Ethiopian officials seeking the return of an ancient obelisk looted by Italian fascist forces in 1937 left for Italy at the weekend determined to find out when and how it will be repatriated, officials said on Monday.
The Ethiopian delegation, led by Jara Hailemariam, head of the African nation’s cultural conservation and research deparment, left on Saturday at the invitation of the Italian government, according
to the Italian embassy in Addis Ababa.
The 160-ton, 24-metre obelisk, orginally a
Yemenite funerary monument dating back to the third century BC, today stands in front of the Rome headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced in mid-July that it would begin the process of returning it. But the Italian government has dragged its heels over the issue amid comments from some officials that it would be better protected in
Rome.
Ethiopian officials said the team mainly wants to discuss when and how it would be returned.
They also want to check it for any possible damage following a lightning storm on May 29.
The obelisk was one of six built at Axum, in the north of the country near the border with Eritrea, which had its peak in the fourth century AD.
Looted by troops of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini when they occupied Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941, it was originally to have been returned by the Italian government within 18 months of Italy signing the September 1947 peace treaty with the United Nations which officially ended World War II.
For more than a year, the Ethiopian government has readied the orginal site for its return, with scaffolding in place to protect the obelisk and road repairs completed to ensure a smooth journey once it reaches the country.
In July this year, Italy again pledged to return the Axum obelisk, but set no date for its repatriation.
”It is encouraging that Italy has started to take measures to return the monument, but it is difficult to discern this latest promise from the usual propaganda,” said a foreign ministry statement at the time.
The obelisk is part of a significant portion of Ethiopia’s pre-war national artefacts held by Italy, which include the country’s first airplane, the Tsehai, named after the daughter of the country’s last monarch, Emperor Haile Selassie.
The debate over its return has soured relations between the two countries. – Sapa-AFP