Germany set to return looted African artefacts

Priceless artefacts removed and looted from African nations during Germany’s colonial period will be permanently returned.

This was disclosed by the Berlin-based Prussian cultural heritage foundation, which manages the German capital’s many museums

The foundation said it had entered into negotiations on the returns of artefacts to Namibia, Tanzania and Cameroon.

Among the artefacts to be returned is a shell-studded statue of the mother goddess Ngonnso’, which holds great spiritual significance for the Nso’ people of northwest Cameroon.

The statue has been part of the collection of Berlin’s ethnological museum since 1903, after it was donated  by a German colonial officer who had taken it by force from the Nso’.

The board also approved the permanent return of 23 artefacts, including jewellery, tools and fashion items, to Namibia.

The objects, also stolen during the colonial period from 1884 to 1919, were sent to Namibia last month for research purposes and will now remain there.