Ethiopia on Saturday received the first batch of thousands of its archaeological artefacts that have been held by France since the 1980s.
France said the artefacts were held for study, but their return reflects a growing momentum in Africa for the repatriation of the continent's artworks and cultural objects being held in European capitals.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot presented two prehistoric stone axes, called bifaces, and a stone cutter to Ethiopia's Tourism Minister Selamawit Kassa, during a visit to the national museum in Addis Ababa.
The tools are "samples of nearly 3,500 artifacts from the excavations that were carried out on the Melka Kunture site", a cluster of prehistoric sites south of the capital that were excavated under the direction of a late French researcher, Barrot said.
'Not a restitution'
The artefacts, currently stored at the French embassy in Addis Ababa, will be delivered in their entirety to the Ethiopian Heritage Directorate on Tuesday.
"This is a handover, not a restitution, in that thes objects have never been part of French public collections," Laurent Serrano, culture advisor at the French embassy, told AFP news agency.
"These artefacts, which date back between 1 and 2 million years, were found during excavations carried out over several decades at a site near the Ethiopian capital," he added.
It comes as France's influence in Africa diminishes as its former colonies in the continent tear up military pacts signed with Paris.
Terminate military pacts
On Thursday, Chad ended its military cooperation agreement with France, while Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye demanded the former colonial ruler to shut its military bases in his country. Chad said it wanted to “assert its full sovereignty and to redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities.”
Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said France should close its military bases in the West African state as it prepared to mark the 80th anniversary of a notorious colonial slaughter.
"Senegal is an independent country, it is a sovereign country and sovereignty does not accept the presence of military bases in a sovereign country," Faye said.
Other Sahel countries including Niger and Mali have also ended security and defence partnerships with Paris.
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