Cyber Ethiopia

In the last two articles we have been looking, as readers will recall, at some basic documents, and articles, about the Aksum obelisk, looted from Ethiopia on the personal orders of the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937, and, despite the terms of the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947, not yet returned by post-war "democratic" Italy. We have argued that if the Duce was responsible for the original act of looting the obelisk, his successors were no less guilty of violating the Peace Treaty, which provided for its restoration, and of prevaricating on the issue for over half a century. To return to the Obelisk Agitation: The Aksum Obelisk Return Committee's Stadium Demonstration, May 1992 Popular Ethiopian demands for the return of the looted obelisk were first

voiced by the Aksum Obelisk Return Committee, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Patriots Association and two leading sportsmen, at the Addis Ababa Stadium, on 28 May 1992. This took place during an interval between an Ethiopian-Nigerian football match. The demonstration, which readers can read about in Addis Tribune, number 248 (available on web), was memorable in that it was recorded, like the match itself, on television, and was thus watched by viewers throughout the country, many of whom learnt for the first time that the Italian Government's long decades of pevarication over the obelisk were at last under challenge. Though the audience was at first surprised to see us, and our posters (which had been devised by Engineer Tadele Bitul Kebrat) we had not walked round more than a quarter of the course before the crowd began crying out "Yimeles! Yimeles!", i.e. "Let it [the obelisk] return; let it return!" International Scholars Support for restitution was also expressed in public statements - published in the Ethiopian and other media - by innumerable international scholars. They included scholars of Aksumite history, such as Yuri Kobischanov and Katherine Bard; scholars of Ethiopian history, such as Professors Sven Rubenson, Donald Crummey, Peter Garretson,and Roger Schneider; scholars of African history, such Thomas Pakenham, Ali Mazrui, Colin Legum, and Professor Viraj Gupta; scholars of Ethiopian culture, such as Professors Frederick Gamst, Katsuyoshi Fukui, Dr Ephraim Isaac, Dr Kirsten Pederson, and Dr Getachew Haile; scholars of Italian Fascism, such as Professors William Deakin and Mack Smith, Italo-American scholars, such as Professors Pascal J. Imperato and Alberto Sbacchi, the Italian Anti-colonialist historian, Professor Angelo Del Boca; and such prominent figures as the renowned traveller and author Wilfred Thesiger, the feminist Germaine Greer, and Rita Marley, the widow of the musician Bob Marley. And many, many more: what they had in common was that they all believed that the return of the obelisk would be an act of justice. Ethiopian Inter -Ministerial Committee In response to such Ethiopian popular, and international, agitation the Ethiopian Government duly set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee, under the chairmanship of Dr Kassai Begashew, the then head of the Centre for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of Culture. He arranged for the filming of evidence given by members of the Aksum Obelisk Return Committee. This film would be well worth airing today. Parliamentary Hearing - and Resolution This first Ministerial hearing was followed by a more Public Hearing on the obelisk issue, by the Ethiopian Parliament. This took place on 24 January 1996. The gathering was addressed by Professor Andreas Eshete, head of the Adwa Centenary Commemoration Commission, Dr Kassai Begashaw, and Professor Bahru Zewde, the then Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, as well as Fitawrari Amede Lemma and other members of the Aksum Obelisk Committee - and Marco Vigoni, a teacher at Addis Ababa's Italian School. His support for the priciple of returning the obelisk to Ethiopia was particularly welcomed, emphasising as it did that the rreturn movement had been based from its inception on high-minded Italian advocacy of restitution. After hearing the evidence the Ethiopian Parliament passed a unanimous resolution, on 8 February 1996, demanding the obelisk's return, and instructing the Ethopian Foreign Minister to follow up the matter. The Patriarch and the Pope Not long after this, on 27 June 1996, His Holiness Patriarch Paulos V, Head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, wrote to the Pope of Rome, and to all the churches of Africa. The letter was historic, for it had been long since the heads of the two churches had been in direct communication. Addressing the Pontiff, the Ethiopian Patriarch declared: "You might be aware that Ethiopia, like your own country Poland, was not spared the convulsions and imbroglio of the Second World War... "When Fascist Italy attempted to subjugate our country in 1935-1941, it dismally failed, primarily due to the heroism of our freedom fighters and the relentless efforts of our church. "During its brief stay here where it was harrowed by our heroes, Fascist Italy managed to take away one of the world-famous obelisks of Axum. "This item of loot, which used to stand in the courtyard of the St Mary of Zion Church in Axum, stands to this day in front of the FAO headquarters in Rome. "We believe, Your Holiness, that it is time the obelisk came home... We would like to solicit your voice and moral authority so that the obelisk, which has tremendous historical and moral value to us Ethiopians and to the peoples of Africa as well as to others of African descent, be brought back from where it was taken - Ethiopia". The Parliament of Tegray (Region 1) shortly afterwards passed a powerful resolution, demanding the obelisk's return. The Largest Petition Ever Signed in Ethiopia