[MSN] State to return Kenyan artifact to its rightful owners in Africa

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State to return Kenyan artifact to its rightful owners in Africa

by Demetrius Patterson, Chicago Defender
September 4, 2006

A stolen African artifact from the country of Kenya will be returned to 
its rightful owners in about week and half by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.

Blagojevich announced Sunday at the African Festival of the Arts that a 
Kenyan memorial post, on display as an exhibit at the Illinois State 
Museum, had been stolen from a family in that African country prior to 
being sold to the state, the governor's spokesman Gerardo Cardenas told 
the Defender.

"The state museum bought the artifact but didn't know it had been 
stolen. But they found out and told the governor, and the governor wrote 
a letter to Suleiman Rashid Shakombo, Kenya's Minister of State for 
National Heritage," said Cardenas.

"The governor made it very clear when he addressed the crowd at the 
heritage festival that hey, 'this belongs to you.' This belongs to the 
rich African heritage, and it should go back to the family."

Shakombo is scheduled to fly into Illinois and pick up the artifact from 
Blagojevich on Sept. 13.

The memorial post -which stands about three feet tall and has various 
ceremonial carvings in it - was acquired by Illinois State University 
between December of 2001 and January of 2002, and eventually given over 
to the Illinois State Museum.

"According to documentation provided to the Illinois State Museum, the 
post was stolen from the Mwakiru family prior to its acquisition by 
Illinois State University, and long before its transfer from the 
university to the Illinois State Museum," Blagojevich said in a news 
statement.  "I commend the Illinois State Museum for reviewing the facts 
and taking the appropriate action to return this memorial post to the 
National Museums of Kenya to return to the family."

Cardenas said state officials don't know who sold the artifact to 
Illinois State University, or who stole the artifact from the Kenyan family.

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