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Oil Egypt seeks return of artefact
December 10, 2009 Edition 1
LONDON: A top Egyptian official pressed Britain yesterday to return an ancient stone tablet seen as an icon of his country and denied his countrymen wanted to steal it back.
Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he had changed his mind after requesting a temporary loan of the Rosetta Stone from London's British Museum owing to the archive's allegedly prickly attitude.
He now just wants the stone - a basalt slab seen as key to deciphering hieroglyphics - back for good.
"When I said... I want to have it on a short-term loan, the British Museum wrote a letter to say that they need to know the security of the museum that will host the stone in Egypt," he said.
"Some people in the press began to say: 'If the British Museum will give the Rosetta Stone to Egypt, maybe Egyptians will not return it back.'
"We are not the pirates ... If I sign a contract with the British Museum, we will return it," Hawass added.
"Therefore we decided ... to ask for it to come back for good to Egypt, because it's a part of the Egyptian identity."
The stone, which dates back to 196 BC, was discovered in Egypt by French forces in 1799 and given to the British under a treaty two years later.
Roy Clare, head of Britain's Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, said the stone must stay in London, but the museum could be willing to loan it to Egypt. - Sapa-AFP
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