Latest news with #DjidjiAyokwe
Express Tribune
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Europe pressed to return looted art
After the French parliament voted on Monday to return to Ivory Coast a "talking drum" that colonial troops took from the Ebrie tribe in 1916, here is a recap of other disputes over artefacts looted from Europe's former colonies, reports AFP. The Djidji Ayokwe, the beloved "talking drum" is one of tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that France looted from its colonial empire from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century. Three metres long and weighing 430 kilogrammes, it was seized by French troops in 1916 and sent to France in 1929. President Emmanuel Macron in 2021 promised to return the drum, used as a communication tool to transmit messages between different areas, and other artefacts to the west African country. Ivory Coast, Senegal and Benin have all asked for the repatriation of their treasures. In late 2020, the French parliament adopted a law providing for the permanent return to Benin of 26 artefacts from the royal treasures of Dahomey. In a similar exhibit, the Parthenon Marbles, the object of a long-running dispute between the United Kingdom and Greece, are the most high profile of contested treasures. Athens has for decades demanded the return of the sculptures from the British Museum, saying they were looted in 1802 by Lord Elgin, the then-British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The current government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has escalated its efforts to secure the repatriation of the Marbles, holding official and unofficial meetings with the government of Keith Starmer last autumn. The British Museum has also refused to return any of the sacred sculptures and carvings known as the "Benin Bronzes" taken during a British military expedition in the former kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria in 1897. It has the biggest collection of the Benin Bronzes which are held in museums across the United States and Europe.
France 24
07-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
France backs returning colonial-era 'talking drum' to I.Coast
The Djidji Ayokwe drum is a communication tool more than three metres (10 feet) long and weighing 430 kilogrammes (almost 950 pounds) that was once used to transmit messages between different areas, for example to warn others of a forced recruitment drive. France's lower house of parliament approved removing the artefact from the national museum collections to enable its return, after the upper-house Senate backed the move in April. The talking drum had been in the care of the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum in Paris. In late 2018, Ivory Coast asked Paris to return the Djidji Ayokwe among 148 works of art taken during the colonial period. President Emmanuel Macron promised in 2021 to send the drum and other artefacts back home to the west African country. "Local communities have been requesting it since independence" in 1960, said Serge Alain Nhiang'O, the founder of the Ivoire Black History Month association in Abidjan. The drum's return "could become very symbolic", he said. Clavaire Aguego Mobio, leader of the Ebrie, in 2021 called Macron's pledge "a highly historic move" as his people had long given up on the return of the drum, "which was our loudspeaker, our Facebook". Slow repatriations Since his election in 2017, Macron has gone further than his predecessors in admitting to past French abuses in Africa. The restitution of looted artworks to Africa is one of the highlights of the "new relationship" he wanted to establish with the continent. France still has in its possession tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that it looted from its colonial empire from the 16th to the first half of the 20th century. According to a 2018 report, some 90,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa are in French public museums. But restitutions of such cultural objects have been slow without overarching legislation to help. In late 2020, parliament adopted an exceptional law to permanently return 26 artefacts from the royal treasures of Abomey to Benin, as well as a sabre to Senegal. In 2023, France adopted two so-called framework laws to return objects in two categories: one for goods looted from Jewish families during World War II, and another for the repatriation of human remains from public collections. New bill? The State Council, which acts as legal adviser to the government, last year rejected a similar blanket bill to permit the return of all colonial spoils. According to Le Monde newspaper, which obtained a copy of its opinion, it did not deem "cultural cooperation" with former colonies to be sufficient justification. It said that it was not enough of a "higher general interest" to justify breaking out the objects from inalienable national museum collections, Le Monde reported. Culture Minister Rachida Dati said last week that a new version of the bill was to be presented at a government meeting by the end of the month. She said that she hoped for a debate in parliament by the end of the year. Macron has set up several commissions of historians to explore past relations between France and former colonies such as Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal and Haiti. © 2025 AFP
France 24
07-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
France moves to return colonial-era 'talking drum' to Ivory Coast
France 's parliament Monday approved returning to Ivory Coast a "talking drum" that colonial troops took from the Ebrie tribe in 1916, in the latest greenlight to the repatriation of colonial spoils. The Djidji Ayokwe drum is a communication tool more than three metres (10 feet) long and weighing 430 kilos (almost 950 pounds) that was once used to transmit messages between different areas, for example to warn others of a forced recruitment drive. The lower house of the French parliament approved separating out the artefact from national museum collections to enable its return, after the upper-house Senate backed the move in April. In 2018, Ivory Coast officially asked Paris to return 148 works of art taken during the colonial period, including the Djidji Ayokwe. President Emmanuel Macron promised to send the drum and other artefacts back home to the west African country in 2021. Clavaire Aguego Mobio, leader of the Ebrie, at the time called Macron's pledge "a highly historic move". He told AFP that his people had long given up on the return of the drum, "which was our loudspeaker, our Facebook". Since his election in 2017, Macron has gone further than his predecessors in admitting to past French abuses in Africa. The restitution of looted artworks to Africa is one of the highlights of the "new relationship" he wanted to establish with the continent.
