The Times 29 August 2000

THE Pankhurst name has returned to the political arena, with a crusade to return to Africa religious artefacts looted by the British.

Last century Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter, Sylvia, were in the forefront of the movement for women's suffrage. Richard Pankhurst, Sylvia's son, now hopes that his fight to restore sacred Ethiopian treasures will rectify another injustice.

Professor Pankhurst, 72, Professor of History at Addis Ababa University, is seeking the return of manuscripts and holy artefacts taken during a British expedition to Ethiopia, then known as Abyssinia, in 1868, led by Lord Napier. It looted more than 1,000 manuscripts, crowns, crosses and altar slabs from Madhane Alam church in Magdala.

Since then, the artefacts, which include Ethiopia's most holy altar, have resided in the Queen's personal collection at Windsor Castle, with the surviving 350 manuscripts held at the British Library.

"It was an act of sacrilege," Professor Pankhurst, who has taught in Ethiopia since 1956, said. "It is a matter of justice that the British Government returns these objects to their rightful owners.

"The altar is the holy of holies and only priests are supposed to look at it. It has to go back to an Ethiopian church."

Professor Pankhurst, who is recovering in London after an operation, will take his case to Parliament in October, when the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee holds an inquiry into the affair.

The Queen has already returned some items. On a visit in 1965, she presented Emperor Haile Selassie with the royal cap and seal belonging to his predecessor. Two crowns, a royal seal and a manuscript have also been returned, but Professor Pankhurst dismissed the gestures as "giving a dog a bone".

The authority to return the artefacts resides with the Government, which would have to legislate after the approval of the British Library trustees and the Queen. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that there was no prospect of legislation.

The British Library said: "The manuscripts are part of our core collection. They are available for all to see in the treasure gallery and it would be wrong for us to dispose of them."

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.