In the inauguration speech, Hamady Bocoum, MCN director, recalls that China was the main backer of the project, providing a 30 million euros funding boost, "I would like to say that the construction of this museum was a gift from the People's Republic of China. So, I would like to ask the Minister to be my messenger to express my gratitude and the gratitude of the Senegalese people to President Xi Jinping". Shugang Luo, the Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism, responded saying that "the museum represents not only the symbol of Senegal's status as a great cultural country of Africa but also the symbol of the Sino-Senegalese strategic and global cooperation partnership".

The massive 14,000 square meters complex celebrating African continent history draws its architectural inspiration from the inner atriums of the homes in the Casamance region in the south of Senegal and from the Great Zimbabwe kingdom. The MCN has room for 18,000 artworks, and many galleries are not filled. This is why Macky Sall, the Senegalese president officially requested the large-scale return of its looted objects from France. Mame Magatte Sène Thiaw, historian and PR manager of the MCN, is affirmative, "In practical terms, the Museum of Black Civilisations is ready for the restitution with reserves and galleries respecting international standards and a well-trained staff".

Starting from the colonization of Africa, 90% of all Sub-Saharan Africa's "treasures" were transported outside of the continent and displayed. Some were taken there by illegal means others were bought by collectors often at a price way below the market. In recent years, the debate as to whether or not to return the art stolen has been very present in France and was boosted in 2017, when French President Emmanuel Macron gave his first speech in Africa, at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In the discourse, he claimed: "I cannot accept that a large share of several African countries' cultural heritage is kept in France. There are historical explanations for it, but there is no valid, lasting and unconditional justification. African heritage cannot solely exist in private collections and European museums. African heritage must be showcased in Paris but also in Dakar, Lagos and Cotonou; this will be one of my priorities. Within five years, I want the conditions to exist for the temporary or permanent return of African heritage to Africa". Since then, the debate of whether or not to return the art has been open.

While the commonly discussed arguments for returning the art or not have been concentrating on the practical challenges and on the moral and ethical premises, very few commentators have tackled the political reasons for France's restitution of the art. According to French lawyer, Corinne Hershkovitch, specialised in cultural property, "It is also, and foremost a geopolitical topic". Indeed, for almost 60 years, the French government didn't seem to be willing to give back the art that museums and collectors in France had gathered illegally. Now, the political context has changed and so has France's position on the matter.

France's African colonies officially gained their independence between 1958 and 1977. Allowing this was France's only viable option to appease the unrest and the then widespread movements in Africa protesting and demanding independence. Granting them independence was the best way to maintain an uncontested and peaceful sphere of influence in Africa, even though the colonies were now nominally independent. Cooperation Accords were settled to maintain close ties with newly young nations. Nonetheless, development cooperation between France and its former colonies has always been controversial and opaque. According to the journalist Kaye Whiteman, Jacques Foccart, France's chief adviser of African policy from 1960 until 1974, was the "machine minder" of this "Françafrique" system in which every dirty trick and underhanded practice (organizing coups, suppressing opponents, knighting dictators) was tolerated in order to preserve France's interest in Africa. Another example is the "exclusive monopoly rights to natural resources" several French-African agreements gave France, as mentioned in the United States diplomatic cables leak many years later.

After the independence though, African citizens began realising that France was still exercising a high influence on its former colonies through means that were not necessarily military. In 1981, Tamar Golan denounced: "two decades after independence, this 'special relationship' is still alive, accepted by and acceptable to both France and the francophones", referring to the influence that France still has in Africa.

It is due to this realisation that a general sense of resentment towards France in Africa's francophone countries persisted. Even though perhaps to a lesser extent and not through hard power but through economic and cultural means, this sphere of influence still exists to this day. In fact, while France claims to be one of its former colonies' closest allies, not all African citizens might see it the same way. According to the Cian Barometer, only 21% of the respondents to the question "what are the three non-African countries you have the best image of?" mentioned France. The difference in percentage is significant compared to other countries African people have a better image of. France is down in fifth place, preceded by Germany, China, United States and Japan, countries mentioned respectively by 45%, 37%, 34% and 34%.

A study requested by the French government in 2016 showed that France's image in francophone African countries is deteriorating, particularly in Cameroon, Gabon, Chad and Ivory Coast. Commentators have linked the result with France's high sphere of influence in Francophone countries, often seen as a new form of colonization and the cause of all forms in instability. Additionally, there are many criticisms towards the CFA Franc still used in fourteen former colonies. This currency inherited from the colonial time is pegged to the euro and mostly monitored by France, which prevents the user from gaining economic independence from France. Furthermore, the largest economies in the continent are mainly English-speaking countries, which gives francophone countries the impression that France is responsible for their less successful economies.

The non-restitution of African art after the end of the colonization period, because of France's high influence, adds fuel to the fire of criticisms towards "Françafrique" system. In an interview given to the French newspaper Le Monde, Achille Mbembe, Cameroonian philosopher, explains that the return of African art is necessary to do justice and to restore dignity to the African people.

Since their independence, the African countries that were once French colonies began opening up to new relations with other states. In recent years, the relations with countries such as Germany, the UK and the USA intensified. In 2017, Berlin was the EU's leading exporter to Africa, with exports worth 8.3 billion euros, followed by France and Belgium, with exports of 5.6 million and under 4 million euros in values, according to Eurostat. In the same year, under the German G20 Presidency, the "Compact with Africa" initiative was launched to promote private investment in the continent, including infrastructure projects.

