo fled Khartoum with her sisters after the war began, and worked with colleagues to safeguard Sudan’s 11 museums and sites, moving precious pieces to secure rooms and secret locations. However, cultural heritage advocate Ali Nour wrote that protective measures were too slow, with sites being emptied while applications were drafted.
UNESCO has conducted inventories, trained police and customs officers to identify stolen antiquities, and appealed to collectors not to acquire cultural property from Sudan. Researcher Meryam Amarir noted that Sudan has not benefited from strong media coverage, reducing the international response compared to similar emergencies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
