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UN vandals spray graffiti on Sahara’s prehistoric art

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Aryan Warrior
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« on: February 01, 2008, 12:14:54 am »

January 31, 2008

UN vandals spray graffiti on Sahara’s prehistoric art




Image :1 of 3

Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent
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 **** and child abuse, in the preceding three years; in May it emerged that Paki-stani peacekeepers had been trading weapons with Congolese militia.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article3280058.ece
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Aryan Warrior
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« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2008, 12:15:52 am »

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« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2008, 12:22:22 am »

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Kris Conover
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« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2008, 12:39:04 am »

UN official slammed in W. Sahara vandalism row

1 day ago

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — A pro-Moroccan Sahrawi group blasted a top UN official Thursday, as vandalism of prehistoric art by UN peacekeepers in the disputed territory of Western Sahara blossomed into a diplomatic incident.

In a statement sent to AFP here, the Casablanca-based Moroccan Sahara Association (ASM), described as a "serious diplomatic faux pas" the apology offered to the Polisario independence movement by the head of the UN mission in Western Sahara (Minurso).

Minurso said that the official, Briton Julian Harston, discussed the affair with Polisario representatives during UN-sponsored talks on the territory's future in the New York suburb of Manhasset earlier this month.

Harston "apologized for the unthinking actions of some Minurso members in the past and undertook to investigate the matter further and explore the possibility of remedial action," a Minurso statement said.

This gesture to the Polisario, which wants a referendum with the option of full independence from the Rabat government, sparked anger from the ASM. That group is loyal to Morocco, which has offered broad autonomy to the Sahrawis in the territory.

ASM chief Reda Daoujni warned that if an apology was not offered to his group, it would call for a rally outside the Minurso offices in Western Sahara and in Rabat to protest Harston's "blatant pro-separatist stance."

A UN spokesman here said Harston "apologized to the Polisario representatives because they were the ones who brought up the issue with him at Manhasset."

But Ahmed Bujari, the Polisario representative to the UN, dismissed the ASM protest and told AFP: "Morocco has no legal basis to complain since no one in the world recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara."

"What is important is that Minurso agreed to investigate the affair and to take steps to have those responsible prosecuted in their own countries."

Bujari said the vandalism of prehistoric art carved onto rocks depicting human and animal figures occurred at Lajuad in the "liberated territory under Polisario control in the central south of Western Sahara."

"This is a cultural legacy going back 6,000 years," he said.

UN peacekeepers monitor a truce along a defense wall in the Sahara constructed by Morocco following a UN-brokered peace deal in 1991 between Morocco and the Polisario.

Morocco's director of national heritage Abdallah Salih spoke out against the vandalism. "We condemn these acts committed in the demilitarized zone," he told AFP on Thursday.

Minurso said that since the Polisario drew attention to the vandalism in the middle of 2007, "action has been taken to stop any further vandalism, and a formal enquiry is being undertaken."

The Times of London Thursday quoted Harston as saying Minurso personnel had sprayed graffiti onto rock art at an isolated site known as Devil Mountain, which the local population regards as of great cultural significance.

One Croatian peacekeeper reportedly sprayed "Petar CroArmy" across a rock face, while "Ibrahim" sprayed his name and number over a painting depicting a giraffe.

Morocco, which annexed the phosphate-rich, mainly desert Western Sahara in the 1970s following the withdrawal of colonial power Spain, and the Polisario failed to make any headway in their third round of direct talks this month.

But they agreed to hold a fourth round from March 11-13 to try to reconcile Morocco's offer of broad autonomy to the Sahrawis and the Polisario's demand for a referendum with the option of full independence.

Despite the 1991 ceasefire after years of fighting, a promised self-determination referendum never materialized and since 2002 Rabat has insisted that holding such a plebiscite is no longer realistic.


http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gA8okACWZn6wnyuPbq6LJAeyV59Q
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Kris Conover
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« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2008, 12:40:20 am »



Soldiers with the United Nations walk toward their vehicles
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Kris Conover
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« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2008, 12:42:19 am »

I can't believe how thoughtless the military is when it comes to ancient history! 
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