The French Parliament last week voted to return Ivory Coast’s sacred royal drum, which was looted by French colonial troops in 1916.
Known as the Djidji Ayôkwé and highly regarded as a “talking drum,” it was a treasured possession of the Ébrié tribe in Ivory Coast.
The community historically used the drum to communicate warnings and messages.
Currently, France holds 148 cultural objects belonging to the Ivory Coast, whose repatriation was requested in 2018.
According to France 24, the lower house of the French Parliament passed a law in early July to separate the drum from its national museum collections and return it to the Ivory Coast. The upper house had approved the move in April.
French President Emmanuel Macron agreed in 2021 to return the drum among other artefacts, a decision warmly welcomed by Clavaire Aguego Mobio, leader of the Ébrié community.
Across the African continent, there have been growing calls for the repatriation of cultural objects.
In Kenya, the National Museums of Kenya have been advocating for the return of sacred Maasai, Kikuyu, and coastal regalia. Activists have also pushed for the repatriation of Kenyan archival materials and artefacts from British, German, and French collections.
In recent years, the California State University, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and four other US museums returned vigango, sacred wooden statues of the Mijikenda tribe.
Former Cabinet Secretary nominee for Gender, Culture, Arts, and Heritage, Stella Lang’at Soi, had promised the National Assembly Appointments Committee to repatriate Kenyan artefacts once in office.
However, this promise went unfulfilled during her brief tenure. The current CS, Hanna Cheptumo, has yet to take action on the matter.
The International Inventories Programme, a collaboration between the National Museums of Kenya and German institutions, reports that more than 30,000 Kenyan cultural objects are currently held in over 30 museums and organisations across Germany, France, the US, and the UK.
These include masks, traditional attire, manuscripts, human remains, shields, and spears.
Repatriating these objects is vital as they hold deep cultural identity and memory. It is also a step toward the decolonisation of museums and achieving cultural justice.