Macron Ethiopia visit raises hopes for ancient stone-carved churches

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Stein, March 11, 2019

Massive shelters have been erected to protect the ancient stone-carved 

churches (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Lalibela (Ethiopia) (AFP) - Priest Mekonnen Fatne stood among his Ethiopian Orthodox faithful, looking upon a nine-centuries-old church they feared could be wrecked at any minute.

Over the church loomed a massive tarpaulin screen supported by a lattice of metal, one of four shelters erected to protect the northern Ethiopian town of Lalibela's historic churches, but which residents worry -- despite experts' assurances -- could obliterate them.

"If this were to collapse, do you think there would be any piece of the church left?" the priest asked, gesturing to the thick metal rods plunging into the red earth around Bete Maryam church.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to arrive in Ethiopia on Tuesday afternoon as the country grapples with the aftermath of a plane crash close to capital Addis Ababa, which killed all 157 people on board.

Macron and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed are scheduled to travel to Lalibela later this week, for a visit locals hope will result in a new plan, money and expertise for the complex's renewal.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978, the Lalibela churches are unique. They are carved from rock and sit below ground level, surrounded by deep, dry moats, with only their roofs visible.

Orthodox priest Tsigieselassie Mazgebu wants to see the site permanently restored 

and the shelters removed (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

The courtyards surrounding these extraordinary places of worship are reachable only by staircases and tunnels.

Preservationists say the shelters erected in 2008 to keep rain off the churches pose no threat, but the structures have nonetheless become a symbol of the neglect Lalibela residents say they, and the complex, endure.

"We are here because of the heritage," said Yitibarek Getu, a deacon at the complex. "If there's no heritage, imagine what will happen?"

Ancient history

Lalibela takes its name from King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, a 13th-century leader who local lore holds built 11 churches with the help of angels after God ordered him to build a "New Jerusalem".

Located 680 kilometres (420 miles) north of Addis Ababa, Lalibela is a popular destination for foreign tourists and followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox faith -- the country's largest religion.

The rock-hewn churches stand up to 15 metres (42 feet) tall, replete with ornate designs and windows carved in the shape of crosses, but their rock composition leaves them vulnerable to erosion from the intense downpours of Ethiopia's rainy season.

There are concerns among locals that heavy support pillars have damaged 

one of the churches (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

The Italian-built shelters that protect some of the churches have earned the ire of residents who claim they are ugly and could collapse in strong wind.

"It's like revenge by the Italians!" Negash Adamu, a 27-year-old Lalibela resident, said in reference to Ethiopia's repeated conflicts with Italian colonisers.

Priests and worshippers at the complex complain the shelters' heavy support pillars have damaged the underground Trinity chapel, its roof cracking under the weight of the support pylon.

The chapel is not open to the public.

Locals also worry about the soundness of the shelters, which came with a 10-year guarantee.

"We want a permanent restoration, and we want the shelter to be removed," said Tsigieselassie Mazgebu, the complex's parish priest.

"There is a big possibility that if it falls on the treasure, it would demolish it."

An artist paints postcards at Lalibela ahead of a visit by French President
Emmanuel Macron (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Lack of trust

Last year, Lalibela residents sporting shirts reading "save Lalibela", staged a protest over the churches' condition, according to Negash.

Hailu Zeleke Woldetsadik, director of cultural heritage conservation at Ethiopia's Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, insisted there was no cause for alarm.

He denied any damage had been done to the Trinity chapel, and said the shelters were designed to stand safely beyond their 10-year warranty.

"There is no imminent danger," he told AFP, adding that the structures were designed to sway in heavy winds, rather than strain to breaking point.

Kidanemariam Woldegiorgis, an archaeologist who grew up in Lalibela, blamed the controversy on a lack of consultation with town residents, which stoked suspicion.

"It's not clear, it's not transparent what they are doing," he said.

Hailu said Abiy and Macron will sign an agreement for the temporary shelters' maintenance and the hiring of scientists to look into permanently restoring damaged churches.

This could pave the way for the shelters' replacement with lighter structures, possibly ones that can open and close depending on the weather, while repairs are done.