Not long after this the people of Aksum, over fourteen thousand of them, signed the largest petition ever signed in Ethiopia. It read, in translation, as follows: "We, the people of Aksum, recall that our second largest obelisk was unjustly taken from our city by Fascist Italy in 1937. "We further recall that this obelisk should have been returned in accordance with Article 37 of the Italian Peace Treaty with the United Nations, which specified that all loot taken from Ethiopia after 3 October 1935, i.e. the date of the Fascist invasion, should be returned within 18 months "We also recall that the Ethiopian Parliament passed a unanimous resolution, on 8 Febryary of this year demanding our obelisk's immediate restitution". The OAU It was about this time that the Secretary-Genaral of the Organisation of African Unity, Dr Salem Ahmed Salem, when visited by the Aksum Obelisk Return Committee, declared that we could inform the press that he was entirely in support of the cause of the stele's restoration. Official Ethiopian Delegation to Rome The above moves set the stage for the visit to Rome, in the Spring of 1997, of an official Ethiopian delegation, led by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Dr Tekeda Alemu, and accompanied by two members of the Aksum Obelisk Return Committee: Fitawrari Amede Lemma and historian Ato Belai Gidei, all of whom expounded the wishes of the Ethiopian people. An agreement for the return of the obelisk was duly concluded with the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, Senator Rino Serri, on 4 March. The Year 1997 An historic joint Ethio-Italian statement, couched in official jargon, issued that day stated that: "Appreciative of enhancing bilateral relations in every sphere, "Appreciative of the inestimable value of the Aksum Obelisk to Ethiopia, "Fully cognizant of the positive impact of the Obelisk's restitution on the friendship between the two countries, "On the basis of existing Treaties, "The Governments of Ethiopia and Italy have defined proceedures for the restitution of the Obelisk now standing in Rome, to Axum". This important statement went on to declare that the Italian side "appreciated the central importance that the Italian people and Government attach to the restitution of the obelisk to Axum", and added: "This gesture of great significance would set the seal on the renewed friendship between the two countries and peoples". And the agreement ended with the forthright statement that the obelisk would be returned "within the current year", i.e. 1997. The date 1997, specified above in the joint statement, was repeated on the occasion of the important visit to Rome that year, of another Ethiopian delegation, this time led by Prime Minister Melles Zenawe. A further Joint Declaration was issued, on 8 April 1997, which declared: "The Italian Government declared its readiness to shoulder the responsibility for the restitution of the Obelisk to Axum, to be carried out in an operation to be completed by the end of 1997". Postage Stamps The Ethiopian Ministry of Posts duly issues a set of postage stamps, commemorating the actual return of the obelisk, on 3 September 1998. But the stele that day was (and still is) in Rome. Delay After Delay It will be apparent to chronologically minded readers that the year 1997 has passed, as well as 1998 and 1999, and that we are near the end of the year 2000. No firm date for the obelisk's repatriation has been announced, and the stele, still standing in Rome where the fascist dictator Mussolini placed it in 1937, has not even been dismantled. Many of our Italian Anti-Fascist friends, it is only fair to add, give it as their firm conviction that the obelisk will in fact never be returned, while others believe that "technical talks" are being used to delay a resolution of the issue until the advent of a Right Wing government in Italy. Other commentators have offered a wide diversity of explanations for the delay. Some assert that the obelisk's repatriation has been deliberately delayed because of the Ethio-Eritrean conflict; others claim that the Italian Government cannot afford the expense of transport; others again put the delay down to "technical difficulties" (which were apparently not operative in Mussolini's day, or apply only in the case of restitution, not to looting). Those who have followed us in this extended essay, have seen how the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947 was not implemented; how officials of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to listen to Ambassador Emmanuel Abraham's request for the obelisk, and sought to pretend that it was a gift to the Italian people; how the Italian Government craftily drafted the 1956 Italo-Ethiopian Treaty (which some observers have described as a twentieth century Treaty of Wuchale) to exempt Italy from any obligation to transport the stele beyond Naples. To top it all, the 1997 schedule, agreed upon between the present Ethiopian (EPRDF) and Italian (Left of Centre) Governments, has not been to date honoured. Those who have read this sorry tale of agreements ignored or dishonoured cannot have entirely unqualified confidence that repatriation will be effected according to schedule: the public does not in fact know if there is a schedule, and, if so, what it is! It is no secret that these humble articles inAddis Tribune are being read in Rome (on internet), as well as in Addis Ababa. If the authorities wish to allay Ethiopian fears we trust they will announce a firm date for the obelisk's dismantling in Rome and transportation to Ethiopia; or perhaps they prefer to let the matter drag on another half century? - or millennium? If the concerned functionaries in Rome have anything to tell us, this is the moment for them to do so, by allaying current suspicions, which are historically not ungrounded: WATCH THIS SPACE!