Baghdad, May 24: The United States is to provide two million dollars to restore and protect Iraq's main museums, looted following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, as well as its renowned archeological sites. The funds will be used notably to set up a research center to compile a list of the artifacts stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad, and photographs of the items will be posted on the Internet to help track them down, coalition radio said yesterday.
The report added that anyone found with links to the stealing or trafficking of artifacts will be judged in accordance with Iraqi and US laws. It also called on people with information on stolen museum artifacts to come forward and report it to the authorities.
The National Museum was Iraq's main repository of priceless less Mesopotamian artifacts, as many Iraqi regional museums had sent their most valuable objects to Baghdad for safekeeping before the war started. On Monday last, the head of the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Koichiro Matsuura said less than 1,000 sites were missing from the National Museum. He added previous reports that around 60 or 70,000 had been stolen were wrong.
He reached his conclusion after four Unesco experts visited the Iraqi capital last week to assess the damage to the museum caused during days of looting following the ouster of Saddam's regime on April 9. Bureau Report