Three heads of museums and African restitutions in Benin, Senegal and Nigeria signed a text this week in the daily The world. In this forum, they deplore the postponement until autumn 2024 of the French bill on restitution of cultural property. Emmanuel Macron, underline the signatories, committed to this subject in 2017 in Ouagadougou. But since then, only twenty-seven assets have been returned to African countries.
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“ The postponement of the promised law is a shock for us », they write in this platform published on Tuesday April 30 in the newspaper The world. “ We have the feeling that it’s dragging on, that it can drag on again. We would like it to go faster, obviously », says Alain Godonou, director of the “museums” program in Benin and signatory of this text.
French law on restitution of cultural property, he looks forward to it. But, according to the newspaper The world, examination of the text was postponed for several months. In its opinion, the Council of State noted in particular that the removal of these assets from the public domain in France must be motivated by a superior interest. “ The importance of these works for us is also a higher interest, which the French side should consider », Judge Alain Godonou.
Rejection of the conditions that accompany restitutions
The signatories of this text, Alain Godonou, the director of legal services of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria, Babatunde E. Adebiyi, and Fatima Fall Niang, director of the research and documentation center in Senegal, also reject the conditions which could accompany the restitution of cultural property.
“ We can also understand that in the process of negotiation and discussion, everyone has prerequisites and discussions. But once it is restored, once we reach this stage, we should no longer impose things. When you become an owner, you are not told what you should do with your property. For us, it’s a mistake, downright! »
The last point that worries Alain Godonou and the other signatories is that property seized by the armed forces could be excluded from restitution. Benin is particularly waiting to recover the statue of the god Gou, in anticipation of the opening of the Porto Novo Voodoo museum, scheduled for the end of next year.
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