The Ayôkwé djidji, nicknamed the "talking drum." COTE D'IVOIRE CULTURE MINISTRY
France's lawmakers on Monday, April 13, will debate a bill to simplify the return of artworks looted during the colonial era to their countries of origin. France still has in its possession tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artifacts that it looted from its colonial empire. The draft legislation to return them was unanimously approved by the upper house in January, and now needs to be backed by the lower house Assemblée Nationale before it can become law.
President Emmanuel Macron has made it a political promise to return the cultural items, and has gone further than his predecessors in admitting past French abuses in Africa.
Speaking during a visit to the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou shortly after taking office in 2017, Macron vowed that France would never again interfere in its former colonies and promised to facilitate the return of African cultural heritage within five years. Designed to streamline the process, the bill under consideration specifically targets property acquired between 1815 and 1972.
Former colonial powers in Europe have slowly been moving to send back some artworks obtained during their imperial conquests, but France is hindered by its current legislation, which requires every item in the national collection to be voted on individually. In 2025, France's parliament approved the return to Côte d'Ivoire of a "talking drum" that colonial troops took from the Ebrie tribe in 1916. It returned home in March.
