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Momentum Builds for African Artefacts to Return Home

French authorities have said it will return 26 artworks looted from Benin during the colonial era. The pieces are at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. Senegal will also see the return of a sabre and its sheath, attributed to El Hadj Omar Tall, a key religious and military figure in West Africa in the 19th century. The sabre is part of the collection at the Museum of the Army in Paris but it is currently on long-term loan in Dakar. More than 1,000 bronze art pieces are held at museums across Europe, with the most valuable collection at the British Museum in London.

InFocus

Son of Groucho/Flickr

90% of Africa’s cultural heritage currently lies outside the continent, including the Benin Bronzes in the British Museum (file photo).

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