The descendants of a hero of Ethiopia’s resistance against European imperialism are seeking to retrieve a gold medal taken from him by Italian troops, after the artefact’s current holder failed to sell it at an online auction earlier this month.
The solid gold Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia used to be in the possession of Ras Desta Damtew, a son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie and a guerrilla army commander whose capture and execution in 1937 spelled the end of Ethiopia’s resistance to fascist Italy’s occupation.
Its whereabouts were unknown until this November, when the star-shaped brooch resurfaced on the online platform LiveAuctioneers, where it was offered for sale for an estimated €60,000-90,000 (£50,000-£74,000) by the Lausanne-registered company La Galerie Numismatique.
The website’s listing did not hide the item’s controversial provenance, describing it as coming “from the estate of an Italian soldier who was present at the capture of the prince [Desta Damtew]”.
“My first feeling was anger that they were so blatantly claiming to have taken it from someone who was executed,” said Laly Kassa, one of Desta Damtew’s granddaughters. “This one was so egregious that we just felt like as a family, we had to prove something.”
The family say that, when approached by their lawyer, La Galerie Numismatique initially rebuffed their restitution request, offering to sell the medal for €61,595, including a buyer’s premium and VAT.
At the auction on 1 December, the brooch failed to meet the minimum price required for a winning bid, however, and its current owner, a British collector of military memorabilia based in Spain, has since entered direct talks with the legal representative of Damtew’s family. La Galerie Numismatique did not respond when approached for a comment.
What makes the medal especially significant, according to James De Lorenzi, an associate history professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is that its removal from Ethiopia can be directly connected to an alleged war crime.
Damtew, who decided to fight the Italian invasion while Selassie fled the country in 1936 to go into exile in England, was captured on 24 February 1937 after a skirmish near Mount Gurage and then executed by a group of Ethiopian fighters commanded by Italian officers.
In 1948, the Ethiopian government charged 10 Italian citizens before the UN War Crimes Commission (UNWCC), submitting affidavits describing Damtew’s killing after his capture, when he was a prisoner of war. This evidence led the UNWCC to rule that the 10 Italians were either accused or suspected war criminals.
“The medal was thus obtained by an agent of the fascist regime who was directly involved in this war crime, amid a broader counterinsurgency that involved mass killings, sexual violence, torture, and arbitrary detention,” said De Lorenzi. “Given this provenance, returning the medal to Ethiopia is the only responsible choice.”
While the Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia would not be the first precious artefact to be returned to east Africa in recent years, it will probably generate fresh interest in the whereabouts of items looted during the Italian occupation of what was also known as Abyssinia, between 1935 and 1941.
Article 31 of the Paris peace treaties of 1947 stipulated that Italy should within 18 months “restore all Ethiopian works of art, religious objects, archives, and objects of historical value removed from Ethiopia to Italy since October 3, 1935”. But with the exception of the Italian state’s 2005 return of a 1,700-year-old granite monument known as the Axum obelisk, Italian institutions and individuals have mostly failed to follow up on the requirement.
Ras – a royal title roughly equivalent to “duke” – Desta Damtew was a member of the aristocracy that ruled the Ethiopian empire from the middle ages. Royal rule of the country in the Horn of Africa was marked by stark economic inequalities, which fuelled the coup d’etat that toppled the monarchy in 1974.
Damtew’s granddaughter Laly Kassa said his descendants were “unequivocal” that the medal would not be privately held in the event of a restitution. “If we can get the medal back, it will go to a museum,” she said. “We want it on permanent display at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.”
In spite of his royal ties, Desta Damtew was honoured as an icon of African resistance to colonialism even in the socialist People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and by black solidarity movements across the globe.
Italy first tried to claim Abyssinia as a protectorate in the late 19th century but was defeated emphatically by Ethiopian forces: Damtew’s father, Fitawrari Damtew Ketena, fell in the climactic battle of Adwa in March 1896, which came to be remembered as a defining moment of African defiance.
In 1935, however, Ethiopia became what US president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s foreign policy adviser Sumner Welles called “the first victim of Axis aggression”, when Italy invaded from neighbouring Eritrea.
France is to hold a day of national mourning after Cyclone Chido devastated its Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte earlier this month.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for the nationwide remembrance during his visit to the island last week - where he was jeered by some islanders who criticised the slow delivery of aid.
It is feared hundreds, possibly thousands, of people died when Chido made landfall off Africa's south-east coast on 14 December bringing winds of up to 260 km/h (160mph) and 250mm of rainfall in the first 24 hours.
People across France will pay tribute and flags will be flown at half-mast in a show of solidarity at cities including Paris, Marseille and Lyon.
