Posted on 01/31/2008 3:47:29 AM PST by knighthawk
Spectacular prehistoric depictions of animal and human figures created up to 6,000 years ago on Western Saharan rocks have been vandalised by United Nations peacekeepers, The Times has learnt.
Archaeological sites boasting ancient paintings and engravings of giraffes, buffalo and elephants have been defaced within the past two years by personnel attached to the UN mission, known by its French acronym, Minurso.
Graffiti, some of it more than a metre high and sprayed with paint meant for use for marking routes, now blights the rock art at Lajuad, an isolated site known as Devil Mountain, which is regarded by the local Sahrawi population as a mystical place of great cultural significance.
Many of the UN “graffiti artists” signed and dated their work, revealing their identities and where they are from. Minurso personnel stationed in Western Sahara come from almost 30 countries. They are monitoring a ceasefire between the occupying Moroccan forces and the Polisario Front, which is seeking independence.
One Croatian peacekeeper scrawled “Petar CroArmy” across a rock face. Extensive traces of pigment from rock painting are visible underneath. Another left behind Cyrillic graffiti, and “Evgeny” from Russia scribbled AUI, the code for the Minurso base at Aguanit. “Mahmoud” from Egypt left his mark at Rekeiz Lemgasem, and “Ibrahim” wrote his name and number over a prehistoric painting of a giraffe. “Issa”, a Kenyan major who signed his name and wrote the date, had just completed a UN course, Ethics in Peacekeeping, documents show.
Julian J. Harston, the UN’s representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and head of Minurso, said that he had been shocked by the scale of the vandalism. After visiting two of the sites, including Devil Mountain, this week, he said: “I was appalled. You’d think some of them would know better. These are officers, not squaddies.” The UN would take action against any officers “kind enough to leave their calling card. We will report it to the troop-contributing countries. We can move them.”
The extent of the damage is revealed in a report by Nick Brooks, of the University of East Anglia, and Joaquim Soler, of the University of Gerona, Spain, which was passed to The Times yesterday. It outlines the “severe vandalism”, saying that it “now appears to be an essentially universal practice when Minurso staff visit rock art sites . . . Minurso staff have felt entitled to destroy elements of Western Sahara’s and the Sahrawis’ cultural heritage, despite being aware of UN ethics in peacekeeping, and in breach of legislation enshrined in the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.”
It concludes: “Minurso personnel have played a major role in damaging archaeological sites, and such staff are engaged in the systematic defacement of valuable archaeological sites over a large area . . . the recent damage at Lajuad is unprecedented.”
The vandalism will reignite the debate about the conduct of UN peacekeepers after a series of scandals. Last January the UN admitted that more than 200 of its troops had been disciplined for sex offences, including rape and child abuse, in the preceding three years; in May it emerged that Pakistani peacekeepers had been trading weapons with Congolese militia.
In another 6,000 years, the same thing could happen...
Major jerks.
How ironic..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1197900.stm
“The United Nations has warned Afghanistan’s Taleban rulers of extremely serious consequences if they carry out their threat to destroy the country’s ancient Buddhist statues.”
You worry about what they are doing to the rocks? You should worry about what they are doing to the women!
You worry about what they are doing to the rocks? You should worry about what they are doing to the women!
The poor UN workers could not find any young girls to rape.
Wasn’t the original art, in effect, graffiti itself?
When UN scandals and failures are exposed, of course the UN is joined at the hip with the US and is direcelty and permanently associated with America. All the rest of the time, a yawning chasm exists between the UN and its ‘efforts’ and the US and its goals in the world. Convenient, huh?
I think the Croat and Russian in the story are covering for a whole lot more Muslims than the three listed.
Ping
Prehistoric Desert Town Found In Western Sahara (15,000 Years Old)
Reuters | 8-19-2004 | Reuters
Posted on 08/20/2004 12:10:09 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1195560/posts
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Last week I got Michael Palin's "Sahara" DVD set out of the library, and was occasionally amused, but mostly appalled at his butt-kissing of Polisario and the gov't of Algeria, among other things. |
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Haven’t moslems been known to destroy antiquities? Statues of Buddha ring a bell, UN? Where was the outrage then?
The majority of members of the UN are thugs and criminals, why should we expect anything different from the citizens in their military?
Really bright people they've got working for the UN. Maybe Al Qaeda would like to tap that group for suicide bombers.
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