Cameroon and Germany have agreed to create a commission that will facilitate the restitution of artifacts that were removed from the Central African country during the colonial era, visiting German Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Simen Katja Keul said Wednesday.

“Now we have a procedure, we have a commission, and they are in direct dialogue with our museums and this is very important because this way we can handle this process,” Keul told reporters in Yaounde, capital of Cameroon, after meeting with Minister of Arts and Culture Ismael Bidoung Kpwatt.

“According to Cameroon constitution, negotiations for the return of cultural goods illegally exported is a matter of the state and not that of individuals,” Cameroon’s Ministry of Arts and Culture said in a statement after the meeting. “That is why an interministerial committee which comprises members of the concerned communities, experts from different ministerial departments and in other fields was put in place.”

“The German government is therefore expected to consult the committee for anything touching the restitution of these goods and not to go directly to the individuals or communities,” the statement said.

Major museums, auction houses and private collectors in Germany have faced growing pressure in recent years to repatriate priceless works of art and other antiquities from African nations.

Source: Xinhuanet