More than a week on from the storm survivors are struggling without water, communication and electricity while rescuers try to provide urgently needed assistance.
Mayotte, which lies between the African mainland and Madagascar, was already France's most impoverished territory before the cyclone struck.
Chido - the worst storm to hit the archipelago in 90 years - flattened areas where people live in shacks with sheet metal roofs and left fields of dirt and debris.
At least 31 people are reported by French officials to have died, but the death toll is expected to be much higher with thousands still missing.
A separate passport and citizenship is only available to fully independent countries, Wellington says
New Zealand has rejected a proposal by the Cook Islands to introduce a seperate passport for its citizens while allowing them to retain New Zealand citizenship.
Cook Islands, a self-governing island Pacific nation, is in "free association" with New Zealand, which is responsible for the former's foreign affairs and defence.
Cook Islanders can also live, work and access healthcare in New Zealand.
Prime Minister Mark Brown had asked for Cook Islanders to have their own passports "to recognise our own people" - but New Zealand has said that is not possible unless the Cook Islands becomes fully independent.
Documents first released to local broadcaster 1News and seen by Reuters reportedly showed that Brown has for months been pushing for a seperate passport and citizenship for those in the Cook Islands, while hoping to maintain its relationship as a realm country of New Zealand.
Reports say tensions between both countries have been escalating over the issue, with leaders of both places holding a series of talks over the past few months.
"New Zealanders are free to carry dual passports, there are a number of New Zealanders who have their passports of other countries," Radio New Zealand reported Brown saying.
"It is precisely the same thing that we'll be doing," he had said.
However some Cook Islanders had criticised their government for a lack of consultation over the proposal.
Thomas Wynne, a Cook Island national who works in Wellington, told local news outlet Cook Islands News: "The real question is what do the people of the Cook Islands want and have they been consulted on this critical decision? Or will it be a decision made by the few on behalf of the many?"
Other Cook Island residents told 1News that they were worried that such a move would also affect access to services like their right to healthcare in New Zealand.
But on Sunday, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters effectively brought the conversation to an end, announcing that a separate passport and citizenship is only available to fully independent and sovereign countries.
Any move to change the current relationship between the two countries would have to be put through a referendum, he added.
"Such a referendum would allow the Cook Islands people to carefully weigh up whether they prefer the status quo, with their access to New Zealand citizenship and passports, or full independence," he said in a statement to media outlets.
"If the goal of the government of the Cook Islands is independence from New Zealand, then of course that's a conversation we are ready for them to initiate."
According to 1News, Brown later responded to Peters' statement by saying the Cook Islands would "not be implementing anything that affects our important status [with New Zealand]".
Nearly 100,000 Cook Islands nationals live in New Zealand, while only about 15,000 live in Cook Islands themselves.
Another small Pacific island, Niue, also shares a similar relationship with New Zealand - it is internally self-governing but relies on Wellington for defence and most foreign affairs.
Self-governing territories elsewhere in the world, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Puerto Rico, which is subordinated to the US in defence and foreign affairs.
A bird flies in front of contrails in the sky above Jerusalem, formed in the shape of a ribbon representing the plight of the hostages taken on Oct. 7 still held in Gaza.
Emergency doctors in the UK have issued a safety warning over water beads, which could be given to children as gifts over Christmas.
The beads, also known as jelly balls, sensory beads, or water crystals are marketed as crafting tools and homeware items - but also toys.
They are typically only a few millimetres but some can expand up to 400 times their original size in about 36 hours when exposed to liquid, creating a hidden danger. If a child swallows one, they can cause bowel obstruction and the consequences can be fatal.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) advises that the beads should be kept well away from children aged under five.
The "safety flash" is for doctors to make sure they know what to look out for while on duty, but the college also wants parents and carers of be aware of the dangers.
Its safety alert added the beads should only used with older children or vulnerable adults under close supervision.
The RCEM advises parents and carers to seek medical attention immediately if there is any suspicion a child may have swallowed a water bead.
"Having seen the effects first hand, which can be devastating and detrimental, we are asking people to please think twice about the dangers these pose while selecting and gifting presents this season," Dr Salwa Malik, vice president of the RCEM, told PA Media.
The RCEM alert also highlights the potential danger to children and vulnerable adults of button or coin batteries and magnets, if swallowed.
2014年，黎智英（中）在警察的押送下离开抗议区。 Kin Cheung/Associated Press
《麻烦制造者：黎智英如何成为亿万富翁、香港头号异议人士，以及中国最令人畏惧的批评者》，马克·L·克利福德著(THE TROUBLEMAKER: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic, by Mark L. Clifford)
After decades of silence, dozens of older men are talking about the sexual abuse they suffered at schools run by religious orders. We spoke to four of them.
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