Return of stolen artefacts – just one aspect of reparations demand

The global clamour for the return of valuable cultural artefacts stolen from former colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas and held by either private individuals or in public museums in European countries or the United States, continues to mount.

Last week, the king of Belgium was forced to address the issue on a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of Africa’s largest countries which was looted and pillaged by Belgium, one of the most notorious colonial powers, even though the DRC is 77 times the size of Belgium. There he returned a sacred mask of the Suku people who traditionally inhabit southwestern DRC and northwestern Angola.

The mask is one of an estimated 84,000 such artefacts stolen from the Congo and retrieved from an art dealer who said that he had “bought it”.

In returning the mask, the Belgian King Philippe also apologized for the heinous deeds of Belgian colonizers particularly during the murderous rule of King Leopold II. His aunt, Princess Esmeralda, was even more forthright, expressing the view that it is right that looted objects should be returned.

“I strongly believe that artefacts stolen from so many countries in Africa and elsewhere should go back to where they belong”, she told the BBC, and said that European powers should “own up” to past misdeeds during colonialism and slavery.

Only last Friday, SEARCHLIGHT reported a story on the return of precious artefacts to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). They were unveiled on June, 4 by the SVG National Trust.

The artefacts, valuable relics of our history were “recovered” in 2014, after a raid on the home of a so-called “missionary” in the US state of Indiana. They were among tens of thousands of rare artefacts “recovered” from persons who visited former colonies under one pretence or another. The “missionary” is believed to have visited SVG in 1995.

The demand for the return of priceless stolen artefacts is one aspect of the wider demand for reparations by countries and peoples who have suffered genocide, slavery, pillage and colonial plunder.