It has to do with the endemic and probably irreparable violence of African society.
It has always been a puzzle to me how anyone could take the Ethiopian claim very seriously. It involves taking the Ark of the Covenant to Egypt, where a tenuous Jewish colony was set up on Elephantine Island (in the Nile). When that society collapsed midst Egyptian polytheistic culture, the Ark traveled further from its intended home to Ethiopia where it eventually came in to possession of the natives.
The Book of Revelation places the general location of the Ark - right where it is expected to be. (Hint: it is not Ethiopia.)