BBC World Service 21 January 2002

The Scottish episcopal church says an Ethiopian delegation will arrive in Edinburgh next Saturday to receive back a 400-year-old religious relic, looted by British troops more than a century ago.

The sacred carving, called a Tabot, represents the Ark of the Covenant and is one of the holiest artefacts of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

It was among gold, manuscripts and other religious objects carried away by British troops who stormed the fortress of the Ethiopian Emperor Tewodoros at Maqdala in 1868.

The Tabot was given to a church in Edinburgh, and not seen again until it was discovered in a store cupboard last October by the rector, John McLuckie.

Mr McLuckie called on other museums and institutions to follow his example and return other looted items to Ethiopia.