Who is Professor Richard Pankhurst?
Professor Richard Pankhurst’s acquaintance
with Ethiopian history and culture
goes back to the time of his mother, Miss
Sylvia Pankhurst, a great advocate of
Ethiopia from before the Second World
War, when Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia.
During that time, Sylvia Pankhurst organized
many protests against the invasion.
She also wrote widely on Ethiopian history
and culture. Some years after Ethiopia’s liberation
she went to live there. She died in
Addis Ababa in 1960, and was buried in the
grounds of Holy Trinity Cathedral, along
with many heroic Ethiopian patriots. Professor
Pankhurst, who studied at the London
School of Economics, continued his
mother’s struggle for Ethiopia. He established
Addis Ababa University’s Institute of
Ethiopian Studies and was later a founding
member both of the Axum Obelisk Return
Committee and of the Association for the
Return of the Maqdala Ethiopian Treasures
(AFROMET). These included hundreds of
early manuscripts and works of art, looted
by British expeditionary forces at Emperor
Tewodros’s mountain capital at Maqdala in
1868.
INTERVIEW
What was your reaction when you learned
about the imminent return of the Axum
Obelisk?
It was a qualified happiness: the obelisk
should have been returned in 1948, together
with an airplane and part of Ethiopia’s
National Archives, which were looted, along
with the Obelisk.
When the new airport was built in Addis
Ababa, the architects planned that the airplane
should be suspended from the ceiling.
The airplane, Tsehai, named after Haile Sellassie’s
daughter, was made for him by a German
engineer. The Archives are still in Rome.
The Peace Treaty of 1947 signed by the
United Nations and the Italian Government,
specified that all loot taken from Ethiopia
should be returned within eighteen months.
What happens next? When do we get the
Obelisk back, and in what condition?
We are expecting the Obelisk back any day. It
was taken in four broken pieces, three large
and one small, and is being returned in the
same way.
The Obelisk was taken in 1937; that is
68 years ago. It is 25 meters high. Who
is going to pay for the transport?
The Italian Government is paying the transport
costs because the Peace Treaty specifies
that the Italians must do so.
Could you tell us the
processes/negotiations that went on for
years? Were they difficult?
Emperor Haile Sellassie initiated the first
negotiation in 1947. When the Italian Peace
Treaty was signed that year the Italian Government
agreed to return within eighteen
months all loot taken from Ethiopia. The second
negotiation took place in 1958, when the
Italians agreed to bring the Obelisk only as
far as the Italian port of Naples. We argue
that, moving the Obelisk from one part of
Italy to another was not the same as returning
it. It was thus a violation of the Peace
Treaty, which stated that the loot should be
returned to Ethiopia. Italy’s refusal to return
the obelisk provoked indignation in the
Ethiopian Parliament, which urged that the
Emperor’s official visit to Italy should be
delayed until the Obelisk was returned. The
third development took place in 1997, when
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Prime
Minister of Italy agreed that the Obelisk would be returned in the same year. So the
negotiations twent on for almost 70 years,
and there is still something difficult missing,
including good will on the Italian side.
What was your role in all this?
The first article urging the return of the
Obelisk appeared in the Italian Communist
newspaper Unita was written by me in April
1991, on the fiftieth Anniversary of the Italian
military collapse in East Africa. Immediately
after that, an Italian anti-Fascist, Renato
Imperiale, wrote to that paper demanding
that the Obelisk be returned. Thereafter,
three Italian academics published a petition
in La Reppublica to the same effect. A further
petition, written by my wife Rita and me,
was signed by 500 Ethiopians, including Lij.
