ASMARA, Feb 10 (AFP) - Eritrea is to demand the return from Ethiopia of hundreds of archaeological artefacts
taken from ancient sites in the 1960s, an official said Thursday, threatening a new row between the feuding Horn of Africa neighbours.
In addition, Asmara will petition Italy for the return of objects it says were taken by Italian nationals before
Eritrea -- an Italian colony and then British protectorate annexed by Ethiopia in 1962 -- won independence in 1993.
"The Eritrean National Commission for UNESCO will officially ask in a few months for the return of the cultural property taken by Italy,
then Ethiopia," National Museum chief Lebsekal Yosief told AFP. Lebsekal said Eritrea, like Ethiopia, wants to preserve its cultural heritage and that items excavated from sites at the
southern town of Matara, the Red Sea port of Adulis and monastaries near Asmara, should be returned.
"Today, just as Ethiopia asks Italy to hand back the Axum stele, we ask the Ethiopians to hand back the objects found in Matara
which are currently in Addis Ababa," Lebsekal said. He referred to the ancient 160-tonne granite monument taken from the
Ethiopian town of Axum by Italian troops in 1937 that is to be returned to Ethiopia this year after a protracted dispute
that soured relations between Rome and Addis Ababa for decades.
Between 1960 and 1965, in the early years of Eritrea's struggle for independence from Ethiopia, a team headed by French archeologist
Francis Anfray conducted research in Matara, which dates from the seventh century BC. The site, located on a desert plain surrounded
by enormous rocky outcrops near the southern town of Senafe about 135 kilometers (84 miles) from Asmara, is scattered with the ruins
of ancient villas and churches. Anfray and his team unearthed hundreds of artefacts, including sarcophagi, tombs, pottery and coins,
that were taken to Ethiopia and have remained in a museum in Addis Ababa ever since, according to Lebsekal.
Beginning in the seventh century, Matara gradually disappeared as its trade declined and the Red Sea port of Adulis gained in
importance. Lebsekal said Eritrea also believed artefacts were taken from Adulis and that 12th and 13th century manuscripts
from the Debre Bizen monastary near Asmara had already appeared in exhibitions in Ethiopia. "And among the Italians, there were many
amateurs digging around who found archaeological objects," he said. Prospects for the repatriation of the artefacts are uncertain as ties between Asmara and Addis Ababa remain tense over the as-yet
unsettled final border demarcation that was the cornerstone of the accord that ended their 1998-2000 war. But Lebsekal is optimistic.
"Look at Italy," he said. "Initially, it didn't want to return the Axum stele to the Ethiopians, but in the end it is going to."
Eritrea still harbours deep resentment over what it claims was Ethiopia's intentional destruction of the Matara stele, which fell down
in 2000 while Ethiopian troops were in the region and still lies on the ground. "The Ethiopians say it was an accident,
but archaeologists showed me it had been deliberately dynamited at the base," Lebsekal said. Work is now under way on a new base
and he said the stele, which is carved with the pre-Christian symbol of a sun over a crescent moon and writing in the
ancient Semitic language of Ge'ez, should be stood back up in its original position by the end of this month.
Source: www.asmarino.com
