More re steps to improve security in Egyptian museums

ABC News

Egypt has pledged to implement strict measures to protect its cultural and archaeological riches after the theft of a Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece in broad daylight from an unguarded Cairo museum.

Antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass says alarm systems in museums across the country will be upgraded and linked to a central control room monitored by security forces.

"A central control room will be set up and will be electronically linked to all the surveillance rooms that exist in the museums," Mr Hawass, who heads Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement.

Saturday's theft from Cairo's Mahmoud Khalil museum of the Dutch master's Poppy Flowers has left Egyptian authorities red-faced and struggling to fend off mounting criticism.

The government daily Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Monday that the museum's security system had been out of order since December 2006.