France, Jan. 25 -- The Sudan National Museum in Khartoum bears battle scars. Beneath holes left in its facade by rocket fire, a large bay window lies shattered. The gardens are littered with explosives.

Home toa vast collection tracing thousands of years of human history in the Nile Valley, the building was ransacked when paramilitaries fighting the armed forces overran the capital, soon after the war began in April 2023.

The army recaptured the city from its opponents, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), last March - finally allowing the museum's employees to assess the damage.

"Inside, all the locks had been broken and all the doors left wide open," said Jamal Mohammed Zein, the first member of staff to return.

"I headed straight for th...