Article author:
Associated Press
Berlin (AP) — German officials said on Monday that many valuable relics taken from African countries during the colonial era will be permanently returned.
Among the artifacts is a shell-studded statue of the Mother Goddess Ngonnso, which has great spiritual importance to the people of Nso in northwestern Cameroon.
This statue has been part of the collection of the Berlin Ethnological Museum since 1903. The statue was "donated" after being forcibly taken out of Nso by a German colonial officer.
The Foundation said it recommended that the board return the statue after a lengthy discussion between museum representatives and the Cameroonian delegation.
The Board has also approved the permanent return of 23 crafts, including jewelry, tools and fashion items, to Namibia. Objects stolen during the colonial period from 1884 to 1919 were sent to Namibia for research purposes last month and remain there today.
The president has also been approved by the board to sign an agreement on the return of what Germany has plundered from Tanzania in the Maji Maji Rebellion and other conflicts under colonial rule in the early 20th century. Said that.
