Addis Tribune 06 February 04

The Aksum Obelisk, looted on Mussolini's personal orders in 1937, has been dismantled by the Italian Government, and has been taken to Rome military airport.

It has now to be flown to Aksum for erection there.

Hopes have been expressed that it would be flown by a United States Hercules plane, but this has sadly not yet materialized.

A higly placed United States official, a scholar of Ethiopia, and a devoted supporter of the Obelisk's return to Ethiopia, writes from New York in a private letter to AFROMET:

"The War in Iraq is still at the top of the news here every day with a focus on American casualties. Politicians from both parties publicly support the troops, even if they disagree with the war.

They will avoid doing anything that could be misinterpreted as siphoning support from the troops, especially in an election year when all the members of the House of Representatives are up for election as well.

That creates an enormous barrier when it comes to getting intercession for an aircraft for transporting an obelisk, especially as such aircraft are pivotal to transporting supplies, etc. The Department of State holds little to no sway in this matter and thus Ethiopian diplomatic efforts directed there will not likely produce any results.

The Department of Defense is the key player here and would not be receptive to such a request, unless Ethiopia somehow was vital for the conduct of the war or else supported it as have a number of countries. This is my analysis after speaking with a number of people here...

"Because it is a presidential election year, President Bush's administration is now eager to wind down the war and put a new Iraqi government in place. Thus, by summer the Department of Defense may be more receptive to the use of one of their planes".