‘A catastrophe has befallen Iraq’s heritage’

SOME of the first examples of written words and number systems from the dawn of civilisation are missing from museums in Baghdad.

It is estimated thieves have taken more than 170,000 items from Baghdad's main museum, with the museum in Mosul in the north undergoing a similar fate.

There has been outrage after coalition troops failed to prevent looters burning priceless libraries and ransacking museums. Britain is dispatching a group of experts to Iraq to help in the restoration and recovery of the looted antiquities.

The British Museum which has the greatest Mesopotamian collection outside Iraq said that the destruction and theft was a catastrophe for the country's cultural heritage.

Archaeology experts from the museum will join their embattled counterparts in Iraq in their effort to repair some of the damage.

Director Neil MacGregor said: "Although we still await precise information, it is clear that a catastrophe has befallen the cultural heritage of Iraq.

"We hope that the British Government and the international community can move quickly to take the steps necessary to avoid further damage," he said.

Officials from Unesco, the UN cultural agency, will meet staff from the British Museum on Thursday to discuss tactics for Iraq.

Mr MacGregor said: "There will be a large conservation task to be done, extending over many years and requiring the widest possible international co-operation."

Dr Lamia Gailani, who was an archaeologist at the Baghdad museum for 10 years, told BBC Radio 4's Front Row, that there were two responsibilities that now needed to be undertaken.

"The first thing is the conservation and the repairing because quite a lot of the material appears to have been smashed not stolen, so we need to repair them all," she said.

"Before that, the worry is how to secure the museum because now it is open. So really you need to get these two things done at the beginning."

Archaeologists are worried that items looted in Iraq may already have left the country and, in some cases, found their way onto the international market.

The British Museum also wants

the international community and Unesco to stop the legal acquisition of looted items and ensure their return to Iraq.

Such a declaration would follow the precedent set after WWII when art looted by the Nazis had to be returned to its owners.