France gives back three looted human skulls to Madagascar

(MENAFN) France has returned three human skulls to Madagascar that were looted during the colonial period and kept in a Paris museum for over a century. Among the remains handed over during a ceremony hosted by the French Culture Ministry on Tuesday was a skull believed to belong to Malagasy King Toera.

King Toera, who led the Menabe kingdom and the Sakalava ethnic group, was killed and decapitated in August 1897 when French forces captured Ambiky, the regional capital in western Madagascar, as part of a campaign to strengthen colonial control. His skull was taken to Paris, where it remained for 128 years in the archives of the National Museum of Natural History.

“At the request of Madagascar, we are returning 3 Sakalava skulls, including the one presumed to be that of King Toera,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati posted on X, describing the event as a “historic moment for France and Madagascar.”

“These skulls entered the national collections in circumstances that clearly violated human dignity and in a context of colonial violence,” Dati also said at the ceremony.

Madagascan Culture Minister Volamiranty Donna Mara praised the repatriation as a “significant gesture,” noting that their absence had been “an open wound in the heart of our island.”

The ceremony represents the first return of human remains since France enacted a 2023 law to facilitate such restitutions and fulfills a promise made by French President Emmanuel Macron during his April visit to Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, Dati said. During that visit, Macron reportedly spoke of seeking “forgiveness” for France’s “bloody and tragic” colonization of Madagascar, which gained independence in 1960.

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