Michael Imru, one time Prime Minister,
Dejazmatch. Zewde G. Selassie, former
Foreign Minister, artist Afework Tekle, historian
Tekle Tsadik Mekuria, poet Tsegaye
Gebre Medhin and many others. As a former
Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies,
I was also able to mobilize several dozen
international scholars from the US, UK,
Russia, Germany, Italy and Japan. That was a
way of keeping the story alive. By this time
we had founded the Axum Obelisk Return
Committee. The first meeting was held here
in our garden and later ones met in the workshop
of a well-known Axumite tailor, Tesfaye
Zelelew. Fitawrari Amede Lemma was elected
Chairman. Amongst people who supported us
was Chief Segun Olusola, the Nigerian
Ambassador in Addis Ababa, a great poet. He
signed a statement in support of the Obelisk’s
return. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Ethiopian Transitional Government, Seyum
Mesfin, saw the letter signed by the Nigerian,
as well as the Zimbabwean Ambassador, gave
us full support. At this stage the question of
the return of cultural property began to
assume an official African dimension.
Our Committee then organized a demonstration
at the Addis Ababa Stadium during the
interval of a football match between Nigeria
and Ethiopia. During the interval, the camera
focused on the Committee members and their
placards. The Ethiopian television-watching
public learnt within minutes that the return of
the Obelisk was on the agenda.
As you are aware, Ethiopians hold
different views about the restitution of
the Axum Obelisk. Some even say, “Why
bring it back? It is visited by more people
in Italy than in Ethiopia.” Others say, “We
should have financial reparations instead,
and use the money as development
assistance. Yet others say it is a matter of
cultural pride and identity; the monument
was erected by Ethiopians in the
Pre-Christian Era; it was looted by the
Italian occupying forces, and should be
returned to its rightful owners, the
Ethiopian people. How do you view this?
It is true it was in Rome, a major tourist center,
but it was not well situated for tourists.
Few visitors ever went to see it, and passersby,
when interviewed, had no idea where it
came from. One of them thought it might
have come from Egypt. As far as development
aid is concerned, it is not an alternative: we
want both. The Axum Obelisk in Rome has
been damaged by acid rain and pollution
while the ones in Axum are as new. To move
by air a monolith that weighs almost 200 tons,
will be a great precedent. We hope that the
return of the Obelisk will set a precedent, not
only for the return from Italy of the airplane
Tsehai, and of the Ethiopian archives, but
also of Ethiopia’s cultural heritage looted
from Maqdala. This includes some 400 historic
manuscripts, a Crown made out of solid
gold and many beautiful processional
crosses.
The return of cultural heritage to its
owners has always been a controversial
and sensitive issue. In the case of
Ethiopia, the negotiations alone took
almost 70 years, thanks to the continuous
struggle by individuals and families like
yours, by governments, and by
international organizations such as
UNESCO. How do you see similar
problems being solved?
The return of the Obelisk will also be a precedent
for other Third World countries to
demand the return of their cultural property
looted by colonial powers. People who in the
past, fought for their political independence
will now struggle for the return of their cultural
heritage, looted during the colonial
period.
What is your next project?
Our next project is AFROMET, the Association
for the Return of Maqdala Ethiopian
Treasures, advocates the return of the loot
from Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros’s capital,
Maqdala. The dispute between the Emperor
and the British Government in no way justified the looting of Maqdala by British forces.
Since much of the looting took place at the
Church of Madhane Alem at Maqdala, it was
also an act of sacrilege. AFROMET has
already achieved successes, notably the
return to Ethiopia of the Amulet which
Emperor Tewodros was wearing on the day
he committed suicide. His shield and two
Tabots, or altar slabs, have also been
returned. This is a small part of the total
looted, but it is symbolic. The return of
looted artifacts by private people points the
way for public institutions to follow.
Any messages to pass to our readers?
The Institute of Ethiopian Studies, with which I have been associated since its inception
four decades ago, is struggling to establish a New Library Building with facilities that
will serve scholars of Ethiopia throughout the world. We plan at the same time to extend the
existing Museum to occupy the entire former palace of Emperor Haile Sellassie, in which it
is now housed. We need international community support in this heroic endeavor.
Thank you for receiving me in your beautiful garden and the home of your
family; it is a great pleasure for me to chat with you and your beloved wife Rita.
I wish you all good health and continued fighting spirit.
N° 641 June 2005