ABIDJAN: The Djidji Ayokwe “talking drum,” which was looted by French colonial troops in 1916 and taken to France, arrived back in Ivory Coast Friday, in the latest repatriation of stolen artefacts. The wooden drum, more than three meters (10 feet) long and weighing 430 kilos (950 pounds), was used by the Ebrie tribe to transmit messages. It was officially handed over on Feb. 20 after France’s parliament approved removing the artifact from the national museum collections to enable its return.

The move forms part of a broader process of returning cultural artefacts to African countries that started in 2017.

Djidji Ayôkwé was handed to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month