France Returns Sacred Drum to Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST—ABC News reports that France has repatriated a sacred talking drum looted from West Africa’s Ivory Coast in 1916 by French colonial authorities. The 950-pound drum, known as Djidji Ayôkwé, or “panther-lion,” was used by the Atchan people of the Abidjan region to communicate between villages. The drum is thought to have been stolen because it was being used to warn local residents about forced labor recruitment by colonial authorities. “After a long stay far from its land, our sacred drum is finally returning to its people,” said Aboussou Guy Mobio, chief of the village of Adjamé-Bingerville. The drum will go through an acclimatization period to allow the wood to adjust to Abidjan’s humid, tropical climate after more than 100 years in Paris before it is displayed at the Museum of Civilizations in Abidjan. To read more about the archaeology of West Africa, go to "Letter from Nigeria: A West African Kingdom's Roots."