Andrew Reid interviewed on restitution of African Artifacts
5 April 2018
![Andrew Reid Andrew Reid](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/sites/archaeology/files/styles/large_image/public/Reid320px.jpg?itok=ubnpQl_7)
During a visit by the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, to France last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he had appointed two experts to make plans for the repatriation of African artifacts held in French museums, having previously stated that 'African heritage cannot be a prisoner of European museums.'
According to Andrew the return of artifacts could be a form of soft diplomacy and an attempt to 'generate political good will' in a region where China's influence is rising.
Andrew is currently Senior Lecturer at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and undertakes research on the later archaeology of eastern and southern Africa as well as the Archaeology of African and European contact.