måndag, mars 07, 2011

Plundringen av Egyptens fornminnen

Åter till plundringen av Egyptens forn-

minnen under anarkin den senaste månaden.

Det ser bekymmersamt ut sedan armén

börjat strunta i vakthållningen kring muséer

och utgrävningar. Istället hänvisar de till

de dåligt beväpnade och underbetalda

turistpoliserna. Grävningsplatser och

magasin över hela landet plundras nu

på nätterna av tungt beväpnade ligor.

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Riksantikvarien och Arkeologiministern

Zahi Hawass har därför beslutat avgå.

På sin blogg avfyrar han en rejäl salva

mot regeringen, armén och ohederliga

kollegor, som säljer antikviteter till

handlare över hela världen….:

“I am leaving because of three important

reasons. The first reason is that, during

the Revolution of January 25th the Egyptian

Army protected the antiquity sites.

And they protected Cairo Museum. But in

the last 10 days the Army left. Actually,

they have other tasks to do. Those who

are now in charge of the protection of

the antiquity sites are the Tourist Police.

But there is no Tourist Police to protect the

sites. Therefore, what happens? Egyptian

criminals, thieves (you know, in every

Revolution bad people always appear…),

began to destruct tombs.

They stole a tomb at Saqqara (the

tomb of Hetepka) another tomb at

Abu Sir (the tomb of Ptahshepses),

another tomb at Giza. They attacked

a storage magazine at Saqqara, they

opened all the storage magazines.

We don’t know how many artefacts

are missing. They opened 2 storage

magazines at Giza. One tomb dated

19th Dynasty, actually it is only one in

the Delta. It was destructed, at Ismailiya.

A store at El-Qantara-east has been

broken and they took antiquities. They

began to build houses, they began to

excavate at night, everywhere.

I had to write a report and to send it to the

Director of UNESCO. That’s why at the Egyptian

cabinet, yesterday, I had my speech and I said:

“I cannot stay in Egypt and see antiquities

being stolen, and I cannot do anything”.

This is not me! I have been always fighting to

return artefacts. I did fight Ahmed Ezz, the man

in the Parliament, who was the most powerful

man:

he wanted antiquities to be sold in Egypt.
The second reason: crooks in the Antiquities

Department. There are two of them… They have

been accused of stealing antiquities. They have

been accused of doing illegal things, all the time…

Their files talk about this. A third person was a

professor at the University who stayed almost

6 years as Antiquities Director, and he never

did anything. As a corrupt man, he even signed

for a rich lady from an Arab country to take

manuscripts out of Egypt.

These 3 people brought kids against me, to shout

that they need jobs. I cannot give a job to everyone…

They began to say in Egypt that I am stealing

antiquities.

How? How a man who gave his life to antiquities

can steal antiquities? Therefore, I found that if I

stay for six months from now in Antiquities, I will

never be able to protect antiquities and I’ll never

be able to work during this mess…

During all my life, I have been excavating,

discovering, writing books, giving lectures all over

the world.

Actually, I am responsible for bringing many tourists

to Egypt, because of all the activities that I did. But,

at the same time, now I cannot do this! Therefore,

I decided to resign”.

***

Hela bloggen

Här är ytterligare en lista från dr Hawass

över plundrade och vandaliserade grävningar,

magasin och muséer. Och ett tillägg.

***

En alltför optimistisk artikel....?

**

"Plundrarna svärmade som gräshoppor"