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Kenya is demanding the return of more than 2000 historical artefacts currently on display in the British Museum, claiming they were taken during the country's colonial period. Skulls, spears and fossils are among the items that it wants back.
Officials in Nairobi are beginning to compile lists of objects held abroad that are considered of significant national importance. They are also tracking down thousands of other items held by United States museums and in private collections around the world.
As many as 10,000 could be earmarked for repatriation, according to Kenyan museum officials. Kenya's President, Mwai Kibaki, said: "These are crucial aspects of our historical and cultural heritage, and every effort must be made to bring them back."
Previous attempts to argue for the return of exhibits were hampered by the lack of suitable facilities in Kenya. Following the opening last month of a new £6 million ($16.3 million) European Union-funded museum, however, Kenyan heritage officials believe they have the ability to look after the most fragile objects.
All the same, most objects would stay where they are, Idle Omar Farah, director general of Kenya's National Museums said. "The blanket return of objects to their home countries would discourage cultural tourism. We want people in Britain to see Kenyan artefacts at their own museums - but the most important ones must come home."
Among the wanted exhibits are the so-called Maneaters of Tsavo, a pair of lions (now stuffed), which allegedly ate up to 140 Kenya-Uganda railway construction workers in the late 1890s. The lions' exploits were immortalised in a book and a film, The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Val Kilmer. They are on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, which has, so far, been reluctant to let one of its most popular exhibits go, which it says was legally obtained.
- INDEPENDENT