Restitution of African art from France: "We need this memory"

Yahoo – AFP, Sophie BOUILLON, with African bureau, November 24, 2018

Benin's artefacts from the era of the Kingdom of Dahomey, including these royal
statues, are among 70,000 African objects kept at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques
Chirac in Paris -- but France says it plans to return 26 works plundered in 1892
"without delay" (AFP Photo/GERARD JULIEN)

Lagos (AFP) - The debate over the restitution of thousands of African cultural artefacts from France has become heated, but in West Africa conservators prefer to call it "collaboration" and are preparing for their return.

The French presidency announced on Friday night that it was restoring "without delay" 26 works plundered by the French army in 1892 and claimed by the authorities in Benin.

The recommendations come with the delivery of a non-binding report that proposes a change in legislation and urges the return of museum artefacts to Africa from France.

Alain Godonou, a Beninese conservator responsible for heritage at the new national agency for tourism promotion in Benin, has been working on this issue for more than 30 years and says now is the time for reflection.

The small West African country of Benin, formerly Dahomey, was home to the kingdom of Abomey (1600-1894) and priceless wealth.

But instead of sitting in the capital of Porto-Novo, the throne of King Glele from 1858 is one of the centrepieces of the 70,000 African objects kept at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris.

"To keep war booty in countries that are now friends and collaborate doesn't make sense," Godonou told AFP.

"It's a relief but it's only the beginning. There is still so much to be done so that our youth can access this heritage that will make them proud."

Several African countries including Benin, whose pictured 

funerary crown of the Kingdom of Dahomey is in Paris, 

are either planning new museums or looking to inaugurate 

venues already built to house their artistic heritage (AFP 

Photo/GERARD JULIEN)

Sensitive question

"We don't want them to have our objects just for the sake of it," Godonou continues.

"The cultural education of African youth is important and these objects will help to root them."

This includes a rehabilitation of museums. For years, Europeans have justified keeping the treasured artefacts by arguing that African countries didn't have the facilities to take care of their cultural heritage.

But in many countries -- including Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Benin -- plans are underway new museums have been built and plans are underway for yet more.

Beninese President Patrice Talon, whose goal is to make tourism one of the pillars of the national economy, has approved the sites for five museums that will open in 2020 to honour the kings of Abomey and the Amazons, the all-female military regiment in Dahomey.

The country's minister of foreign affairs Aurelien Agbenonci told AFP on Saturday the government is "delighted" with the decision, which he said was "an invitation to get to work quickly."

Ousmane Aledji, in charge of heritage for the Benin presidency, welcomed the "new form of cultural exchange" with France.

"We're not for a violent claim, but we want to put in place measures for progressive restitution," he says.

His sentiment was echoed in Abidjan, where the director of the museum of civilisation of Ivory Coast Silvie Memel Kassi said "it's not a bad thing in itself that they were preserved and indexed in France."

French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to 

Burkina Faso last year, said "Africa's heritage cannot just 

be in European private collections and museums"

(AFP Photo/ludovic MARIN)

"Ancestral pieces"

The national museum of Abidjan was renovated last year, but a larger museum is sill in the works.

In this case, said Kassi, "we could start talking about a definitive restitution."

She added that "the important thing is to work together, we want to have access to these objects, we need this memory, these objects are a memory."

In Dakar, the museum of black civilisation, whose inauguration is scheduled for December 6, will be ready one day to house the objects, pledges Kassi.

"We have operational reserves that can accommodate such objects," said the Senegalese museum director Hamady Bocoum, stressing the works may not necessarily end up in museums and could go back to communities who may "decide to put them in the altars of the ancestors."

"These works came from our ancestors," said Taho Toubo, a traditional leader from Ivory Coast.

"I pray for the ancestors that their pieces are returned."

Egypt unveils tomb of ancient priestess

Yahoo – AFP, 3 February 2018

A general view shows well-preserved and rare wall paintings inside the tomb of an
 Old Kingdom priestess discovered by Egyptian archaeologists on the Giza plateau on
the southern outskirts of Cairo on February 3, 2018

Egyptian archaeologists on Saturday unveiled the tomb of an Old Kingdom priestess adorned with well-preserved and rare wall paintings.

Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Enany told reporters that the tomb on the Giza plateau near Cairo was built for Hetpet, a priestess to Hathor, the goddess of fertility, who assisted women in childbirth.

The tomb was found during excavation work in Giza's western cemetery by a team of Egyptian archaeologists led by Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The antiquities ministry said the cemetery houses tombs of top officials from the Old Kingdom's Fifth Dynasty (2465-2323 BC), and that several have already been dug up since 1842.

The newly discovered tomb "has the architectural style and the decorative elements of the Fifth Dynasty, with an entrance leading to an 'L' shaped shrine", the ministry said.

"The tomb has very distinguished wall paintings in a very good conservation condition depicting Hetpet standing in different hunting and fishing scenes or... receiving offerings from her children," it said.

The paintings also show scenes of musical and dancing performances as well as two scenes featuring monkeys -- domestic animals at the time -- one picking and eating fruit and the other dancing in front of an orchestra.

A woman takes a photo inside the newly discovered tomb of Old Kingdom official

 Hetpet who was priestess to fertility goddess Hathor on Egypt's Giza plateau

Waziri told AFP the paintings were unusual.

"Such scenes are rare... and have only been found previously in the (Old Kingdom) tomb of 'Ka-Iber' where a painting shows a monkey dancing in front of a guitarist not an orchestra," he said.

That tomb is located in Saqqara, a necropolis about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Cairo.

Enany told reporters the new tomb includes "a purification basin on which are engraved the name of the tomb's owner and her titles".

"A German expedition had found in 1909 a collection of antiquities carrying this lady's name, or a lady who has the same name, and these antiquities were moved to the Berlin museum at the time," he said.

"And 109 years later, we find this tomb that carries Hetpet's name."

Waziri said archaeologists will continue to excavate the site and hope to make new discoveries.

Egyptian archaeologists unveil the tomb of an Old Kingdom priestess adorned with well-preserved and rare wall paintings. pic.twitter.com/a0eXSfD3pf

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 3, 2018

Israel uncovers ancient Roman history at Mediterranean port

Yahoo – AFP, April 26, 2017

People sit next to an ancient aqueduct in the Roman-era city of Caesarea which
is set for renovation as part of a multi-million-dollar project (AFP Photo/Jack GUEZ)

Caesarea (Israel) (AFP) - Israeli archaeologists working on a major Roman-era port city on Wednesday unveiled new discoveries including an altar dedicated to Augustus Caesar and a centuries-old mother-of-pearl tablet inscribed with a menorah.

The finds at Caesarea, a complex on the Mediterranean coast 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Tel Aviv, were the result of "one of the largest and most important conservation projects ever undertaken in Israel," the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

Caesarea was established some 2,030 years ago by Roman-appointed King Herod the Great, who ruled what was then Judea.

Today, the ruins are a popular tourist destination where concerts are still held in the remains of an ancient Roman theatre.

Archaeologists say a small tablet engraved with a seven-branched menorah, 

discovered during at the ancient harbour of Caesarea, indicates Jewish presence

at the site dating back to the fourth or fifth centuries (AFP Photo/JACK GUEZ)

Archaeologist Peter Gendelman, leading a tour of the site, said the preservation work was perhaps the most "complicated and interesting" project he had worked on in his 30-year career.

Some of the finds are "completely changing our understanding of the dynamics of this area", he said.

Authorities are planning to finish the excavations within months and open a visitors' centre built into ancient vaults to illustrate the city's history.

Guy Swersky, vice chairman of the Rothschild Caesarea Foundation, said Caesarea was a major city from Roman times right through to the Crusader era.

"This was by far the most important port city in this area of the Middle East," he said.

A picture taken on April 26, 2017 shows part of an ancient synagogue in the

Roman-era town of Caesarea on the Israeli coast (AFP Photo/JACK GUEZ)

The Edmond de Rothschild Foundation and local authorities have allocated more than 100 million shekels ($27 million, 25 million euros) for the project.

The site, which contains ruins from later periods including the Byzantine, Muslim and Crusader eras, has been the focus of major excavation work over the decades but recent work has revealed new secrets.

The project also aims to preserve the remains of an ancient synagogue and a nearby aquaduct.

