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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Eromo Egbejule in Abidjan

France returns sacred talking drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire over 100 years ago

France Emmanuel Macron Paris
People stand behind the Djidji Ayôkwé talking drum at the Quai Branly Museum.
The restitution ceremony for the Djidji Ayôkwé talking drum, held at the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum. Photograph: Abaca Press/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

A sacred artefact looted by French colonial authorities more than a century ago has been returned to Côte d’Ivoire in one of the most significant cultural restitutions to a former French colony in years.

The Djidji Ayôkwé, a talking drum confiscated in 1916 by French administrators, landed at 8.45am on Friday at the airport in Port Bouët on the outskirts of the economic capital, Abidjan. It was handed over to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month after being removed from the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum.

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