. Chief Ne Kuko | Open Restitution Africa

A chief, whose village was pillaged and burned by Belgians demanded return of a wooden statue that belonged to Ne Kuko, one of the ‘nine great chiefs of Boma’ in the west of nowadays DR Congo. The statue was brought to Belgium in 1883 by its ‘collector’, Belgian officer Alexandre Delcommune, where it entered the collection of the Royal Museum of Central Africa. When chief Ne Kuko demanded the return of the statue from Delcommune, the latter insisted that the statue belonged to him as ‘booty’. Delcommune agreed to negotiate a ransom at a later date which never took place.

A chief, whose village was pillaged and burned by Belgians demanded return of a wooden statue that belonged to Ne Kuko, one of the ‘nine great chiefs of Boma’ in the west of nowadays DR Congo. The statue was brought to Belgium in 1883 by its ‘collector’, Belgian officer Alexandre Delcommune, where it entered the collection of the Royal Museum of Central Africa. When chief Ne Kuko demanded the return of the statue from Delcommune, the latter insisted that the statue belonged to him as ‘booty’. Delcommune agreed to negotiate a ransom at a later date which never took place.

Chief Ne Kuko

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