It has been reported that Zahi Hawass, the famous Egyptian Egyptologist has announced his intention, with support of private individuals, to resume the struggle to recover looted major Egyptian artefacts or artefacts acquired under dubious, contested circumstances that are in Western museums. 

For the benefit of those who seem to think that the struggle to recover African artefacts in Western museums started only with the historical declaration by French President Emmanuel Macron at Ouagadougou on 28 November, 2017 or with the publication of the ground-breaking Sarr-Savoy report on 23 November 2018, we must mention that Zahi Hawass and others had started the quest long time ago.1

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Hawass is thus challenging three colonialist and imperialist powers that have been largely responsible for most of the looting of artefacts in the colonies. Dr. Hawass was able first as the Head of the Antiquities Department in Cairo and later, as Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs under President Hosni Mubarak, to secure the restitution of a considerable number of artefacts to Egypt. 

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Hawass is now returning to an international scene that is ,generally, more favourable to restitution than it was in 2011 and earlier when one faced opponents such as Neil McGregor, Philippe de Montebello and James Cuno, high priests of the so-called ‘universal museums’ who declared flatly that the looted artefacts in their museums have become part of the cultures of the countries in which they were located and thus barred the way to any general restitution and particularly formed a bullwark against restitution of the Parthenon Marbles, Nefertiti and Benin artefacts. 2The commission the French president set up issued ton 23 November 2018 a ground-breaking report entitled, Restitution of African Cultural Heritage. Toward a New Relational Ethics. The Sarr-Savoy report recommended massive restitutions to Africa. ... [Thus] arguments that used to be opposed to demands by Zahi Hawass for restitution of artefacts acquired under dubious circumstances from Egypt, can no longer be advanced with the same confidence as before. It would be interesting to see whether those who suggested that the Sarr-Savoy report should have been extended to cover Oceania and North Africa would now argue that the conclusions of that report should be confined to former French colonies in Africa. 

Zahi Hawass is coming back to an international scene where some are asking for a new international instrument on restitution. Some speak of a need for a new convention on cultural property and specifically on restitution. Others speak of principles of restitution similar to the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art (Washington Principles) 1998 for the compensation of holocaust victims of Nazi confiscations and looting. We note that usually those who do not want to fulfil their obligations often ask for new laws as if existing laws prevented them from doing what is right. Existing laws can be changed if there is a will for change. 

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  • 1. The list of Hawass includes nothing less than the bust of Nefertiti, now in Neues Museum, Berlin ,Germany, the Rosetta Stone in British Museum, London, United Kingdom, and the Dendera zodiac in Louvre Museum, Paris, France. Also, on the list of the Egyptian archaeologist are, the statue of Great Pyramid architect Hemiun in Hildesheim’s Pelizaeus Museum, the bust of Prince Ankhhaf in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and the statue of King Ramses II in the Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy.
  • 2. We have had the Ouagadougou Declaration from French President Macron that African artefacts should be returned to Africa within the next five years from the date of his speech on 28 November 2017.