[CPProt.net] Kenya to reclaim stolen artefacts

[Ton Cremers]

Kenya to reclaim stolen artefacts

NAIROBI, January 09 -- Kenya is in the process of identifying several 
artefacts smuggled out of the country in the late 1970s and early 
1980s in a bid to bring them back, senior curator of the National 
Museums of Kenya, Abdalla Ali Allausy, said here Sunday.

"We have already set up a working group to identify where our stolen 
national heritage are being kept so that we can bring them back to 
our own museums," the official, who is in charge of the Kenyan coast-
based Gedi ruins museum, said at the opening of an art exhibition at 
the museum. 

Renowned Kenyan sculptor, Armando Tanzini, is conducting the 
exhibition on the theme "Do Not Forget Africa," featuring artworks 
made from local materials by at least 20 Kenyan artists. 

Said Allausy: "Since we are the custodians of cultural heritage in 
this country, we are trying our best to ensure that all those 
artefacts and other cultural antiques that were exported to other 
countries are brought back." 

The curator said the National Museums of Kenya was working in 
collaboration with other government agencies to ensure that no 
tourist leaves the country with any traditional/cultural antiquities. 


"In fact, we are trying to enforce Chapters 215 and 216 of the Laws 
of Kenya, which deal with antiques and national monuments so as to 
strengthen them to ensure nobody leaves this country with any 
artefacts to another country," he said. - angop