[CPProt.net] Egypt Demands Return of Pharaonic Reliefs

[MSN CPPnet]

Egypt Demands Return of Pharaonic Reliefs 
- By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, July 17, 2005 


(07-17) 15:16 PDT CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- 


Egypt demanded that institutions in Britain and Belgium return two pharaonic
reliefs it says were chipped off tombs and stolen 30 years ago, threatening
Sunday to end their archaeological work here if they refuse.


The 4,400-year-old reliefs, taken from two tombs uncovered in 1965, are
currently at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Britain and the Catholic University
of Brussels. A request has been sent to both seeking their return, Culture
Minister Farouq Hosni said in a statement.


The demand was the latest in a series of attempts by Egypt to recover
ancient treasures that were taken out of the country, either through theft
or what the Egyptians have termed "imperialism." On Wednesday Egypt said it
had approached UNESCO to intervene on its behalf to lobby for the return of
the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, the bust of Nefertiti at Berlin's
Egyptian Museum and three other artifacts.


Zahi Hawass, the secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of
Antiquities, said he would cut off the Catholic University's excavation
mission at a site in Deir al-Barsha, near the southern town of Minya, if the
relief was not returned, and would suspend the Fitzwilliam Museum's
"scientific relationship" with archaeologists working here if the British
institution did not cooperate.


"We are not afraid of anything, anyone who makes a mistake should be
punished. This is history. We need our history, and anyone who steals our
artifacts has no place in Egypt," Hawass said.


The Fitzwilliam Museum said no one could immediately comment on the report
Sunday. There was also no immediate comment from the Catholic University.


The reliefs came from two tombs uncovered in 1965 in a necropolis next to
the Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara, outside Cairo.


A third relief was returned to Egypt from the Royal Museum of Art and
History in Brussels last month after Egypt's antiquities council put on hold
a request by the museum to extend its excavation work, the statement said.
With the return, the council has agreed to allow the work to continue.


URL:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/07/17/international/i15
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