Thirty countries to gather to discuss stolen artifacts

By AFP - Agence France Press

CAIRO: Egypt will host a conference in April for countries demanding the return of their antiquities, stolen but on display in museums round the world, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said Wednesday. The conference will “discuss the question of returning stolen antiquities,” the council said in a statement. It gave no dates for the three-day conference.

Thirty countries, including Greece, Mexico, Peru, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cambodia and China, will participate in the Cairo gathering, said Egypt's antiquities capo Zahi Hawass, who has made the return of looted Egyptian artifacts the hallmark of his tenure.

Participants will also review international laws on the subject, for their “reconsideration” and “to protect the rights of the countries to recover their cultural and archaeological property,” Hawass added.

Egypt is demanding, so far without success, the return of famous antiquities such as the Rosetta stone, held by the British Museum for more than 200 years, and the 3,400 year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti, a major Pharaonic artefact located at the Neues Museum in Berlin, which it says was taken out of the country illegally. – AFP

Source: AFP - Agence France Presse