Berlin, 23 February 2010. The campaign alliance \u201c125th Anniversary of the Berlin Africa Conference: commemoration, reappraisal, reparation\u201d, consisting of more than 75 German organisations, is strongly supporting the demand of the Cameroonian Prince Kum\u2019a Ndumbe III of the government of the Free State of Bavaria to return one of the most important ritual objects of the coastal peoples of Cameroon \u2013 the Tangu\u00e9 \u2013 to the descendent of the rightful owner and to pay compensation for the time during which it has been appropriated. The Tangu\u00e9 of Lock Priso is the distinctive insignia of the Bele Bele people, who up until today are the custodians of the annual water ritual held during the gathering of the \u201cNGONDO\u201d, which is the highest authority of the coastal peoples. It does not belong in the permanent exhibition of the Munich Museum of Ethnology.<\/p>\n
The ship\u2019s ornament can be proven to have been looted by the then (provisional) Governor Dr Maximilian Buchner in 1884 during an attack on Hickory Town (today Bonab\u00e9ri) on the Cameroonian coast. In Aurora Colonialis. Bruchst\u00fccke eines Tagebuches aus dem ersten Beginn unserer Kolonialpolitik, 1884-1885 Munich 1914 (Aurora Colonialis. Fragments of a diary from the very beginning of our colonial politics 1884-1885), Buchner himself writes explicitly of the violent acquisition of the ritual object:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe house of Lock Priso is being torn down, a stirring, picturesque scene. We are setting everything on fire. Beforehand, however, I asked to be allowed to search through each of the houses for ethnological curiosities. My main prize is a large wood carving, an aristocratic boat ornament of Lock Priso, which should come to Munich.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prince Kum\u2019a Ndumbe III, university professor, writer and grandson of Lock Priso, from whom the Tangu\u00e9 was stolen, has been striving vigorously for decades for the return of the Tangu\u00e9. At the end of last year he publically issued the following statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cI, Prince Bele Bele, Kum, son of Ndumbe III, himself son of Kum\u2019a Mbape (Lock Priso), on this day 22 December 2009, 125 years after colonial and neo-colonial politics destroyed the structure of our society forever, ceremoniously announce: I demand that the German government return to me, my family and our people, the Tangu\u00e9 of my grandfather, Kum\u2019a Mbape, which was appropriated as spoils of war, and that in addition we are given appropriate compensation, as envisaged by the current international conventions. Long-lasting peace and reconciliation between nations and cultures can only be realised when fundamental injustices are righted through reparations.\u201d<\/p>\n
In view of the criminal circumstances of its \u201cacquisition\u201d 125 years ago and the official demands of Prince Kum\u2019a Ndumbe III for its return and compensation, it cannot be justified by any means to allow the Tangu\u00e9 to remain any longer in Munich. Our campaign alliance has written to the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer, urging him to immediately start proceedings to return the ritual object and to pay compensation to the heir of Lock Priso.
Further information:<\/b>http:\/\/www.berliner-afrika-konferenz.de\/kamerun<\/link>\n
Media contact:<\/b>
Christian Kopp, Berlin Postkolonial (Campaign spokesperson)
Tel.: 030 231 321 54
Email: presse@berliner-afrika-konferenz.de
presse@berliner-afrika-konferenz.de <\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berlin, 23 February 2010. The campaign alliance \u201c125th Anniversary of the Berlin Africa Conference: commemoration, reappraisal, reparation\u201d, consisting of more than 75 German organisations, is strongly supporting the demand of the Cameroonian Prince Kum\u2019a Ndumbe III of the government of the Free State of Bavaria to return one of the most important ritual objects of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-kolonialismus-und-dekolonisierung"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n