Traditional chiefs wearing crowns and gold chains gathered at Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport on Friday to welcome the return of a historic “talking drum”, looted more than a century ago, marking the first artifact returned to Ivory Coast by former colonial power France.
The drum, known as “Djidji Ayokwè”, meaning Panther-Lion in the Atchan language, measures more than three metres long and weighs nearly 400 kg, according to Ivory Coast’s culture ministry.
Historically, the drum was used by the Atchan people of southern Ivory Coast to alert locals about forced labour operations carried out by colonizers and to mobilize fighters against oppression.
The Ivorian culture ministry is seeking the restitution of 148 artifacts from France, with the Djidji Ayokwè drum, previously displayed at the Quai Branly Museum, being the first to return. Confiscated in 1916, the drum was initially kept at the governor’s palace in Abidjan before being sent to France in 1930.
“This is a historic day, and I am deeply moved,” said Françoise Remarckning a traditional loincloth, Gervais Djoman, chief of an Atchan village, told Reuters that the drum’s return was a source of joy and pride for his people.
“We are reclaiming our identity. Psychologically, something had been taken from us,” he said.
