Beninese will still have to wait to admire on their soil the anthropomorphous statues, regalias or thrones of the kings who have marked the history of their country and are exposed to the Quai Branly museum in Paris. Benin is not yet ready to welcome the 26 works plundered by France during the 1892 colonial conquest in Dahomey.
At the beginning of July, at the opening of a forum devoted to African heritages at the Institut de France, Franck Riester, French Minister of Culture, had yet announced that France was working on an "effective" return of royal treasures, which could even intervene "within the framework of a deposit" before the vote of a law in the French Parliament to ratify this restitution. "The restitution of the works will be the subject of an inscription in the law. The timetable is yet to be determined in view of the large number of texts under discussion in Parliament. (...). In the meantime, these 26 works must be able to be seen, admired and studied in Benin, "said the minister.
But Benin no longer seems in a hurry to recover the works whose application in July 2016 was initially hit by the refusal of Jean-Marc Ayrault, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of François Hollande, before being accepted by Emmanuel Macron in 2018. Following the conclusions of the Sarr-Savoy report on African works of art in French public collections, the French president had decided to make "without delay" the looted treasures.
"A big disappointment"
"We really appreciated the proposal of Paris for a deposit without delay in Benin, but it would not be serious, or even responsible, to accpeter.Today, we have no space, place worthy to welcome these objects, "said José Pliya, director of the Beninese Agency for the Promotion of Heritage and Tourism, to AFP. And to add: "This return is so strong that we really want to do things well." To the French proposal, our answer is: "Patience, keep them a little while we are really ready" . "
A statement that surprises Marie-Cécile Zinsou, president of the contemporary art foundation Zinsou and very committed to the issue of restitution. "It's bound to be a big disappointment, these objects left in 1892. And finally, we have the opportunity to recover them, and the Beninese government can not do it, it's incomprehensible. a little shocked to say that we are not ready, is to prove the detractors, "insurgent Marie-Cécile Zinsou contacted by France 24.
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To receive these works, Benin wants to build, thanks to a loan of 20 million euros from the French Development Agency, a new modern museum within the walls of the royal palaces of the historic city of Abomey. Classified as World Heritage by Unesco, they are in decline. The work, which was to begin in March 2019, will finally begin "in the fourth quarter of this year and the duration of the work will be two years, so for us, the return of these objects is planned for the inauguration of this museum at the autumn 2021 ", explains José Pliya, adding that Benin wants to include this heritage in a strategy of economic development, job creation.
"There is an emergency"
"Why do not we welcome these works now and then put them in a museum in 2021 as soon as it is ready?" "The president of the foundation says nothing prevents us from showing them now" Zinsou, who is also a historian of art. The private institution had already exhibited in Cotonou for three months in 2006 the objects of art in question, in partnership with the Quai Branly museum. The exhibition attracted 275,000 visitors. "We did not need to build a museum to display these works, there is an urgency, we can take a building that exists, equip it properly and present the works, we did it in 2006. "
But Paris wants to go very quickly and keep its promise to return the works before May 2020, symbolic date to which should begin "Africa 2020", the season of African cultures in France, a great event announced by the French president in his speech. Ouagadougou in July 2018.