A long-running cultural and diplomatic wrangle looks likely to be resolved within months, with the return of a 1,700-year-old obelisk that was hauled out of Ethiopia by Italian colonial troops in the fascist era.
The government in Addis Ababa announced this week that the treasured stone column would be flown home from Rome in May, putting an end to years of procrastination and 18 months of logistical delays.
Italy first promised to give back the Axum obelisk in 1947. But it was not until November 2003 that Silvio Berlusconi's government signed a deal with the authorities in Addis Ababa, and the 200 tonne column was divided into sections for its return journey.
Symbol
Until then the obelisk, which Ethiopians regard as a symbol of their national identity, had stood incongruously outside the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, being besmirched by traffic pollution.
Benito Mussolini had ordered the column to be erected as a memorial to the defeat and subjugation of Ethiopia.
The Addis Ababa government has promised a one-day national holiday to mark its return.
Last July, nine months after the obelisk was taken apart, an Italian newspaper revealed that it was lying under tarpaulins in the back yard of a Carabinieri barracks outside Rome. The government had said it was under armed guard at the international airport.
Problems
One of the problems was money. Italy had agreed to underwrite the cost of the operation, but the government has slashed departmental budgets to fund tax cuts and stay within deficit limits imposed by Italy's membership of the EU.
On a visit to Rome in November, Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zalawi, signalled that the cash had been found. The remaining problem was to find a plane big enough to carry the vast granite chunks back to Axum, in northern Ethiopia, where the column once stood -- and where an airfield has been created to receive it.
Ethiopian officials say this problem too is now solved; it is the first time either government has given a firm date for the operation.
Axum is more than 2,000m above sea level and its rarefied air exacerbates the considerable difficulties of landing a huge plane with a weighty load.
According to one estimate the heaviest cargo that could be landed safely on the airstrip would be around 55 tonnes; the obelisk's heaviest segment is 87 tonnes.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was