IRIN 09 February 04

The government on Saturday warned that Ethiopia's historical and cultural artefacts were continuing to be plundered, and called for greater protection of its antiquities. It stressed in a statement that the looting was serving to obstruct ongoing vital survey work and research aimed at fully exploring and documenting the country's historical background.

"Regrettably the theft and smuggling of our cultural heritage has not yet been brought to a halt up until now," the information ministry said in the statement. "The task of conserving and preserving our heritage must include efforts to retrieve the numerous historical and palaeontological resources looted and taken abroad."

The government spokesman, Zemedkun Tekle, told IRIN that education lay at the heart of successfully preventing thefts of antiquities by both tourists and locals. "We are trying to make the people aware so that they do not let visitors take items," he said. "We are also improving our vigilance, especially in historical areas."

Among of the most celebrated items stolen in recent years was the 800-year-old Lalibela Cross, which disappeared in 1997. It was returned to Ethiopia two years later.

The country is also fighting for the return of treasures looted in the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, a campaign has been launched for the return of artefacts stolen by British soldiers after the battle of Maqdala in 1868.

The treasures include a golden crown and chalice, some 350 manuscripts, 10 tabots, or altar slabs, and religious crosses, currently held mainly at the British Library and Museum, the Royal Library at Windsor Castle and the Victoria and Albert Museum. But by far the most valuable item is one of two copies of the Kebra Negast, or Glory of Kings, a 1,000-year-old history of the origins of Ethiopia's Solomonic line of kings, which is currently in possession of the British Library.

Italy has pledged to return the 2,000-year-old Aksum Obelisk, held in Rome ever since its removal in 1935. It has already been dismantled in readiness for its eventual return.

Ethiopia's tourism commission is also leading in the fight towards rapidly preserving and documenting the country's historical treasures under a US $5-million scheme funded by the World Bank. Theodros Atlabachew, who heads the project at the commission, told IRIN that the preservation effort must involve local communities by ensuring that they understand the value of conservation.

Ethiopia at present has seven World Heritage Sites, classified as such by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, which serve as magnet to attract increasing numbers of tourists. The sites include the obelisks of Aksum, dating back 2,000 and 3,000 years, and the centuries-old rock-hewn churches in Lalibela.

Experts describe Ethiopia as the "cradle of humanity" dating back 6 million years to man's earliest ancestors and to the first-ever use of tools 160,000 years ago.

In its statement, the information ministry also announced the establishment of a modern archaeological museum in Eluha, the site where the 3.2-million-year-old Lucy skeleton was found, to celebrate the country's prehistory. The museum will be used to display some of the world's most important palaeoanthropological discoveries – most of them made in Ethiopia.