412 Update from Whale Valley

More on the story that European diplomats seriously damaged a 40 million-year-old whale fossil in Egypt’s Western Desert. It was the Belgians. The AP got their side of the story, too:

Egypt: Belgian Diplomats Damaged Fossils
By SALAH NASRAWI
The Associated Press
Monday, August 27, 2007; 9:58 AM

CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian authorities have accused Belgian diplomats of damaging a 40 million-year-old whale fossil when they allegedly drove over the remains in a protected desert area, an official said Monday. Belgian officials denied any damage was done.

Mohamed Ibrahim, an official in the Ministry of Environment, said the diplomats in four-wheel-drive vehicles ran over the fossil in July after ignoring signs warning visitors not to drive in the Wadi el-Hitan, or Valley of the Whales, protected area and UNESCO World Heritage site located about 93 miles outside of Cairo.

The Belgian Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Cairo denied the vehicles caused any damage to the fossil. Foreign Ministry spokesman Marc Michielsen said the two diplomatic-plated all-terrain vehicles were in the area but “did not leave the road.”

“They were not aware that the area was a protected area,” Michielsen said. “It seems the area was not cordoned off, and no notice or guards were present.”

Egyptian and Belgian authorities both said the incident took place in July. It was unclear why Egyptian officials waited until now to make the allegations.

Michielsen said Egyptian authorities sent a letter to Belgian authorities in mid-July, which Belgian authorities answered Aug. 5 by saying the diplomats did not damage any fossils.

“Since then we have not received any reaction,” Michielsen said.

Ibrahim, who works in the Environmental Ministry’s Natural Protected Zones office, said the Egyptian prosecutor’s office has estimated the damage at $325,000 and has demanded Belgium pay that amount in compensation.

“The financial value doesn’t really matter. What matters is the historical value,” he said.

Wadi el-Hitan contains fossils of the extinct suborder of whales, the archaeoceti, that date back about 40 million years. UNESCO says the fossils show the evolution of the whale from a land-based mammal to an ocean-based one.

UNESCO declared the site, discovered in 1936, a World Heritage site in 2005.

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Associated Press Writer Constant Brand in Brussels, Belgium, contributed to this report.

1 Comment »

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  1. There are no words to describe this despicable act.
    On the other way, if the idiots where in fact Belgians, it will be not so surprising, because they came from a country where it’s own Prime-Minister doesn’t know the Belgian anthem’s words, neither the motive behind Belgian National Day. They simply show in Egipt the respect they have for their own country.

    Comment by Luís Bonifácio — August 28, 2007 #

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