Djidji Ayôkwé restored to Ebrié community as part of wider cultural repatriation efforts.

A sacred drum looted by French forces during colonial rule in Ivory Coast has been returned to the country more than a century after it was taken.

The drum was seized by colonial authorities in 1916 and transported to France in 1929, where it was displayed at the Trocadéro Museum and later at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.

Known as the Djidji Ayôkwé, the talking drum was welcomed home by members of the Ebrié community, its original owners. The drum measures more than three metres in length, weighs around 430 kilograms, and is carved from iroko wood.

Its return is part of a broader French effort to repatriate African cultural artifacts, a process that began in 2017.

The drum arrived on a specially chartered plane but remained in its large wooden crate marked fragile during transportation. A traditional dancer and a local chief were present at Abidjan International Airport to receive it.

A central piece of Ebrié heritage, the talking drum was traditionally used to warn of danger, mobilize people for war, and summon villagers to ceremonies. The Ebrié community is based in Abidjan, the largest city in Ivory Coast.

The drum was officially handed back on 20 February after the French parliament passed a special law authorizing its restitution. It is the first object on a list of 148 works that Ivory Coast is seeking to have returned from France and other countries.

France has previously returned Abomey royal treasures to Benin and a historic sabre to Senegal.

As requests from former colonies grow, France’s Senate adopted a framework law on 29 January to make it easier to remove colonial era artifacts from French national collections. The bill is expected to be discussed soon by the National Assembly.