Auction houses in the West make a living by selling off articles stolen from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Most of these items are stolen from endless colonial wars, as was the case in Iraq where artefacts from Iraq’s museums were stolen by American soldiers when the country was attacked by the United States. Those items now grace the homes of many Americans.
Recently, a rock from Mars that fell on Earth was sold for $5.3 million at a geological and archaeological auction in New York by Sotheby’s. Named NWA-16788 and weighed in at 25kg, it travelled 225 million kilometres through the cosmos and landed on Earth. The rock was stolen by a ‘meteorite hunter’, who was somehow aimlessly wandering at the time in Niger’s Sahara desert.
The concocted story of a hunter has been hatched simply to cover the theft from Niger. This aimless wandering only happened after the rocks’ whereabouts and meteorite landing had become known sometime in November 2023.
I do hope that Niger gets the $5.3 million raised at the auction because it was on its territory that the Mars rock was found. It is about time countries whose treasures are stolen by the white race demanded return of all the stolen items. Bizarre stories to cover the steal, like the mysterious ‘meteorite hunter’, and trumpeting the record sale have to stop.
The Mars rock belonged to the people of Niger. It must be returned to Niger so that its people and others in Africa could admire it. Foreign scientists could do research on the rock with specific per-mission from the Niger government. This could also boost Niger’s tourism as many ‘meteorite’ enthusiasts, not ‘meteorite hunters’, would see it for themselves.
ANGABEEN AHMAD
KARACHI
