Mozambique has launched a national campaign to recover cultural artifacts taken during the colonial period, with authorities pledging to intensify efforts to trace and repatriate hundreds of stolen historical items currently held in foreign museums and institutions.
Speaking during Africa Day celebrations in Maputo on Sunday, Minister of Education and Culture Samaria Tovela described the restitution process as an essential path toward cultural restoration and historical redress. The government estimates that over 800 cultural objects were removed without consent during colonial rule, many of which remain abroad.
“These acts of cultural dispossession did not just rob Mozambique of objects—they stripped communities of memory and identity,” Tovela said. “Our commitment to reparations must be both symbolic and tangible, and that begins with reclaiming what rightfully belongs to us.”
This year’s Africa Day observance, held under the theme “Justice for Africans and for persons of African descent through reparations,” spotlighted growing continental calls for historical accountability and the return of cultural property.
Tovela stressed the importance of national coordination and open dialogue on restitution, noting that Mozambique is positioning itself to take part in broader continental debates on how African nations can reclaim heritage lost to colonial exploitation.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Maria Manuela Lucas added that the process of historical reparations demands a nuanced, multilateral approach. “We cannot ignore the human and ecological toll of colonialism—forced displacements, arbitrary detentions, systemic violence, and cultural looting are legacies that must be addressed with care and collaboration,” Lucas said.
Her remarks come amid increasing momentum across the continent for Western institutions to return artifacts acquired under colonial rule, a subject that has gained global attention in recent years.
Also addressing the gathering, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ambassador to Mozambique, Antoine Kola Masala Ne Beby, called for a collective reckoning with the past. “Africa is the cradle of humanity and the engine of global hope,” he said. “Justice through reparations is not only about the past—it is about building a future anchored in dignity and mutual respect.”
Mozambique’s initiative is part of a wider African push to assert ownership over stolen cultural treasures, many of which are held in European institutions that have yet to return them. For officials in Maputo, the recovery effort is not merely a bureaucratic process—it is a form of cultural reawakening and a bold statement of sovereignty.