France returns stolen treasures to Burkina Faso: minister

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) — France has returned to Burkina Faso a haul of stolen archaeological treasures discovered in a northern French port, the Burkinabe culture minister told AFP Friday.

Filippe Sawadogo said 262 items of "national archaeological and cultural significance" to the landlocked west African nation were returned via the French embassy in Ouagadougou on Wednesday.

He praised the "perspicacity" of French customs officers at the French city of Rouen, on the River Seine, for the seizure in December 2007 of ancient ceramic, stone and bronze materials dating back to 1,300 BC.

Sawadogo said they had been stolen by a French couple, adding that France returning the pieces to Burkina Faso's national museum was "a sign of the good cooperation which should...