Africa Sees Some Artifacts Returned, Seeks Many More

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Africa Sees Some Artifacts Returned, Seeks Many More

African countries have reclaimed¹ many historic² objects, called artifacts, from European countries.

Recently, Nigeria and Germany signed a deal for the return of hundreds of artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes. The deal followed French President Emmanuel Macron's decision last year to sign over 26 pieces known as the Abomey Treasures. Those are valuable artworks from the 19th century Dahomey kingdom in present-day Benin.

But many artifacts are still missing and some countries have also been resistant³ to returning them.

One such object is an eight-legged seat from the old kingdom in Uganda. The important artifact now sits at a museum thousands of kilometers away in Britain.

The wooden seat is housed at the University of Oxford⁴. It is one of at least 279 objects there taken from the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom during colonial⁵ times. Oxford has fought off attempts to have the artifact taken back to Uganda, saying it was donated to the university.

Apollo John Rwamparo is a deputy⁶ prime minister of Uganda. He urged the British to do "like the French and the Germans have done and return the artifacts."

Uganda officials are preparing to meet in November with the University of Cambridge in Britain. The school has an unknown number of artifacts from Africa. It recently returned a bronze cockerel to Nigeria.

But London's British Museum has been hard to negotiate⁷ with, said Rose Mwanja Nkaale. She is Uganda's commissioner⁹ for museums and monuments. "We can start with those that are willing to cooperate. It is not useful to fight these people."

The British Museum holds a large collection from across Africa. It is protected by a 1963 law preventing the museum from returning artifacts unless the objects are considered unfit or useless. Some African officials believe that law is increasingly weak as other nations have been more open to returning them.

Abba Isa Tijani is director-general of Nigeria's National Commission⁸ for Museums and Monuments. He said Nigeria is pressuring Britain and other countries to change the laws permitting the return of disputed collections. But he expressed concern that while some countries are starting to open up, in Britain such efforts "have not even started."

Many of the artifacts from Africa cannot even be found. That led to an organization started by late Congolese art collector Sindika Dokolo. It offers to buy stolen African art from collections in foreign countries. By 2020, when Dokolo died, his group had successfully recovered 15 items.

However, recovery of artifacts remains¹⁰ a struggle for African governments. And the African Union has put the return of stolen cultural property up for discussion. The union aims to soon have a common policy on the issue.

Zimbabwe has pushed for the return of about 3,000 artifacts from Britain. They include weapons as well as the skulls¹¹ of fighters who fought against colonialism. Their heads were cut off and shipped away as war prizes.

Talks between British and Zimbabwean officials have produced no big agreement. But the issue is so important for Zimbabwe that President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year suggested an exchange. Zimbabwe would return the remains of colonialist Cecil Rhodes, who is buried in the country. In return, Zimbabwe would receive the remains of the fighters.

Rwanda recently made an agreement with its former colonial occupier, Belgium. The deal included the sharing of digital copies of over 4,000 songs and other recordings¹² kept at the Royal Museum for Central Africa outside Brussels.

But the location of the remains of one of Rwanda's last kings, Yuhi Musinga, is a serious issue in the East African country. Many Rwandans believe the body of Musinga, who resisted the Belgians and died in Congo, was sent to Belgium.

Antoine Nyagahene is a professor of history at Rwanda's Gitwe University. He said there should be some justice in that case.

"We were robbed of our cultural values and, as you know, a people without roots are a people without a soul," he said.

Words in This Story

kingdom— n. a country whose ruler is a king or queen

museum — n. a building in which interesting and valuable things are collected and shown to the public

cockerel — n. a young male chicken

monument — n. a building, statue, etc., that honors a person or event

colonialism — n. control by one country over another area and its people

root — n. the family history of a person or a group of people

1 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

3 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 colonial   

adj.殖民地的，关于殖民的；n.殖民地，居民

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• The people of Africa have successfully fought against colonial rule.非洲人民成功地反抗了殖民统治。

6 deputy   

n.代理人，代表，副职；adj.代理的，副的

参考例句：

• John will act as a deputy for me during my absence.我离开期间，约翰将代理我的职务。
• She is the deputy headmistress of the school.她是那所学校的代理校长。

7 negotiate   

v.洽谈，协商，谈判，顺利通过，成功越过

参考例句：

• I'll negotiate with their coach on the date of the match.我将与他们的教练磋商比赛的日期问题。
• I managed to negotiate successfully with the authorities.我设法同当局进行了成功的协商。

8 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

9 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

12 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