The site of Meroë, home to 140 pyramids that are 2,400 years old and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been nearly deserted since the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in 2023 – once the most visited destination in Sudan, with up to 200 people per day.
Only three guardians – Moustafa Ahmed Moustafa, archaeologist Mahmoud Soliman, and young Mohamed Moubarak – now watch over this classified site, struggling against erosion and cracks in structures weakened by the destruction of the 19th century and two centuries of sand and rain.
The Kushite heritage sparked a strong resurgence of national identity during the 2018-2019 uprising against Omar al-Bashir – “My grandfather Taharqa, my grandmother Kandaka,” chanted the protesters before being swept away in the chaos of civil war.
By Bahira Amin and Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali – Report from Meroë, Sudan
Moustafa Ahmed Moustafa is the heir to a long line of guardians who have watched over Meroë’s ancient pyramids in Sudan. Today, after three years of war, he is one of the few sentinels protecting this heritage.
“These pyramids are ours, it’s our history, it’s who we are,” says the 65-year-old man, dressed in white from head to toe, standing out against the dark brick structures of the Begrawiyah necropolis on the site known as Meroë rule, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
This funerary site, dating back 2,400 years, houses 140 pyramids built until the 4th century AD, during the Meroitic period of the kingdom of Kush, at the crossroads of cultural exchanges with pharaonic Egypt, then Greece and Rome.
None are intact. Some are decapitated, others in ruins, dynamited in the 19th century by European treasure hunters, and eroded by two centuries of sand and rain.
Three hours’ drive from the capital Khartoum, it was once the most visited historical destination in Sudan. Today, in a country contested by the army and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces, only the grunt of a solitary camel breaks the silence.
“This may be the fourth time I’ve visited since the start of the war,” confides archaeologist and site director Mahmoud Soliman to AFP journalists, as he guides them around. He nostalgically recalls the pre-war days when “there were regular visits on weekends from Khartoum, entire buses, 200 people per day.” Along with Mr. Moustafa and young archaeologist Mohamed Moubarak, they guard the site, fighting erosion as best they can.
