Month: January 2024

london — Two British museums are returning looted gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement as U.K. institutions face increasing demands to hand over treasures acquired at a time when the British Empire ruled over people around the globe.

The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, together with the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana, announced the “important cultural” collaboration on Thursday. The loan sidesteps U.K. laws that bar the repatriation of such cultural treasures and have been used to prevent the British Museum from returning the Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, to Greece.

Seventeen items are involved in the loan arrangement, including 13 pieces of Asante royal regalia purchased by the V&A at auction in 1874. The items were acquired by the museums after British troops looted the royal palace in Kumasi during the Anglo-Asante wars of 1873-74 and 1895-96 and represent a small fraction of the artifacts held in the U.K.

“These objects are of cultural, historical and spiritual significance to the Asante people,” the museums said in a statement. “They are also indelibly linked to British colonial history in West Africa, with many of them looted from Kumasi during the Anglo-Asante wars of the 19th century.”

Countries including Nigeria, Egypt and Greece, as well as indigenous peoples from North America to Australia, are demanding the repatriation of artifacts and human remains amid a global reassessment of colonialism and the exploitation of local populations.

Nigeria and Germany recently signed a deal for the return of hundreds of Benin Bronzes, a general term for a trove of sculptures, cast plaques and royal regalia created from the 16th century onward in the West African kingdom of Benin. That followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to sign over 26 pieces known as the Abomey Treasures, artworks from the 19th-century Dahomey kingdom in present-day Benin, a small country west of Nigeria.

But the U.K. has been slower to respond. Officials argue that the objects were acquired legally and that institutions like the British Museum have long preserved them in an environment where they can be seen and studied by people from around the world.

The British government said the Ghana deal did not set a precedent for the Parthenon Marbles, which are the subject of a long-running diplomatic battle between the U.K. and Greece. The sculptures originally decorated the frieze of the Parthenon in Athens and were acquired by Lord Elgin, a British aristocrat and collector, in the early 18th century.

“This isn’t a new approach,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain. “There have been a number of loans. These take place from time to time between museums.”

He added that Britain “would expect the items to be returned at the end of that loan period.”

The items covered by the loan agreement include a “soul disk,” which the Asante king wore to protect his soul, as well as a peace pipe and seven sections of sheet-gold ornaments. They represent only a small portion of the Asante objects held by British museums and private collectors around the world. The British Museum alone says it has 239 items of Asante regalia in its collection.

Nana Oforiatta Ayim, special adviser to Ghana’s culture minister, said the deal was a “starting point,” given British laws that prohibit the return of cultural artifacts. But ultimately the regalia should be returned to the rightful owners, she told the BBC.

“I’ll give an analogy: If somebody came into your house and ransacked it and stole objects and then kept them in their house, and then a few years later said, ‘You know what? I’ll lend you your objects back,’ how would you feel about that?” she said.
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abuja, nigeria — Nigerian authorities say reinforcements have been sent to a local Mangu district in central Plateau state where at least 30 people were killed in attacks this week.

Authorities say some suspects also have been arrested and that operatives are responding to a surge in violence in the region known for clashes between farmers and herders.

Nigerian defense authorities in Abuja told journalists during a media briefing Thursday that the killing of a local man by herders and an attempted cattle rustling triggered the latest violence.  

The attackers invaded villages along the borders of the Mangu and Barkin Ladi districts, shooting indiscriminately and setting fire to houses and property.  

Women and children were among the casualties.  

Nigerian defense spokesperson Major General Edward Buba told reporters that security forces had been deployed and that some suspects had been arrested.

“As we speak, arrests are still being made,” he said. “It is a developing situation, it’s an ongoing situation; more troops have been deployed to the location. The situation is not above us to handle. We’re handling it.”

The latest violence came weeks after deadly attacks in the same area on Christmas Eve. About 140 people were killed, and many others were injured. Residents blamed the attack on Fulani militias. 

Communal clashes between farmers and herders are common in Nigeria’s Plateau state, resulting in thousands of casualties in the last few years.  

Nigerian authorities have struggled to address the insecurity problems spreading across the country. 

On Tuesday, Plateau state authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew as tensions over the attacks heightened. 

But Mangu resident Joseph Bot said it was all talk with little action.

“They’ll always tell you they’re on top of the matter, but even among the security, we have bad eggs that connive with those attackers,” he told VOA by phone Friday. “Sometimes killings will be taking place … the security will not go and when you confront them, they’ll tell you they’re waiting for [an] order.” 

Nigerian defense authorities denied the allegations, stating that the military responds according to its rules of engagement. 

This week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his four-nation Africa trip, discussed the security situation with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in Abuja. 

Blinken voiced the United States’ support for Nigeria. “The United States is determined to be and remain a strong security partner for Nigeria,” he said. “I want to extend the condolences of the American people to all Nigerians who were affected by the horrific attacks over the Christmas weekend, and all killed in recent attacks.” 
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Kinshasa, Congo — Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has promised to use $7 billion from a renegotiated Chinese mining deal to build roads and infrastructure but his critics say the new agreement lacks transparency and is unfavorable towards Congo.

In a surprise announcement last weekend, Tshisekedi said that talks between his government and a consortium of Chinese investors over rebalancing the so-called Sicomines mining agreement would bring in $7 billion to the Congolese treasury.

The sum represents a huge and possibly transformative opportunity in the impoverished central African country of about 100 million people, where the national budget this year is set to reach $16 billion.