Officials said a small mother-of-pearl tablet engraved with a menorah was testimony to an ancient Jewish presence at the site.

Archaeologists said it likely dates to the fourth or fifth century AD.

Remains of ancient pyramid found in Egypt

Yahoo – AFP, April 3, 2017

Part of the remains of an ancient Egyptian pyramid discovered near the bent
pyramid of King Snefru in Dahshur, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Cairo
(AFP Photo/HO)

Cairo (AFP) - The remains of an Egyptian pyramid built around 3,700 years ago have been discovered near the well-known "bent pyramid" of King Snefru, the antiquities ministry announced on Monday.

The pyramid from the 13th dynasty was found in Dahshur's royal necropolis, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Cairo, it said.

"An alabaster... block engraved with 10 vertical hieroglyphic lines" was among the finds, the ministry said, citing Adel Okasha, director general at the necropolis.

It said granite lintel and stone blocks were discovered that would show more "about the internal structure of the pyramid".

Excavation is still in its early stages and the size of the pyramid has not yet been established.

Blocks of stone and the beginning of a corridor which were discovered can be seen in photos provided by the ministry.

The corridor "leads to the interior of the pyramid, extended by a ramp and the entrance to a room", the ministry said.

"All the discovered parts of the pyramid are in very good condition and further excavation is to take place to reveal more parts," it said.

Egypt, home of one of the world's earliest civilisations, boasts 123 ancient pyramids, Zahi Hawass, former head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told AFP.

Hawass, who took part in the last discovery of a new pyramid in Egypt in 2008 at Saqqara, just south of Cairo, said the remnants in Dahshur appeared to indicate that the monument belonged to "a queen buried near her husband or her son".

A block engraved with lines of hieroglyphics found among the remains of an 

ancient Egyptian pyramid discovered in Dahshur, some 30 kilometres (20 miles)

south of Cairo (AFP Photo/HO)

"The hope now is to find any inscription which can reveal the identity of the owner of this pyramid. To find the name of a previously unknown queen would be an addition to history," the archaeologist said.

Egypt's ancient treasures include the world-famous Pyramids of Giza, constructed around 4,500 years ago.

The Khufu pyramid, or Great Pyramid, is the largest of the three in Giza, standing at 146 metres (480 feet tall), and the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Khufu and Khafre in Giza along with the Bent and Red pyramids in Dahshur are part of Operation ScanPyramids, with teams scanning the structures in search of hidden rooms and cavities.

The project to unearth still hidden secrets of the pyramids applies a mix of infrared thermography, radiographic imaging and 3D simulation -- all of which the researchers say are non-invasive and non-destructive.

In October last year, the team announced that two additional cavities had been found in the Great Pyramid after another scan a year earlier found several thermal anomalies.

At a conference in 2015 dedicated to King Tutankhamun and his world-famous golden funerary mask, Egyptian authorities said new technology was needed to determine whether his tomb contains hidden chambers which a British archaeologist believes could contain Queen Nefertiti's remains.

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Obama opens new African American Museum amid national racial strife

Yahoo – AFP, Shahzad Abdul, September 24, 2016

US President Barack Obama speaks during the opening ceremony for the
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
September 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C. (AFP Photo/Zach Gibson)

Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama hailed Saturday the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a long-awaited institution dedicated to the many threads of black suffering and triumph in the United States.

The first black president of the United States cut the ribbon to inaugurate the striking 400,000-square-foot (37,000-square-meter) bronze-clad edifice before thousands of spectators gathered in the US capital to witness the historic opening, at a time of growing racial friction.

"Beyond the majesty of the building, what makes this occasion so special is the larger story it contains," said Obama -- just a few months before he leaves office -- at the star-studded public ceremony that included the likes of Stevie Wonder and Oprah Winfrey.

"African-American history is not somehow separate from our larger American story. It's not the underside of the American story," he said. "It is central to the American story."

The Smithsonian's 19th addition to its sprawling museum and research complex is the first national museum tasked with documenting the uncomfortable truths of the country's systematic oppression of black people, while also honoring the integral role of African-American culture.

