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France returned a sacred talking drum looted during the colonial era to Ivory Coast on Friday, an event described by officials as the first time France has repatriated such an artifact to the country. The Djidji Ayôkwé, a large carved wooden drum used by the Atchan people of the Abidjan region to communicate between villages, was handed over at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan, according to the Associated Press.
At the ceremony, Ivory Coast Culture Minister Françoise Remarck said the return marked “a historic day and a moment of justice and remembrance,” as French officials completed the transfer as part of a broader effort to address the legacy of colonial-era removals of cultural objects.
The drum was looted by French colonial authorities in 1916 and is among at least 140 artifacts Ivory Coast has asked France to return, the AP reported. Historians cited by the report said the wooden drum—whose name means “panther-lion”—played a key role in warning villages about forced labor recruitment organized by colonial authorities.
The AP described the Djidji Ayôkwé as a massive object, about 11.5 feet (138 inches) long and weighing roughly 950 pounds. It also said the repatriation process required consultations with Atchan traditional leaders, who traveled to Paris to perform rituals to lift the drum’s sacred status so it could be restored and transported.
For Atchan leaders attending Friday’s handover, officials said the drum’s return carries symbolic weight tied to remembrance and the restoration of cultural heritage. Aboussou Guy Mobio, identified by the AP as chief of the village of Adjamé-Bingerville, said, “After a long stay far from its land, our sacred drum is finally returning to its people,” adding that it was “like the missing piece of our history coming back.”
French President Emmanuel Macron first announced plans to repatriate cultural artifacts to African nations in 2018, after commissioning a report from academic researchers that recommended doing so, the AP said. The French Parliament adopted a special law last year enabling the Ivory Coast artifact to be removed from French collections as part of the wider campaign among European and Western governments.
After the handover, the drum is expected to undergo a monthlong acclimatization period in a secure location, the AP reported, to help the centuries-old wood adjust gradually from Paris’s dry climate to Abidjan’s humid tropical conditions and reduce the risk of cracks. It is expected to go on public display in April at the newly renovated Museum of Civilizations in Abidjan.