The deal was first made public last Saturday, when Tshisekedi referenced the Sicomines deal during his inauguration speech for a second term in office in front of tens of thousands of people.

“There is the thorny issue of the opening up of our regions, for which a solution in terms of financing has just been made possible,” he said.

Negotiations over Sicomines had been underway since last year after Tshisekedi — as well as numerous analysts — described the original 2008 deal as deeply unfair to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Under the original accord, a group of Chinese investors, including state-owned Chinese firms such as Sinohydro and China Railway Engineering Corporation, entered a $6.2-billion joint venture with Congo’s state mining company to run the Sicomines copper and cobalt mine, in Kolwezi in southeastern DRC.

In return, the Chinese investors were supposed to build $3 billion worth of infrastructure across the country, using the proceeds from the mine.

This innovative minerals-for-infrastructure deal was a response to Congo’s pressing development needs. The country is roughly the size of continental western Europe, but has a grossly inadequate road system due to endemic poverty, corruption and conflict.

According to many observers, the Chinese consortium failed to uphold its end of the bargain. A lack of transparency over spending also plagued the project and raised suspicions of corruption.

The U.S.-based NGO Carter Center found in a 2017 report, for example, that Sicomines consortium was unable to account for $685 million out of about $1.16 billion that had been allocated for infrastructure spending by that time.

In February 2023, Congo’s state auditor, the Inspectorate General of Finances (IGF), also released a report raising numerous problems with the Sicomines deal.

It said that the mine had likely been undervalued, for example, and demanded that the consortium raise its infrastructure investments to $20 billion to reflect the mine’s worth.

The IGF also found that only $822 million had been invested in infrastructure since 2008 — a sum it called “glaringly low.”

‘Unprecedented’ renegotiation

Tshisekedi made renegotiating the deal one of his priorities towards the end of his first presidential term, even visiting Beijing in May in an attempt to get better terms.

The push for rebalancing mining deals also targeted another Chinese company, CMOC, which in July last year agreed to pay the Congolese government $2 billion to settle a dispute over declared mineral reserves at its Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine.

At present, no details about the renegotiated Sicomines deal have been released to the public beyond what the president announced recently.

China’s embassy in Congo’s capital Kinshasa refused to comment. A spokesman for the Congolese presidency said he was unable to comment for the time being.

The Congolese government is nevertheless keen to stress that the renegotiated deal is a boon for its people. Interviewed on French radio on Tuesday, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya hailed the new Sicomines deal as “unprecedented.”

‘In China’s favor’

However, mining sector analysts in the DRC say that a host of questions surround the new $7-billion deal, the details of which remain murky.

Emmanuel Umpula, the executive director of the DRC-based NGO African Natural Resources Watch, said the whole renegotiation took place in secret.

“We asked that this happen in a transparent way, we should know the terms of reference of the renegotiation,” he said, explaining that Tshisekedi’s announcement had come as a surprise.

Umpula said there were many questions left to answer, such as, critically, how the negotiating parties arrived at the figure of $7 billion.

He also expressed concern that this money would come in the form of interest-bearing loans to the Congolese government, which would ultimately cause headaches for the treasury.

Sicomines has also continued operating and generating profits despite a lack of infrastructure spending, Umpula said, adding that “a simple way” of resolving the issue would have been to halt the mine’s operations until the Chinese investors started construction.

Another expert who was briefed on the negotiations between the Congolese government and Chinese investors, said that the final deal was “largely in China’s favor.”

The expert, who declined to be named so he could speak freely with VOA, explained that few of the original problems had been resolved.

There has been no new study of the mine’s reserves, he said, meaning that it was difficult to independently assess the value of the mine. It is also unclear where the money Sicomines had earmarked for investments ended up.

“Where did they go, what did they finance?” he said, referring to Sicomines. “It’s on this basis that we should negotiate an agreement.”

The expert said his understanding was that the $7 billion would be paid out over 10 to 15 years, in a deal he said appeared highly unfavorable.

“We’re losing out on the Sicomines project,” he said. “For the Congo, this is catastrophic.” 
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NAIROBI, KENYA — The Nairobi High Court rejected a planned deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. 

The ruling on Friday by Judge Enock Chacha Mwita said Kenya could only deploy officers abroad if it had a “reciprocal arrangement” with the host government. It also ruled that only defense forces could be deployed, not security services.

Last year, the Nairobi court suspended the government’s plan to send 1,000 police officers to Haiti. 

Three petitioners, including opposition politician and constitutional lawyer Ekuru Aukot, brought the case, telling VOA at the time the proposed deployment was unconstitutional, an argument accepted by the court.

In October, the U.N. Security Council had approved a Kenya-led multinational security force aimed at helping to combat violent gangs in the troubled Caribbean nation.

Other African countries, including Chad, Senegal, Burundi, also have said they will add troops to the multinational force.

While many in Kenya have questioned their country’s lead role in this mission, some had been supportive of President William Ruto, who had said, “It’s a mission for humanity and … is of special significance and critical urgency” for Kenyans.”

Violence escalated in Haiti on Wednesday as a heavily armed gang surrounded a hospital in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Police later rescued the patients.

On Thursday, the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime warned of a “vicious cycle” of arms trafficking to increasingly powerful Haitian gangs, fueling an internal conflict and worsening violence across the Caribbean.

Also Thursday, Haitian Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Victor Geneus told the U.N. Security Council that gang violence in his country was as barbaric as the horrors experienced in war zones, and once again asked for an international force to intervene.

Gangs across Haiti have continued to grow more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and the number of kidnappings and killings keeps rising.
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