Europe pressed to return looted art

Indigenous 'talking drum' raises fresh questions

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.