Khartoum: The Undersecretary of Culture at the Ministry of Culture and Information, Dr. Graham Abdel-Gadir, praised the continued support provided by the UNESCO Office in Sudan to the culture and antiquities sector, particularly the country’s tangible cultural heritage. This came during his meeting Sunday in his office with the Director of the UNESCO Office in Port Sudan, Ahmad Junaid Sorosh-Wali. He received equipment from the UNESCO Sudan Office for documenting tangible cultural heritage, especially the antiquities of the Sudan National Museum, which were affected by plundering and vandalization by rebel militias.
According to Sudan News Agency, Dr. Graham said that the equipment and devices would be allocated to the group currently working on collecting and inventorying the antiquities at the National Museum, which were ransacked, broken, and devastated by rebel militias. The Undersecretary of Culture pointed to the joint cooperation with UNESCO in the field of protecting Sudanese antiquities, including the following: pillaging antiquities in Sudan and the procedures for opening reports. Dr. Graham explained that cooperation with UNESCO also included studies being conducted in the field of antiquities and future plans regarding the rehabilitation of the National Museum and other museums.
For his part, the Director of the UNESCO Office in Port Sudan, Ahmad Junaid Sorosh-Wali, stated that the provided equipment would be used to create a database to list antiquities ransacked during the war and to document the artifacts in the Sudan National Museum of Sudan. He added that UNESCO has recently worked on preparing a comprehensive action plan to rescue Sudanese antiquities and cultural heritage, in addition to action plans for education, information technology, and artists, besides audio and visual heritage.