Source: Africa Publicity
France has returned Ivory Coast’s sacred talking drum looted by French forces during the colonial era.
The drum returned over a century after it was looted. The Djidji Ayôkwé (Panther Lion), as the talking drum is known, was welcomed home by members of the Ebrié community, its original owners. It is more than three metres (10 ft) long, weighs about 430kg (68 stone), and is carved from iroko wood.
Historical accounts say the drum was looted by colonial authorities in 1916 before being taken to France in 1929.
While in France, the drum was put on display at the Trocadéro Museum and later at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
The return is part of a wider French effort to repatriate African cultural artefacts, a process that began in 2017.
