African nations want their stolen history back, and experts say it's time to speed up the process

Johannesburg — Much of Africa's cultural treasure was looted during colonial times and has remained in museums and private collections in Europe and North America ever since. For the last few decades, however, African nations have been asking for the stolen treasures to be returned.

Last week, 39 artifacts were formally handed back to the government of Uganda by Britain's famed University of Cambridge. While the return is technically a three-year loan between museums, it is extendable, and could see them remain in their country of origin.

Martin Mugarra, the minister of tourism, said that while many important artifacts remain overseas, it was still a significant return of cultural objects. In a social media post, he said the process to get the pieces back started in 2016 under the "rethinking Uganda Museum" project, in collaboration with the University of Michigan.