[CPProt.net] Return of obelisk to Ethiopia delayed again

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

________________________________

Van: shlomo at eastafricaforum.net [mailto:shlomo at eastafricaforum.net] 
Verzonden: maandag 11 april 2005 18:03
Aan: shlomo at eastafricaforum.net
Onderwerp: Return of obelisk to Ethiopia delayed again


http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=topNews&localeKey=en
_ZA&storyID=8143859
 
Return of obelisk to Ethiopia delayed again	
 <http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/images/clear.gif> 	
Mon April 11, 2005 4:13 PM GMT+02:00 

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopians will have to wait a little longer for the
return of the Axum obelisk, a national treasure plundered by Italian fascist
invaders nearly 70 years ago, the government said on Monday. 

The first of three segments of the 24-metre (78 ft) granite obelisk was due
to be flown from Italy to the ancient northern city of Axum on Wednesday,
but the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture in a statement said it been delayed
indefinitely. 

"The return of the obelisk was delayed due to technical and logistical
problems beyond our control and we therefore apologise to all those who had
been invited to attend the arrival of the obelisk on April 13," the ministry
said. 

A new date for the return of the obelisk, which is believed to be
1,700-years-old, would be announced once it was available. 

Italy promised in 1947 to return the 200-tonne granite column, a symbol of
the dawn of Ethiopian civilisation, but arguments and logistical problems
delayed it until November, when the two countries finally agreed to fly it
home. 

Italy's Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ordered its seized from Axum, 850
km (530 miles) north of the capital Addis Ababa, and erected in Rome as a
symbol of Italy's victory over Ethiopia in the years leading up to World War
Two. 

A huge celebration is planned to welcome the return of the obelisk, and a
national holiday is also planned once the obelisk is erected over the next
few months. 

Italy has agreed to cover the transport cost of the obelisk by cargo plane.
Landlocked Ethiopia had to build a special runway to accommodate the Russian
Antonov 124 jet, one of only two aircraft that can carry it. 

The column, a funerary monument, is considered among the finest from Axum,
the centre of pre-Christian Ethiopia's civilisation.