Overview

• President Andry Rajoelina led a state ceremony at Antananarivo’s mausoleum after the remains arrived Monday night.
• The skulls are being taken by road to Belo Tsiribihina on the west coast for burial later this week.
• One skull is presumed to be that of King Toera, who was decapitated during the 1897 Ambiky massacre.
• The remains had been kept at Paris’s Muséum national d’histoire naturelle and were formally handed over in a ceremony in the French capital last week.
• The return has rekindled disputes among some of King Toera’s descendants over custody and ceremonial protocol, according to local reporting.