PARIS: France on Friday handed over a “talking drum” looted by colonial troops from Ivory Coast in 1916 in the latest repatriation of stolen artefacts.
The Djidji Ayokwe drum, more than three meters (10 feet) long and weighing 430 kilos (950 pounds) was used by the Ebrie tribe to transmit messages.
It is one of hundreds of objects France is preparing to send back to Africa, with the efforts set to be accelerated by the passing of a new law to authorize mass repatriations.
“All of Ivory Coast is ready to welcome it,” Ivory Coast Culture Minister Francoise Remarck said at a ceremony in Paris with her French counterpart Rachida Dati.
Remarck added that she was “extremely moved” by the “return of this symbol” that is “finally coming back to its homeland.”
The drum is to be exhibited permanently in a new museum being built in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan.
France has been flooded with restitution demands from former colonies such as Algeria, Mali and Benin.
Its national museums hold tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that were seized or purchased during the colonial era.
European nations are slowly moving to return a limited number of looted artefacts in a bid to build bridges with their former colonies.
