Following its strong diplomacy and consistent negotiation, Ethiopia has continued receiving its heritages that were stolen in various times. For instance, two locks of hair of Emperor Tewodros II that had been taken by the British army about 150 years ago were repatriated last Saturday per a request from Ethiopia.
Here, the agreement of the British’s National Army Museum to return the emperor’s hair is a conscious decision. Indeed, returning the heritages to their own culture that made them is a brilliant decision. Owing to its durable effort, the nation has also been successful to persuade Italy to return its Lion of Judah monument and the Obelisk of Axum, crown and sword and prayer book of King Tewodros II which were looted by Italian soldiers.
However, in comparison to the quantity of the looted heritages, the nation is expected to boost its diplomatic and negotiation effort to get more treasures back home. Evidences indicate that several treasures of the nation were taken in various times including the five-year long fight with fascist Italy. This act of robbery by foreign powers has been a historical wrong that must be corrected by this generation.
Hence, it is a wise step of the nation to initiate the dialogue that has helped us to realize the amount of our looted heritages and bring them back home. This ought to be scaled up with strong commitment and cooperation among stakeholders in order to bring back the numerous treasures that bear our cultures and identities in the foreign museums.
Getting back home our heritages would have several significances! For the heritages are part of history, culture and knowledge, they would help to attract more tourists and researchers as well as to earn better currency. In order to further the repatriation of the looted treasures and enhance their returning process, the foreign museums ought to demonstrate ethical gesture of goodwill and return the treasures to their cultures and societies.
We believe, in so doing, they correct what went wrong and stand up for their ethical and moral values. In connection to strengthening our diplomatic relations and legal system to bring back our heritages, Ethiopians have to conserve and protect available ones from illegal trafficking. The major triggering factors to illicit heritage trafficking is cheap economic beneficiary, low public awareness and low commitment, low dedication of stakeholders to prevention activities and the endless conflicts within and war with foreign rivalries.
Here raising public awareness is a remedy; a generation that knows the values, history and culture of its heritages preserve them from robbery. Illegal heritage trafficking might cause social and economic impact on a given people. Since they would serve as source of income, their absence robs nation’s economic benefits from tourists and researchers. On the other hand, the traditional attires, jewelries and especially manuscripts are the history, knowledge and identity of the people invented them.
Consequently, loosing these treasures means to lose the history and identity of citizens. And returning the looted heritages and conserving the rest should be the prime duty of the intended bodies. In short, the recent diplomatic and negotiation efforts the Ethiopian government has been demonstrating to bring the looted heritages produce significant results. But there are still unidentified numbers of nation’s precious heritages in the foreign museums. The efforts ought to be scaled up to bring heritage back to their first-rate culture.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 26/2019
