Art repatriation: Colonial ghosts haunt Europe's museums

The return of art and treasures taken from African countries during their colonisation by European powers is a recurring and controversial debate.

A UNESCO convention against the export of illicit cultural goods adopted in 1970 called for the return of cultural property taken from a country but it did not address historic cases, including from the colonial era.

With museums fearing they could be forced to return artefacts, former colonial powers have been slow to ratify the convention: France only did so 1997, Britain in 2002, Germany in 2007 and Belgium in 2009.

As experts advise France to return thousands of African artworks held in its museums, here is an overview of plans and disputes over artefacts in Europe looted from former African colonies.

France
In 2016 Benin demanded the repatriation of a part of its treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey.
They include totems, sceptres and sacred doors from the Royal Palaces of Aboma, which French troops took between 1892 and 1894 and are exhibited in the Quai Branly museum in Paris.

While that request was initially denied, it has since found a more sympathetic hearing from French President Emmanuel Macron.
In November 2016 Macron promised to "return African heritage to Africa" in a speech in Burkina Faso. He tasked French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese writer Felwine Sarr to draw up the conditions.

Their report, to be presented to Macron on Friday and of which AFP has seen a copy, proposes modifying France's heritage law to allow the restitution of cultural works if bilateral accords are struck between France and African states.

Germany
Germany is also considering what to do with the items stolen from its colonial-era African empire, which ran from 1884 to the end of the First World War. It included countries such as Cameroon and Namibia.

In September 2017, minister of culture Monika Gruetters suggested a model similar to that used by the German Centre for Lost Cultural Property. The centre seeks out owners of art plundered by Nazis in order to return the items.

The debate could ignite again in 2019 when a major new ethnological museum, the Humboldt Forum, opens its doors. Its collection includes artefacts taken from former German colonies.

Britain
The British Museum holds a major collection of bronzes from the African Kingdom of Benin that were seized by the British army in 1897.

Nigeria, which today covers the ancient territory, wants them returned. The museum says it is ready to send them back but only on loan.

London's Victoria and Albert Museum has also said it is open to the long-term loan to Ethiopia of jewellery and manuscripts looted by British soldiers in 1868 when they stormed the Fortress of Magdala during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II.

Ethiopia is demanding the return some of the most significant "treasures of Magdala", including a royal crown.
Leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has promised to return stolen art to its countries of origin should he become prime minister.

Belgium
Belgium's debates over its colonial past have coalesced around the vast transformation of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, near Brussels. It was built in the 19th century under King Leopold II to showcase Belgium's presence in the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

The renovated museum will reopen in December after five years and promises to offer a "critical view" on colonialism.
But in September a collective of associations, universities and Congolese personalities published an open letter demanding the restitution of its works of art.

"We can not base intercultural dialogue on former pillaging by colonial murderers: stolen cultural goods must be repatriated," they said.