BY NEW BUSINESS ETHIOPIA REPORTER
Ethiopian Painting on Parchment Displayed December 17, 2010 at UNECA - Photo newbusinessethiopia.com This is indicated this morning (December 17, 2010) during the opening ceremony of an international conference on ‘the preservation of ancient manuscripts in Africa’ here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In his address to the conference, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Foreign Affairs Minister Halemariam Desalegn urged the western countries to return the looted treasuries, which include centuries old manuscripts.
Some 5,000 manuscripts of Ethiopia for instance are smuggled out of the country and found in various museums in Europe, according to the information newbusinessethiopia.com obtained from exhibitors of Ethiopian manuscripts on the simultaneously opened exhibition at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Halemariam Visiting the exhibition December 17, 2010 UNECA - Photo newbusinessethiopia.com The information obtained from ENALA also shows that out of these collected materials, twelve of them are registered in the “Memory of the World” as the heritages of literary documents by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Speaking on how Africa should handle its manuscripts and other treasuries, Hailemariam said; “…Any damage on our manuscripts is also damage on our identity. Hence, Africa needs to modernize its manuscript management system”.
On the conference which will be concluded on December 19, 2010, several scholars are expected to present their papers on topics related to African manuscripts.
Among them, founder of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in 1962, Richard Pankhurst, is expected to describe the collections he organized and promoted. He is also expected to critically examine the challenges facing Ethiopia in the area of archival management and research using primary material.
Writing demonstration on parchment (animal skin) with bamboo pen and soil ink December 17, 2010 UNECA - Photo newbusinessethiopia.com Abdulkadir Adamu from the Department of History, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria is also expected to present a paper that attempts an analysis of the Arabic/ajami manuscript collection of the Northern History Research Scheme (N.H.R.S.) Library located in the Department of History, of Ahmadu Bello University, (A.B.U.), Zaria.
In addition, many scholars from various African countries such as Egypt, Mali are also expected to present their papers on the conference.
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