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Negligence, Corruption Threaten Tunisia’s Heritage Sites

April 7, 2014 | In the Press

From Tunisia Live (http://www.tunisia-live.net/2014/04/04/negligence-corruption-threaten-tunisias-heritage-sites/)

On February 28, authorities in France discovered 81 Roman artifacts of Tunisian origin sitting outside a museum in Paris. Two young Tunisian men, according to the Tunisian National Heritage Institute, dropped off the items at the Bavay Museum after their families had brought them from Tunisia.

It is unclear where exactly the artifacts came from, how they got to France, or why the men suddenly decided to give them up to a museum. The episode highlights the chaotic, vulnerable status of Tunisia’s heritage years after the fall of a government infamous for using the nation’s legacy for personal ends.

“This case is very bizarre,” Youssef Cherif, a blogger and a specialist in ancient history and archaeology told Tunisia Live. He added it was unclear if the artifacts were taken before or after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution.

The France example is one of several that has called into question the security of the remains of Tunisia’s long history.

Last December, Tunisian authorities arrested nine people in Siliana selling archeological artifacts. The items, including ancient coins, jewelry, and stone jars, had been stolen from the Hammamet villa of Sakher el-Materi, the famously affluent son-in-law of ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, in January 2011. The Gorgon mask, stolen from Algeria in 1996, was among other antiquities found in el-Materi’s villa. Tunisia is set to return the mask to Algeria next week, the Ministry of Cultureannounced on Thursday.

Among other crimes attributed with his regime, Ben Ali’s family regularly engaged in the pillaging of antiquities. His wife and daughter reportedly used museum artifacts to decorate their villas. Other members of his extended family were also involved in the smuggling of antiquities.

“Families close to the ruling regime, under Bourguiba and Ben Ali, were involved in this kind of smuggling,” Youssef Cherif, a blogger and a specialist in ancient history and archaeology, wrote on Huffpost Maghreb last November.“It is always the workers and the guards at the sites who get caught by the law. The major [players] always get away.” 

Although Ben Ali is no longer in power, Tunisia’s invaluable historical heritage remains under threat.

In early November 2013, the authorities reported that the fifth century statue of Ganymede was stolen from the Carthage Paleo-Christian Museum in the capital of Tunis. The statue depicts a divine hero from the ancient city of Troy in the company of an eagle. It is 49 centimeters long and made of white marble. Museum guards were arrested in connection with the theft, but the mastermind remains unknown.

“After the 14th of January, the phenomenon grew. The big families fell but the local networks remained the same, attracting international gangs to profit from political instability,” Cherif wrote. The prevalence of bribery and pervasive negligence of the authorities threaten the safety of artifacts now.

“Customs officers do not care about artifacts,” Cherif said. “Or they might think that they are craftwork.”

“Robberies on sites are taking place on a daily basis,” Adnane Louhichi, head of the National Heritage Institute, told Radio Express FM last November. “Gangs undertake illegitimate and random excavations in the isolated areas of Tunisia.”

Because authorities are overstretched, archaeological sites have seen increased theft, Cherif said. Louhichi agrees, saying Tunisia’s “rich heritage” makes it hard for authorities to “exercise control” over all sites. The Ganymede theft was the first museum robbery since the revolution, Louhichi said.

“Artifact theft from museums was very common under Ben Ali especially, between 2008 and 2011,” Louhichi told Express FM. Museums in Tunisia are in need of upgrades and modern equipment to prevent theft and the damaging of artifacts. “Unfortunately the country’s situation does not allow us to have the needed budget to upgrade museums.”

On several occasions Cherif witnessed first-hand the pillaging of archeological sites in Carthage, he said. Last February, he posted a series of photos depicting what he says is a looted Punic-era tomb.

“The authorities on their own cannot fix this problem,” Cherif told Tunisia Live. “The solution is in the hands of society as a whole, and citizens should report looting incidents to the authorities.”

It is not all bad news for the future of Tunisia’s archaeological heritage, however.

The ministries of culture and tourism recently announced a joint strategy to boost cultural tourism by developing four new cultural tourism circuits.

During a visit to Kef in northwestern Tunisia last week, Minister of Culture Mourad Sakli called on local officials to “speed up the restoration of historical monuments that play a key role in the development of touristic activities.”

The flourishing of civil society after the revolution has led to the establishment of archaeological associations that aim to preserve Tunisia’s rich history.

Among these is Atlel for the Protection of Archeological Sites in Degache, a town located in near Tozeur in southwestern Tunisia. Founded with the intent of protecting Degache’s heritage, the association collaborates with INP to conduct excavations for an inventory of archaeological sites, monuments, and artifacts.

Sites there are under the threat of construction and farming activities, Atlel vice president Lotfi Boujemaa told Tunisia Live. He added that this town, known mainly for its proximity to the desert and several oases, could benefit from the “alternative of cultural tourism.”

Boujemaa says his association is striving to preserve the town’s ancient heritage from these modern dangers.

“We seek to save what is left of the artifacts.”

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