French lawmakers have unanimously today okays the return of looted artefacts that were taken from Africa during the colonial era to Benin and Senegal republics. The treasures include a royal throne stolen from Benin during a war and a sword once wielded by a 19th-century sheikh, in present-day Senegal.
With plenty of artefacts stashed in its museum, there were calls to the Europeans to return all stolen items forcefully taken from Africa during colonialism, especially Britain who took the chunk part of the treasure.
Germany was not left behind in the backlash after it refurbished its museum stashed with artefacts which mostly have their root traced back to African.
The French President, Emmanuel Macron is one of the European leaders who pledged to return all looted treasury to their rightful owners which are mostly African countries.
According to Roselyn Bachelot, a Culture Minister in France, Macron in his effort to renew political ties with the African continent as a whole, he was set to return these treasures back to their root.
Accordingly, Benin Republic will receive 26 pieces of these treasures of Behanzin that was looted in 1892, including the throne of king Glele, a centrepiece of some 70,000 of African objects being kept at the Quai Branly-Jack Chirac Museum in Paris.
Meanwhile, Senegal will recover full ownership of a sword and scabbard which historians believe it belongs to the 19th-century military and religious figure Omar Saidou Tall.
The French lawmakers have overwhelmingly okayed the treasures return on behalf of parliament despite refusal by the Senate to agree.
Following an earlier parliamentary vote in October, Benin’s museums Chief Alain Godonou said he expected the 26 items to be back in his country “within a year”.
The expert believed that the French museum was housing over 90,000 artefacts which are all believed to have been looted from African soil during the colonial era.
