By Loucoumane Coulibaly
ABIDJAN, March 13 (Reuters) - Traditional chiefs wearing crowns and gold chains gathered at Ivory Coast's main airport on Friday to welcome the return of a "talking drum" looted more than a century ago, the first artifact returned to the West African country by former colonial power France.
The drum - known as "Djidji Ayokwè", meaning Panther-Lion in the Atchan language - is more than three metres long and weighs nearly 400 kg, according to Ivory Coast's culture ministry.
It was used by the Atchan people, native to southern Ivory Coast, to alert locals to forced labour operations being carried out by colonizers and to mobilize fighters.
The Ivorian culture ministry is seeking the restitution of 148 artifacts from France, and the talking drum, previously displayed at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, is the first to make the return journey.
Confiscated in 1916, the talking drum was initially kept at the governor's palace in Abidjan before being sent to France in 1930, according to the culture ministry.
"This is a historic day, and I am deeply moved," Françoise Remarck, Ivory Coast's minister of culture and Francophonie, said during Friday's ceremony, punctuated by traditional songs and war dances.
Pressure has grown in recent years for former colonial powers such as France and Britain to return artefacts taken from Africa and Asia.
Donning a traditional loincloth, Gervais Djoman, chief of an Atchan village, told Reuters on Friday that the return of the talking drum was a source of joy and pride for the Atchan people."We are reclaiming our identity. Psychologically, something had been taken from us," he said.
(Reporting and writing by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet)
