Rescuers or smugglers
An architect working with the French excavation mission was accused last week of smuggling antiquities. Nevine El-Aref investigates
>Despite all efforts by the Ministry of Culture to protect Egypt's valuable heritage from antiquities smugglers, a French architect working with Alexandria's renowned Centre D'Etudes Alexandrines (CEA) has allegedly been smuggling antiquities out of the country.
The 42-year-old Stephane Rousseau was arrested last week at Alexandria airport after a customs officer discovered 177 artefacts in his luggage, 157 of which were genuine pieces while the other 19 were replicas. Sabri Abdel-Aziz, head of the Ancient Egyptian department in the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told Al-Ahram Weekly that Rousseau's bounty included 144 bronze and silver coins spanning Graeco-Roman era to Islamic period, three Coptic lamps, a statue of an unknown woman, two terracotta statues featuring the god Osiris as a child, and a number of wooden ushabti figures from the late period.
According to the latest prosecution investigation report, Rousseau maintains he was victim of a swindler, saying that he bought these objects from a retailer at the Souq Al-Goma'a market in the Al- Attarin area of downtown Alexandria, as copies and not the genuine article.
In a telephone interview with the Weekly Jean- Yves Empereur, director of the CEA, described the incident as a "shock that put the French mission in a very difficult and critical position". He said that Rousseau was an architect who worked from 1992 to 1998 with the French excavation mission in Tanis, in the Delta region, and in late 1998 he joined the CEA rescue excavation of Al-Qabari necropolis in west Alexandria and the underwater excavation off Qaitbay fortress in 1999. In 2002 he worked in Luxor with the German Memnon Colossi mission.
"This man wants to take away Egyptian antiquities while our team is trying to rescue [them]," commented Empereur.
Since starting work in Egypt 27 years ago, he said, he has never encountered anything like this. "I do my best to rescue Alexandria's antiquities with the cooperation of my colleagues of the SCA and I consider these deeds of Rousseau to be completely disloyal," which, he said, "deserve the full punishment afforded by law".
The origin of the artefacts found in Rousseau's luggage remains unclear. According to Empereur, the recovered goods could not have been stolen from the CEA's storehouses as Rousseau was never, in fact, involved in excavations as his job was to make drawings of the stone monuments. Consequently, continued Empereur, Rousseau did not have access to the artefacts uncovered during the excavations, nor had he ever entered the storage warehouses where these artefacts are kept. He asserted that all pieces stored in the warehouses are checked, controlled and registered by the SCA's inspectors accompanying the mission.
"What supports my statement," he added, "is the Pharaonic ushabti figures found with Rousseau. They, in fact, were bought from a market or excavated from a site other than Alexandria, which is well known for its Graeco-Roman objects. Rousseau must provide the truth to prove his innocence," advised Empereur.
Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, head of antiquities in the Delta region and western Egypt, said that the pieces found in Rousseau's luggage dated from Roman, Greek and Islamic periods and most had been salvaged from the Alexandria area.
"We cannot say for definite that he got them from the French excavation warehouses because he might have bought them," Abdel-Maqsoud told the Weekly.
In an effort to ascertain whether these objects had been stolen from the CEA warehouses or not, SCA officials made an inspection of two of the largest CEA warehouses for the purposes of making an inventory.
Abdel-Aziz confirmed that the SCA had revoked Rousseau's work permit, but did not suspend the work of the whole mission because, "the attitude of a single person would not affect the others". "Even if investigations prove that Rousseau did not steal the pieces, but purchased them as he maintained, he will be excluded and prohibited from resuming his work, because a council code prevents archaeologists and archaeological workers from buying or selling antiquities," Abdel-Aziz insisted.
Culture Minister Farouk Hosni told the Weekly that this case prompted the passing of a new antiquities law which would patch up the gaps in the current law, Number 117 of 1983, and stiffen penalties for smuggling antiquities.
"Until parliament approves the new law, the SCA will take some precautions to protect more of Egypt's antiquities," said Zahi Hawass, secretary- general of the SCA.
He explained that a new law for foreign missions was issued a year ago to control excavation and restoration works, as well as to provide accurate security clearance for every member of their teams. A new department has also been established to trace all artefacts put on display in international auction halls and find a way to recover them.
In an attempt to prevent smuggling, explained Abdel-Aziz, special points have been set up at 26 entry points along the Egyptian border to check passengers' luggage. In addition, a number of high-tech archaeological storage warehouses, along with restoration labs, have been constructed at various archaeological sites in Aswan, Luxor, Qena, Dahshour, Giza, Fayoum, Alexandria, Siwa and Marsa Matrouh, to protect the newly discovered objects.
New state-of-the-art security measures have also been installed at several archaeological sites to replace old systems.
