The Recovery Of Stolen Or Looted African Arts

According to the report below, the President of Kenya has reiterated Kenya's demand for the return of cultural objects which were stolen from the country, especially under the colonial regime.

It is remarkable that nearly some forty-eight years since many African countries regained their independence; they have still not recovered most of these looted cultural objects. These objects are still with the colonial regimes and their allies. This continued retention of cultural treasures that should have been returned on independence constitutes a partial denial of the independence and sovereignty of the States concerned.

Furthermore, the illegal retention of the cultural objects of others and the persistent refusal to return them constitute a constant violation of the human right to culture, the right to development and the right to freely determine cultural development and policies.

Those who persist in retaining the cultural objects stolen under colonial rule must realize that they thereby affirm their belief in the legitimacy of the colonial system and assume their share in the moral failures, the racial oppression and inhumanity of the colonial system.

Newly found explanations and justification that those stolen objects belong to humanity and are for all mankind should be rejected outright. To hijack the cultural icons and objects of a people and pretend that this is in the interest of humanity is cynicism at its worse.

African States should reinforce their attempts at recovery of cultural objects, both at national and continental levels. Exchange of information and ideas regarding recovery of cultural items should be a regular item of all African meetings.
The struggle to recover our cultural items and icons will be long and complicated but we have to choice if we want to retain our human dignity.

Kwame Opoku.

Kenyan president calls for return of stolen artifacts

NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called Monday for the return of
artifacts stolen during the colonial era as he stepped up efforts to boost
the country's tourism sector.

Kibaki said tourism, severely battered by violence sparked by the disputed
December polls, needed to be revitalised. The chaos killed at least 1,500
people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
"In pursuit of this objective, it is important to keep in mind that there
are numerous artifacts that were taken out of the country, especially during
the colonial period," Kibaki said while re-opening the refurbished National
Museums of Kenya.

"These are crucial aspects of our historical and cultural heritage, and
therefore every effort must be made to bring them back," he added.
Kibaki spoke nearly a year after Kenyan officials asked Chicago's Field
Museum to return the remains of two famous lions that killed at least 140
Indian workers before being shot by a British railway engineer in 1898.
The "Maneaters of Tsavo" were killed by Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry
Patterson, whose adventures formed the basis of the Oscar-winning 1996 movie
"The Ghost and the Darkness" starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.
In 2006, heirs of colonial-era British officer Colonel Richard Henry
Meinertzhagen returned a walking stick, authority baton and v-shaped prayer
rod belonging to an ethnic Nandi traditional chief that had been in Britain
since 1905.

In the same year, Illinois State University and Hampton University returned
two wooden memorial statues known as "vigangos" that were stolen from the
coastal Mijikenda tribe.

Researchers have tracked down 294 "vigangos" at 19 American museums. The
Hampton University Museum alone is reported to be holding 98 of them.
Mijikenda elders say the theft of the statues more than two decades ago from
the graves of revered elders was to blame for the community's poor fortunes.
Other African countries, notably Ethiopia, have launched drives to recover
artifacts that were taken home by foreign travellers and colonialists.

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