Overview
- The remains were handed to Malagasy representatives at a ceremony in Paris led by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati.
- A joint Malagasy–French scientific committee confirmed the skulls are Sakalava and said the attribution to King Toera is presumed rather than proven.
- The skulls were taken after French forces beheaded Sakalava leaders during an 1897 massacre in Ambiki and were later held in Paris’s National Museum of Natural History.
- Malagasy officials hailed the return as closing a 128-year wound and outlined plans for ritual transport and reburial at the end of August in line with local customs.
- The move fits into President Emmanuel Macron’s broader restitution agenda, with a separate bill under consideration to ease returns of colonial-era objects taken under duress.