"We Will Return the Aksum Stele"

Interview with Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Senator Rino Serri

The Rome daily L'Unita, of 23 June, carries an important interview on the future of the Aksum obelisk in Rome with the Italian Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Senator Rino Serri. The interview, written by Toni Fontana, runs as follows:

Ethiopia and an international committee of historians are asking Italy to return the Aksum obelisk looted during the fascist invasion of 1935. We have spoken about this with Senator Rino Serri, Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Question:

The matter is not settled, and Richard Pankhurst reminds us that the obelisk was not given to Italy, but looted.

Answer:

It is not only historians who say so. It is the position taken by our Parliament, and by the press. The question has dragged on too long. I do not deny that there is a need to apologise to the people and Government of Ethiopia. Now, in a few months, we must find a solution.

Question:

What is the position of the Government of Addis Ababa? Have the Ethiopians asked for restitution?

Answer:

Certainly, the question has been raised on many occasions by the Government of Ethiopia, and recently the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs has sent two letters. I have had the opportunity to speak about the matter with the Ethiopian Ambassador in Rome, who has been transferred to a diplomatic post in Beijing. Now we await the new diplomatic representative from Addis Ababa. On that occasion I said that the question of the obelisk must be resolved within a few months. This is an undertaking which I intend to honour. I believe this is the will of the Italian Government.

Question:

Italy promised the restitution of the obelisk in 1947 in signing the Peace Treaty with the United Nations. Article 37 of the Treaty provides for the restitution of the stele within 18 months. Instead 50 years have passed. Why?

Answer:

After the Treaty of Peace of 1947 was signed a bilateral agreement was made in 1956, which was promulgated by a decree of the President of the Italian Republic, and expressly provides for the restitution of the Aksum obelisk. It is true that the question has dragged for too long. I believe that in Italy and international circles it was feared to create a precedent. Archaeological remains, works of art, were "moved" in various circumstances, during conflicts, and military occupations.

Question:

In the case of the Aksum obelisk it is a "specific" Italian problem. The stele was looted by the fascists during a military aggression.

Answer:

Without minimising the gravity of the fascist occupation there were other occupations no less worthy of condemnation. The real question is that Italy has freely and of its own will entered into an engagement. I do not therefore think that it will create a precedent, if other countries wish to do otherwise.

Question:

According to some experts the transfer of the stele to Ethiopia could involve insuperable technical difficulties.

Answer:

For sixty years the obelisk has been in Italy, where the climate is very different, and where, especially in the last decades, pollution has greatly increased. It is necessary to know exactly the degree of fragility the obelisk has acquired. The Ethiopians have judged it necessary to have a commission of experts to specify the measures for the transportation of the obelisk into Africa.

Question:

Is this Commission already in operation?

Answer:

No, and I propose to put it into action immediately.

Question:

Will it therefore be a bilateral commission, with an Italian presence?

Answer:

Technicians of the two sides can consider the problem, and indicate the measures to adopt for eventual transportation. This must not be a matter of years; some months should be sufficient. The question can be quickly discussed again with the Ethiopian Government, who will in any case have the last word. In general it is not only a problem of proper relations between governments, but also a question of developing solidarity with the peoples of Africa.