Following recent moves by European museums to return African art treasures to Nigeria, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced Wednesday that it is sending three objects back to the country. Two of the works, a pair of 16th-century Benin Court brass plaques of a Warrior
Bronze plaques depicting a junior court official (left) and warrior chief were removed from the Royal Palace of Benin in 1897 by the British military
Joining recent moves by European museums to return African art treasures to Nigeria, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced today that is sending three objects back to the country. Two of the works, a pair of 16th-century Benin Court brass plaques of a
Warrior Chief and
Junior Court Official, were donated to the museum in 1991 by the Modern art dealer Klaus Perls and his wife Dolly, while the third, a 14th-century
Ife Head, was recently offered to the museum for purchase by another collector.
30 years after declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, Somaliland can take pride in an impressive but not flawless democratisation record. Since 2002, the people of Somaliland have participated in six multi-party elections: three presidential elections (2003, 2010 and 2017) and two district council elections (2002 and 2012), but only one parliamentary (2005), and none for the House of Elders (
Guurti). At last, combined local council and parliamentary elections will take place on 31 May 2021, respectively four years and eleven years after they were due.
The repeated postponements of elections have at times caused political tensions and uncertainty. This has undermined Somaliland’s democratisation process, weakened public confidence in democracy, stalled institution-building and reforms, and damaged the country’s relationship with the international community.