Italy Says Will Return Ethiopian Obelisk in April

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Italy Says Will Return Ethiopian Obelisk in April

 

Thu Jan 27,11:51 AM ET

World - Reuters

 

ROME (Reuters) - An Ethiopian national treasure, the ancient Axum

Obelisk that was plundered by Italian fascist invaders in 1937, will

be returned by Rome in April, Italy's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

 

Photo

AP Photo

 

 

 

The 24-meter obelisk, believed to be at least 1,700 years old, was

split in three and hauled off when Italy under Fascist dictator Benito

Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1937.

 

Italy promised in 1947 to return the 200-tongranite column, a symbol

of the dawn of Ethiopian civilization, but arguments and logistical

problems delayed it until November last year when the two countries

finally agreed to fly it home.

 

"We expect the first flight with the first segment to happen in the

first 10 days of March, the other two flights will follow around 20

days apart. In that way, the column will be returned by the end of

April," an Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

 

Ethiopia had previously said it expected the obelisk in May.

 

Returning the segments of the monument and the machinery to put it

back together is a gargantuan logistical task.

 

Landlocked Ethiopia has had to build a special runway for the only

aircraft big enough to carry the pieces, the U.S.-built C-5 Galaxy and

Russian-made Antonov 124. The Antonov was the plane finally chosen to

bring the obelisk home.

 

The column is a funerary monument from pre-Christian Ethiopia, the

largest and finest from the ancient site of Axum in northern Ethiopia.

 

Ethiopia has said it plans to celebrate the obelisk's return with a

national holiday.