After numerous technical hitches and embarassing delays, the first of three pieces of the famed Axum obelisk is finally due to arrive home from Italy on Tuesday, Italian officials said. A plane carrying one-third of the huge, 160-tonne monument plundered by fascist Italy nearly 70 years ago is expected to land at the Axum airport at dawn on Tuesday.
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/ 24 November 2004
Almost 70 years after being looted by Mussolini’s troops, the Axum Obelisk, dating from the third century before Christ, is set to make a triumphant return from Rome to this northern Ethiopian town. The only question is exactly when. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi ”went to Italy”, enthused 80-year-old Abebe Alemayehu, one of the few living witnesses to the 1937 removal of the 24-metre funeral stele. ”Now it is sure the obelisk will return to Axum soon.”
The third and final piece of the stolen Axum obelisk arrived home in Ethiopia from Italy on Monday nearly 70 years after it was plundered by fascist troops. ”I am very happy,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said as the giant Russian-built Antonov cargo plane touched down at the small airport in northern Ethiopia at 6.20am.