A first bill on the restitution by France to African countries of cultural works taken during colonization, a controversial subject, was presented Wednesday July 15 in the Council of Ministers. France will thus restore a historic saber to Senegal and, in the coming months, 26 heritage objects in Benin.

This transfer of cultural works to their country of origin was initiated by President Emmanuel Macron in his speech in Ouagadougou, November 28, 2017. This restitution "corresponds to a very strong commitment made by the President of the Republic so that the African youth have the opportunity to access their heritage, their history in Africa, "said government spokesman Gabriel Attal after the Council of Ministers. It is "one of the essential challenges for a new relationship of friendship between France and Africa", according to him.

For this, the bill authorizes, "by a derogation limited to the essential principle of inalienability applicable to French public collections", the transfer to Benin of the property of 26 objects looted during the sack of the palace of the kings of Abomey by French colonial troops in 1892. These totems and specters, currently kept at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris, will be exhibited in a public place in Benin.

The art historian of Beninese origin, Marie-Cécile Zinsou, welcomed on the antenna of France 24 this announcement: "It is a historic moment for the Beninese and African youth in general. This project "Law means that things are finally concrete. We leave the stage of words and we enter the legislation. This fight finally leads us to a result."

"We are not fighting for a throne or scepters. We are fighting for our memory and our history," added the president of the Zinsou foundation. "All these works are the supports of our history which was much transformed by the account of colonization and by what happened in the XXth century. Today, we will be able to have a new access to History ".

A maximum period of one year for submission

In Senegal, France formally returns a saber that the former French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe had symbolically presented last November to President Macky Sall. This weapon is historically significant since it belonged to El Hadj Oumar Tall, a warlord and Muslim scholar who conquered in the 19th century a huge territory straddling Senegal, Guinea and Mali, and fought against French colonial army.

"In both cases, the bill provides for a maximum period of one year for the delivery, by the French authorities, of these works", specifies the government, which did not indicate if new works were going to be returned to other countries like Ivory Coast. 

Emmanuel Macron announced these decisions at the end of 2018 on the basis of a report by the academics Bénédicte Savoy, from the Collège de France, and Felwine Sarr, from the University of Saint-Louis in Senegal, who identified 90,000 African works in museums. French. 

Their work has been challenged by other specialists and museums such as the Quai Branly, which has the largest collection of early arts. They were worried about the politicization of the debate and the arguments that all the works deposited in their homes since colonization have been dishonestly acquired or looted, and must be returned. They favor the "circulation" of works between France and Africa, rather than restitutions, except when, as is the case for the statues of the Royal Palace of Abomey, the looting by French soldiers was flagrant.

"This will make some people very angry," notes Marie-Cécile Zinsou. "But when history advances it is never done with the approval of all". 

With AFP

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