Tourists Loot Objects from Protected Site

After five German tourists went missing in the Sahara desert, authorities first suspected them to have been kidnapped by Islamist rebels, but they were caught making their way with stolen artefacts to neighbouring Niger. By Anita Purcell

The tourists went missing in November for three days in the Sahara desert but they were found last Sunday by Algerian authorities with 130 pieces stolen from the Tassili National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the Libyan and Niger borders. They were now sentenced to three months in prison and fined nearly 500,000 US dollars.

The Germans had given their tourist guide the slip and ventured inside a restricted archaeological site within Tassili National Park.

The World Heritage site has what is described as one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world.

Kidnapped by Islamist rebels?

The disappearance of the three men and two women had sparked a massive manhunt as authorities feared they had been kidnapped by Islamist rebels.

A patrol had intercepted the Germans when they were making their way with the stolen artefacts to neighbouring Niger.

Jenny Doole, a researcher with the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre in Cambridge, says she suspects the Germans to be part of an organised network specialising in illegal trafficking of ancient objects.

Organised process of looting

"Usually, the tourists that we log buying illicit antiquities are doing it from ignorance," Doole explains. "But considering the amount and the way they were looting the antiquities seems to indicate that they were part of some kind of organised process of looting."

Jenny Doole says the majority of stolen African artefacts end up in private and public collections.

"The illicit trade is obviously by its very nature clandestine, because of the way that the trade works, it is possible for them to get into museums and private collections and we suspect that is the main market."

The Council of Europe has described the plundering of African cultural objects as the dark side of relations between Africa and many European countries.

The Council, in a recommendation to the European Parliament on the issue, also said that the growing fashion for collecting objects from African civilisations is exerting a new pressure on the states from which these objects originate.

Insufficient means to protect the cultural heritage

Ms Doole adds developing countries, particularly war-torn nations, do not have the resources to protect their cultural heritage.

"A lot of the countries that are most often looted are also some of the poorest countries in the world, so there are probably much greater priorities for them than protecting archaeology. But on the other hand, that archaeology is very valuable to western markets to be sold as art; so it's almost impossible for them to guard or put the resources that would be needed to protect every archaeological site."

Jenny Doole says European governments must educate collectors not to touch antiquities if it cannot be proven that they are clean, and initiatives need to be introduced to reinforce ethical practices in museums when acquiring ancient artefacts.

Anita Purcell

Information on cultural heritage at the UNESCO online portal