"A clear-eyed view of history can make us uncomfortable," Obama said. "It is precisely of that discomfort that we learn and grow and harness our collective power to make this nation more perfect. That's the American story that this museum tells."

Guests of honor on stage included four generations of a black family called the Bonners, led by 99-year-old great-grandmother Ruth, the daughter of a slave who went on to graduate from medical school.

After Obama declared the museum "open to the world," it was she -- stooped in stature but smiling broadly -- who tugged on a rope to ring an antique bell from an historic black church, sealing the inauguration.

"I feel a sense of pride and a sense of humbleness because of all the sacrifices that so many people made to make this happen," said audience member Karmello Colman, who trekked halfway across the country for the ceremony from Kansas City, Missouri.

"I feel honored because it is highlighting the accomplishments of my ancestors, who were probably slaves, and those of so many others."

Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith attend the opening ceremony for the 

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

 (AFP Photo/Zach Gibson)

Deteriorating race relations

Elected in a wave of optimism in 2008, Obama pledged to unify, often repeating that he is not the president of black Americans but of all Americans.

But as his presidential mandate ends polls show that the overwhelming majority of Americans see US race relations as "generally bad."

The recent fatal police shootings of black men in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Charlotte, North Carolina laid bare yet again the country's racial disquiet.

Obama delivered his Saturday address amid these ever-heightening tensions, as national outrage grows over the spate of deaths of black men at the hands of police, prompting mass protests.

The president emphasized that a museum alone cannot solve the ills of a country still struggling to overcome a dark legacy of slavery and racial prejudice, but said it "provides context for the debate of our times."

"Perhaps it can help a white visitor understand the pain and anger of demonstrators and places like Ferguson and Charlotte," Obama said.

"It can also help black visitors appreciate the fact that not only is this younger generation carrying on traditions of the past, but within the white communities, across the nation, we see the sincerity of law enforcement officers and officials who, in fits and starts, are struggling to understand."

"And are trying to do the right thing," he said.

Protesters hold signs in front the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department 

during a demonstration in Charlotte, North Carolina (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

'Hallowed ground'

The dramatic building -- set in a prime location near the White House and the Washington Monument -- features three inverted-pyramid tiers sheathed in bronze-painted filigree panels that house more than 34,000 objects, nearly half of them donated.

Obama noted that the building reaches 70 feet below ground -- "its roots spreading far wider and deeper than any tree on this mall" -- a crypt of historical galleries that wind from slavery to civil rights to Black Lives Matter, ascending into upper floors that include testaments to African-American cultural contributions.

"I'm so happy to see that so many people of color are coming out together just to celebrate themselves and one another," said 50-year-old Derek Jones, who ventured from New York to attend Saturday's celebration that included music, poetry and dancing.

"It's amazing to get this opened by the end of Obama's eight years," Jones said, adding that he is "proud that he's still president during the opening -- it's really profound."

Ringing up to $540 million -- half of which was raised from private donations -- the museum shows "that this country born of change, this country born of revolution, this country of we the people, this country can get better," Obama said.

"It is a monument, no less than the others on this mall, to the deep and abiding love for this country and the ideals upon which it is founded. For we, too, are American."

Malian jihadist says sorry for destroying Timbuktu

Yahoo – AFP, Jan Hennop and Jo Biddle, August 22, 2016

Alleged Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist leader Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi pleaded guilty to
a single charge of cultural destruction at the International Criminal Court in The
Hague on August 22, 2016 (AFP Photo/Patrick Post)

The Hague (AFP) - A Malian jihadist pleaded guilty Monday to attacking the fabled city of Timbuktu and begged forgiveness as the world was shown sickening videos of him tearing down centuries-old Muslim shrines with a pick-axe.

At the opening of his unprecedented war crimes trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi also urged other Muslims not to follow such "evil" ways.

Mahdi, a former teacher and Islamic scholar, is the first person to plead guilty before the ICC and the first to face a lone charge for the war crime of directing an attack on a historic or religious monument.

"I plead guilty," Mahdi said, after being read the charge arising from the 2012 attack on the UNESCO world heritage site when a group of Islamist jihadists swept across Mali's remote north.

