Washington:

A US museum has returned a collection of royal costumes looted by British colonial soldiers 150 years ago to Ghana, marking the West African country’s first large-scale return of stolen artifacts.

The UCLA Fowler Museum said the items were royal items from the Asante Kingdom, purchased by an American collector and donated to the museum after his death.

Museum representatives handed them over to Asante King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on Thursday in Kumasi city.

The move comes amid growing demand for the return of priceless items appropriated during the colonial period. Nigeria and Ethiopia are among a number of countries seeking repatriation.

However, some museums say the law prevents them from permanently returning controversial items in their collections.

The British Museum in London and the Victoria and Albert Museum said last month they would loan 32 artifacts captured during the Anglo-Asante Wars to the Manhya Palace Museum in Kumasi.

Items returned to the Fowler Museum include an elephant tail whisk, two royal stool ornaments, a royal necklace, two strands of beads and an ornamental chair.

The museum said four of the pieces were taken during the sack of Kumasi in 1874 and three were part of compensation later paid to Britain by the Asante Kingdom.

“These objects connect the present to the past… This is the essence of civilization,” Ivor Agyemang Duah, director of the Asante Royal Museum, told Reuters.

“fair rights”

The Fowler Museum said the return is permanent and voluntary as it shifts the museum’s role as a custodian with “an ethical responsibility to its community of origin.”

Kwaku Darko Ankrah, a historian at the University of Ghana, said the repatriation was important to Ghana, but said he hoped it would also spark a conversation about how the Asante people acquired the objects.

“Plunder was also a feature of the Asante people during their period of supremacy, and historical evidence shows that they looted from other tribes they fought against (across Ghana),” he said.

Ankra hopes to identify the returned items and find their original owners.

“They (original owners) also have fair rights to these items. If they are not identifiable but the Asante people agree that they are looted treasures, then these artifacts should become Ghana’s national treasures,” he said.

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