France will return to Madagascar the skulls of King Toera and two warriors, who were beheaded by French troops in the early days of colonialism. The move, announced by the French prime minister, François Bayrou, marks the first decision of its kind under a new law governing the return of human remains, which was adopted in 2023.
During France's seizure of the Indian Ocean island in August 1897, while the king was negotiating his surrender, French soldiers massacred hundreds of natives in the village of Ambiky. The precise number of victims is still unknown. The severed heads of three leaders of the Sakalava Kingdom were sent to Paris's Natural History Museum where they have remained since 1899. Madagascar asked for their return in 2022.
A decree published on 2 April, which is based on the conclusions of a bilateral scientific committee, orders the French museum to repatriate the skulls to the island within a year.
Ceremonies celebrating the event, including a tour of the skulls around the country, are scheduled to take place August. They were initially planned to coincide with a visit of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in April, but were postponed after a large number of descendants of the King and tribal leaders protested, arguing that tradition forbids ceremonies during that month.
In a statement, Senator Catherine Morin-Desailly emphasised this was an overdue step following a protracted parliamentary battle that began in 2006, when New Zealand asked for the return of skulls of Maori chiefs. She noted that a bilateral committee is still working on a request from Australia for the return of the remains of hundreds of Indigenous peoples.
The senator also called for another law that would encompass the cases of people from French territories around the world (the 2023 law only covers requests made by a foreign state), and highlighted that parliament is still waiting for a framework bill facilitating the repatriation of colonial-era goods.
Meanwhile, on 28 April, the senate will examine a law authorising the return of a “talking drum”, which was requested by the Ivory Coast in 2022. The sacred instrument, decorated with a panther-lion mythical animal, was confiscated by French authorities because it warned villagers of the arrival of colonial troops taking men for forced labour.
