By Emmanuel Onyango
Two of UK's national museums are sending back golden treasures looted from Ghana by British soldiers during military incursions in the colonial era.
A total of 32 items taken from the court of the Asante king will be returning home some 150 years since they were taken away.
The British Museum (BM) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) signed the three-year loan deal with the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of what was then the Asante empire.
"Items of gold and silver regalia associated with the Asante royal court will be displayed at the Palace Museum in Kumasi later this year as part of a long-term loan commitment by the V&A and the British Museum," the museums said in a joint statement.
The two are among national museums in the UK banned by law from permanently repatriating artefacts in their collections. They acknowledged that the objects were among those "looted from Kumasi during the Anglo-Asante wars of the 19th century."
The loan deal follows an official visit to London by the Asantehene, King of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in May last year.
"The collections will form part of an exhibition planned to celebrate the 2024 Silver Jubilee of His Royal Majesty, the Asantehene, Osei Tutu II, as well as commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1873-4 Anglo-Asante war," the statement said.
The clamour for repatriation of artworks and cultural objects stolen from Africa during the colonial period has been gathering momentum in recent years.
In April 2023, Finland returned sacred stones taken away by missionaries from the Ovambo people in present day Namibia.
There has also been mounting pressure for return of thousands of cultural treasures looted by British troops in the colonial era and then auctioned off in London and bought by some European countries and institutions.
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