After a century and a half hidden in private collections, 13 stolen Ethiopian artefacts have finally returned home following months of negotiations. "Our country's ancient civilization's history, artefacts, fingerprints of indigenous knowledge, culture…have been looted in war and smuggled out illegally," said Ethiopia's tourism minister, Nasise Challa. These artefacts were taken in 1868 after the battle of Maqdala between the British and Ethiopian empires. "We couldn’t manage to bring back all of them, but this is the first time in the country’s history to bring back looted artefacts in this quantity." But the debate has heated up and British Museum said last year it would loan some works from Nigeria to a new museum there due to open in 2023.

Source: Ethiopian News November 23, 2021 14:13 UTC