Reports of valuable objects listed as missing in the wake of the January revolution are continuing to dominate the news in the antiquities sector, Nevine El-Aref reports A report issued early this week shows that 800 artefacts are still missing from the Qantara-East warehouse in North Sinai. The storehouse was looted on 29 January -- the fifth day of the Egyptian uprising. On that day, thieves broke into the warehouse and succeeded in stealing and escaping with what amounted to a significant part of its collection. The warehouse was being used to house the collections belonging to the planned Port Said, Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba museums, as well as many objects originally from Sinai that were retrieved from Israel following the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. Two days after the break-in, 292 of the stolen objects were recovered with the help of the army and members of the Sinai Bedouin community. However, the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs at the time was not able to assess the exact number of objects stolen until the completion of a detailed inventory. The remaining objects in the Qantara-East warehouse have now been moved to safety in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The result of the inventory revealed that some 800 objects are missing, all dating from the ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Islamic eras. The objects, which have all been scientifically documented and published, derive from archaeological sites in Ismailia and from North and South Sinai. The missing objects include a large number of clay vessels, bronze coins, scarabs and amulets, as well as wooden arrows, textiles, amphorae and a headless limestone statue inscribed with hieroglyphic text. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, director of the Central Administration for Antiquities in Alexandria and Lower Egypt, said that a complete list of the missing objects had been sent to the prosecutor-general as well as to the Interpol and UNESCO to help in their retrieval. As the announcement was being made, a UNESCO delegation led by Christian Manhart, chief of the Museums and Cultural Objects Section in UNESCO, was in Egypt on a three-day tour of archaeological sites that had been subjected to looting during the uprising. The tour included the Egyptian Museum in Cairo as well as the Memphis necropolis, which covers the Giza plateau, Saqqara, Abusir and Dahshur archaeological sites. Luxor sites were also on the list. After touring the Egyptian Museum's exhibition galleries and laboratories, the delegation members expressed their satisfaction with what they saw. "The state of the Egyptian Museum is totally different from what was announced in the media," Manhart said of the museum, according to its director Tarek El-Awadi. Awadi told Al-Ahram Weekly that Manhart had said he was very pleased that 12 out of 54 missing objects had been retrieved, and he promised to help Egypt recover all its missing artefacts, not only those from the museum but also those of other archaeological sites. Manhart went on to say that the UNESCO visit had been wrongly reflected in the media. "We did not come to Egypt for an inspection tour, as was written in the newspapers, but to extend a helping hand to Egyptians to restitute their missing heritage," Manhart said. He insisted that the main reason for the visit was in order to assure the Egyptian authorities of UNESCO's support in terms of protecting the country's historical and cultural heritage, and also to meet the new people in charge and establish contact with them. According to Awadi, Manhart has offered to provide Egypt with technical experts in case of any technical problems with tightening security measures. If funding were required as a result of the withdrawal of tourism, Manhart said UNESCO could help find financial resources to help provide more security facilities. France Desmarais, director of programmes for the International Council of Museums (ICOM), who is responsible for the fight against illegal trafficking of cultural goods and who was among the UNESCO delegates, said ICOM had established a Red List to classify stolen Egyptian artefacts. This would be sent to Interpol to distribute to police stations worldwide. The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) was the last stop on the UNESCO visit. Hussein Abdel-Bassir, director of the NMEC, said that the delegation reviewed his suggestion to create a section within the museum's exhibition scenario relating the consequences of the Egyptian revolution from its birth on 25 January to the toppling of former president Hosni Mubarak's regime. The delegation also offered some training courses to the NMEC staff in restoration, archaeological documentation and museology. The delegation also met Zahi Hawass, former minister of state for antiquities affairs, and discussed several archaeological issues, among them procedures that could be taken to protect Egypt's antiquities. A day after the UNESCO delegation travelled back to Paris, five more artefacts from the 42 objects reported missing from the Egyptian Museum have been restituted. They include four bronze objects depicting the ancient Egyptian deities Osiris, the cat-goddess Bastet, the Apis Bull and Neith. All the returned objects are in good condition apart from the Abis Bull statue, which is broken into several pieces. Awadi is certain, however, that it can be restored to its original state. He also believes that the quick restitution of some of the museum's missing pieces gives him hope that the other 37 objects remain in Egypt and have not been smuggled out of the country. Awadi promises that when the museum recovers the last missing object, an exhibition telling the story of the January break-in during the revolution and exhibiting the objects will become a feature display. "I am really very grateful as the police and Armed Forces are putting in such effort to return Egypt's missing heritage," says Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, head of the museums department. He hopes that all the missing objects will soon be returned. At the end of the week, employees at the antiquities department took another step towards attempting to force Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to appoint a leader for their department in order to spruce up archaeological and administrative work in the ministry. Top antiquities department officials and legal consultants have signed an official letter to the prime minister calling for the immediate appointment of a minister of antiquities. Since the appointment of the new caretaker cabinet almost three weeks ago, and Sharaf's approval of retaining the antiquities department as an independent body in the cabinet echelon and separate from the Ministry of Culture, the antiquities department has been leaderless. Up to now the cabinet has not yet appointed a minister or director for the antiquities department, regardless of whether the position is that of an actual minister of state or an independent authority affiliated to the government. "No one is responsible for Egypt's antiquities," Abdel-Maqsoud told the Weekly. He said this had led to the absence of security and administration, measures for which had been put on hold because there was no leader to take decisions on antiquities or to continue work in progress. He explained that the monthly meetings of the permanent committees for ancient Egyptian and Islamic monuments had stopped, which had led to a cessation of the necessary procedures for removing encroachment on archaeological sites and for approving new excavation sessions submitted by Egyptian or foreign expeditions. Meetings of the administration board and the committee of exhibitions abroad are also on hold. Abdel-Maqsoud said the antiquities department could not issue any ministerial decisions for the return of any archaeological exhibition abroad or its transport to another country. Even its escort could not be replaced by others. Among the signatories of the letter sent to Sharaf asking him to identify the exact governmental body of the antiquities section, whether a ministry or authority, and to appoint a leader, are Abdel-Maqsoud, another top official at the ministry of antiquities and its legal consultants. "To spruce up the work we need a leader for antiquities," Abdel-Maqsoud said. Until the Weekly went to press no news about such an appointment had been announced.\
