The deputy director of the national museum in Khartoum had on Saturday, June 3, revealed that the Sudanese paramilitary fighters have gained control of the national museum in Khartoum, increasing anxiety over the safety of valuable artefacts residing at the museum.
The members of the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, a group that had been battling the army for weeks to gain control of Sudan gained access to the museum on Friday, June 2.
The deputy director Ikhlas Abdellatif has meanwhile pleaded with the combatants to protect the nation’s heritage.
The museum in question is in a huge building on the banks of the Nile in central Khartoum, close to the central bank in an area where some of the deadliest battle has taken place.
According to Hatim Alnour, the priceless relics in the museum include: embalmed mummies dating back to 2,500 BC, statues, pottery and ancient murals, with artefacts from the stone age through to the Christian and Islamic eras.
This war has already disorganised 1.2 million people inside the country and forced another 400,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring states.