Armed with videos, graphics and 360 degree landscapes, ICC prosecutors minutely catalogued before the three judges the destruction in the west African city, dubbed "The Pearl of the Desert."

The first of three prosecution witness also described the detailed methods, including satellite imagery, used to investigate the destruction.

Aged about 40, Mahdi is also the first Islamist extremist to appear before the tribunal launched in The Hague in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes, and the first facing allegations stemming from the conflict in Mali.

He is accused of "intentionally directing attacks" against nine of Timbuktu's famous mausoleums as well as the Sidi Yahia mosque between June 30 and July 11, 2012.

The mausoleums of Timbuktu (AFP Photo/Alain BOMMENEL, Jean-Michel CORNU)

City of saints

Founded between the fifth and the 12th centuries by Tuareg tribes, Timbuktu's very name evokes centuries of history and has also been called "the city of 333 saints" for the number of Muslim sages buried there.

Revered as a centre of Islamic learning during its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries and a designated UNESCO world heritage site, Timbuktu was considered idolatrous by the jihadists.

Prosecutors on Monday showed shocking images of jihadists smashing down the tombs, pushing down earthen walls that had stood for hundreds of years and hacking at them with pick-axes while their assault rifles lay nearby.

In one video, Mahdi and others were seen ripping open the door of the Sidi Yahia mosque, which had been kept closed for hundreds of years.

ICC prosecutors allege Mahdi was a member of Ansar Dine, a mainly ethnic Tuareg movement that in 2012 took control of Timbuktu, some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) northeast of Bamako, along with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Mahdi, who was then head of the "Hisbah" or the "Manners Brigade", said he regretted the damage he had caused and was "really sorry".

"I would like to seek the pardon of all the whole people of Timbuktu," he said.

Transferred to the ICC by Niger in 2015, Mahdi was seen as a ruthless jihadist enforcer, fiercely imposing the strictest interpretation of Sharia law.

Islamist militants destroy an ancient shrine in Timbuktu in July 2012 (AFP Photo/)

But vowing that was all in the past, he sought to distance himself from the jihadists describing their acts as "evil."

Dressed in a Western suit with a blue-and-white striped tie instead of his earlier white collarless shirt, he said he hoped "the years I will spend in prison will be a source of purging the evil spirits that had overtaken me".

Mankind's heritage

Amid scenes of similar destruction in Iraq and Syria, the ICC prosecutors have said the case is about much more than just stones and walls.

Such "deliberate attacks on cultural property have become actual weapons of war," ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the court.

"The heritage of mankind was ransacked," she said, adding that the jihadists "wanted to destroy these monuments and simply wipe them off the map".

The judgement will follow later, but it was revealed that the defence and prosecution have struck a deal under which Mahdi would not appeal a jail term of between nine to 11 years.

The judges warned however the court is not bound by the deal, and he could face up to 30 years imprisonment.

Critics have also urged the court to investigate allegations of other crimes committed during the Mali conflict, including rape and other sexual violence.

Israel approves entry of thousands of Ethopians with Jewish lineage

The Israeli government has approved entry for thousands of Ethiopians claiming to be of Jewish descent. Many of them have been waiting to immigrate to Israel for years.

Deutsche Welle, 15 Nov 2015

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday his government had given the green light to a proposal allowing more than 9,000 Ethiopians to settle in Israel.

"Today we have taken an important decision, to bring to Israel within the next five years the last of the communities with links to Israel waiting in Addis Ababa and Gonder," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The Ethiopians in question, the last members of a group known as Falash Mura, claim Jewish ancestry even though they themselves are Christians, having converted in the 18th and 19th centuries. For this reason, they are not eligible for Israeli citizenship.

A tough life

Many of the Falash Mura have been living in transit camps for years as they waited for the Israeli government's approval. The debate over whether to let the Ethiopian minority in has been going on in Israel for decades.

Around 135,000 Ethiopians live in Israel today, though they often face discrimination and have fewer opportunities for advancement. The first round of Falash Mura immigrants were airlifted to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s, following an official decision made by religious authorities claiming they were descendants of a biblical tribe.

Israel's "law of return" gives people with Jewish heritage the right to resettle there and claim citizenship.

blc/sgb (Reuters, AFP)

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