University criticised for keeping looted manuscripts

Published on Tuesday 1 March 2005 01:31

A DECISION by the University of Edinburgh court not to return looted manuscripts to Ethiopia was yesterday condemned as a "retrograde step" by a lobby group.

The university, which holds a number of sacred Ethiopian manuscripts stolen by British soldiers following a battle in Maqdala 150 years ago, set up a panel of experts to advise on a request to return them.

It accepted that the manuscripts were looted, but argued that the university had acquired them in "good faith". The panel said that, while the manuscripts were of "some importance" to Ethiopia, they were not of "major importance".

It said it had had no official request by the Ethiopian government, an assertion disputed by the Association for the Return of the Maqdala Ethiopian Treasures (AFROMET) last night. The Ethiopian Ambassador was not available for comment.

John McLuckie, the British chair of AFROMET, said: "In a year devoted to Africa, this is an unfortunate retrograde decision. It shows a complete lack of understanding of a culture that holds such objects sacred and demonstrates that the relationship between the West and Africa has not changed so very much.

"Ethiopia’s culture minister, Teshome Toga, wrote to Edinburgh University last year, supporting the efforts by AFROMET to return objects held by them. The speaker of the Ethiopian Parliament has also asked. How many times do they need to be asked?"

Ethiopia is a religious country and the artefacts have significance for its 25 million Orthodox Christians.

Melvyn Cornish, the University secretary, said "continued engagement" with AFROMET was needed to arrive at arrangements for access to the manuscripts.