Egypt's Minister of Antiquities, Mohamed Ibrahim, responding to inquiries from members of the People's Assembly Culture, Media and Tourism Committee on Monday 20/2/2012 said that his Ministry is holding negotiations to retrieve a host of artefacts from Belgium, France and the US. Egyptian antiquities which are abroad were out of the country according to the law which allowed the sharing of 50 % of the artifacts discovered between Egypt and foreign exploration missions. He further said that the law was changed to reduce the proportion of the division to only five percent of the foreign mission and then abolished completely in proportion to the effects of the law passed last year. All the warehouses of antiquities are fully secured, noting that only 2 percent of the artifacts were stolen during the state of lawlessness which prevailed in the country, he added.
He also announced that as many as 6,000 artifacts "have been restored from Israel". Two percent of several hundred thousand is a lot of missing artefacts. Where is the online inventory so dealers and collectors can check whether an item they are offered is stolen? Perhaps less attention should be given to feel-good news about what has been "restored" to a proper and full assessment of what has been lost and efforts made to restore that damage than headline-seeking chasing around like former Minister Zahi Hawass after material long ago out of the country.
Vignette: Minister of State for Antiquities Dr Mohammed Ibrahim (Luxor Times blog)
