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.
**
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
“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
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
tomb of Hetepka) another tomb at
Abu Sir (the tomb of Ptahshepses),
another tomb at
a storage magazine at
opened all the storage magazines.
We don’t know how many artefacts
are missing. They opened 2 storage
magazines at
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
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
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
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
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
at the same time, now I cannot do this! Therefore,
I decided to resign”.
***
Här är ytterligare en lista från dr Hawass
över plundrade och vandaliserade grävningar,
magasin och muséer. Och ett tillägg.
***
En alltför optimistisk artikel....?
**
