Ethopia vents anger as obelisk stays in Italy

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The Independent
By Peter Popham in Rome
13 April 2005


It took Benito Mussolini only two years to cart Ethiopia's most revered ancient monument from the ancient city of Axum to a busy traffic junction in central Rome. It has taken his democratic successors 58 years and counting to do what they promised and give it back. And it is still stuck in Rome.

This week the return of the Obelisk of Axum to Ethiopia, pledged by Silvio Berlusconi in the first flush of his election victory four years ago, was postponed yet again. It was supposed to take place yesterday. Foreign journalists gathered at the site of the ancient city. Anticipation was high.

Then came the news that for "technical reasons" the return had been postponed yet again.

One angry Ethiopian told the Daily Monitor in Addis Ababa: "This is a decision that would make no one happy. We have waited all these years to have our identity back. But now they are coming up with every small reason not to do so. That is a shame."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=628856