FRANCE HANDS BACK 26 TREASURES LOOTED FROM BENIN

Wed 10 November 2021:

As President Emmanuel Macron met with his counterpart Patrice Talon in Paris, France returned ownership of 26 royal relics taken from Benin 130 years ago, including sacred altars and statues.

On Tuesday, Macron said that he and Talon had signed an agreement earlier in the morning to return the artifacts, with the French president claiming he was “very happy because it is a moment, not only symbolic, but moving and historical.”

Macron noted that the first repatriation request issued by the Beninese authorities in 2016 had been refused by the French government at the time on the grounds that the treasures were an important part of the country’s public collection.

President Emmanuel Macron greets President Patrice Talon as Minister Roselyne Bachelot and Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola sign an agreement on the return of looted cultural artifacts, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Nov. 9, 2021.

Totem figures from the ancient kingdom of Abomey and the throne of King Behanzin, plundered by French forces in 1892, are among the works returned.

Talon thanked Macron for the “symbolic and unexpected” gesture, but made it clear that there was still much that France needed to return. “How do you expect my enthusiasm to be complete” when France still holds other key artifacts, the Beninese leader asked.

The artefacts will be displayed at several locations in Benin, including the Ouidah Museum of History, a former Portuguese fort in the ancient slave-trading capital. They will eventually be housed in a museum in Abomey, which will be partially financed by the French government.

In addition to Benin, six countries – Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Chad, Mali and Madagascar – have filed claims for the return of works of art to France.

An inquiry commissioned by Macron counted some 90,000 African works in French collections, around 70,000 of which are held at the Quai Branly alone. A special 2018 report on the issue by French historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese academic Felwine Sarr cited estimates that some 90% of African cultural artifacts were taken from the continent and are held overseas.

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