On top of this, in late January 2019, Germany announced the intention of enhancing the partnership with six African countries after BMZ (Germany's Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development) and the World Bank Group had already signed the Joint Declaration of Intent at the Africa Investment Summit in Berlin in late 2018. The aim of these investments in Tunisia, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal is to increase private capital flows in Africa and create job opportunities. It comes to no surprise that having more partners and allies, also means that African former colonies now have more states to turn to other than France for aid, investment and opportunities. This means that since their official independence, francophone African countries have developed partnerships that allowed them to increasingly gain actual economic independence from France.

The relationship between France and its former colonies resembles, to some extent, the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. Like francophone African countries during colonialism were controlled by the French empire, during the Soviet period, the territory of Ukraine was heavily influenced by what we now know as Russia. Of course, the historical and social contexts in which Ukraine obtained its independence were different, i.e. the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, similarly to the process leading to an increase in the economic independence of African former colonies, Ukraine started growing closer to European countries and the EU, distancing itself from Russia and its influence. By distancing itself from Russia and developing relationships with other countries, Ukraine ensured a more balanced and equal relationship with Russia.

An example of that is Russia's annexation of Crimea. According to Monika Eriksen, the decision to take this military action in 2014, was the result of a Russia's Realpolitik doctrine to coerce Crimea into stopping from turning more and more towards a partnership with Europe. However, even though the territory has not been re-claimed by Ukraine, the country received support by the international community, including Europe, the UN and the US, that imposed heavy sanctions on Russia. A more balanced relationship between Ukraine and Russia also equals to more power during negotiations on Ukraine's side, because the state has the option of turning to other allies for support and is no longer entirely dependent on Russia as it was during the Soviet period.

While the comparison between the annexation of Crimea and a seemingly mere debate concerning the return of the art stolen during colonization may seem far-fetched, the cases are similar. Both are in fact part of Realpolitik strategic attempts by Russia and France to maintain a sphere of influence in the states they once controlled and that are now threatened by the changing global context. The former adopted a more violent and direct strategy that involved the use of hard power. The latter is using a subtler strategy aimed at restoring its image in Africa, that, as earlier mentioned, represents part of an attempt to maintain influence over the African former colonies. Will Rea confirms this by claiming that "Macron is using the art of former French colonies as a part of his strategy in developing French influence in Africa".

Another similarity between the case of Ukraine and francophone African countries is that like Ukraine, since their independence, African countries have developed several other partnerships with countries beyond France. Like in the case of Ukraine, this ensured a more balanced relationship between the colonies, which means that francophone African countries have more power during negotiations with France. As French Lawyer Corinne Hershovitch puts it, "African countries are indeed gaining power on the international scene". It is partly thanks to this, together with the fact that France is planning to restore its image in Africa in order to maintain a sphere of influence in the continent, that several francophone African countries have recently demanded their stolen art to be returned and France has complied with the request.

They can especially count on Unesco to help them with that. According to Casper Andersen, professor at Aarhus University and expert in History of Ideas, decolonization in Africa and the role of UNESCO, if African countries unite with the UN institution specialized in cultural issues, they could have more leverage in the negotiations with former colonial states. On 1 June 2018, a conference was organised at the Unesco headquarter in Paris to demand the art to be restituted. Already in 1970, the UNESCO convention on "the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property" was passed to ensure the return of the art stolen during colonization. But apparently, at that time, it was not sufficient enough for France to do so.

The factors that are playing in favour of the return of the art in Africa are both an increased negotiating power ensured by more equal relationships between African states and France, as well as a willingness on France's side to actually return the art as part of a broader strategy to restore its image in Africa to maintain influence in the region. So far, few francophone African countries have demanded the return of the looted art. Benin has requested the return of 5,000 to 6,000 pieces of art, Senegal demands the restitution of around 10,000 pieces whilst the Ivory Coast wants around 20,000 pieces back.

On top of the deepened partnerships that we've mentioned, African countries have recently also begun to see China as their new "best friend". Today, China is seen by respondents in West Africa as the "non-African country with the best image" according to a 2019 CIAN survey, with France only in 5^th place. It is likely that the main reason this, is that China has been making significant investments in the continent. In 2016, it was the top investor in Africa by capital investment according to a study conducted by Financial Times. In that year, the country invested $36 billion, meaning that Beijing's investments alone accounted for 39% of the total investment in Africa. Investing in 62 active projects in Africa, China created close to 40,000 jobs. Two years later, at the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to almost double the 2016 investment capital, promising to invest $60 billion in loans, grants and development financing to enhance cooperation between the Asian and African territories and to create opportunities.

Part of these investments was directed to the development of infrastructure projects linked to the art stolen from Africa during colonization, such as the MCN in Dakar, Senegal. Beijing invested 30 million euros to develop the project of the museum. Mame Magatte Sène Thiaw, MCN press officer, explained: "Chinese cooperation has been omnipresent from beginning to end in the construction of the building with the collaboration of multidisciplinary Senegalese experts (…). In addition to the construction, Chinese cooperation also accompanied the Museum in the electronic equipment".

It is important to question why China would invest such large amounts of money in Africa. China in fact, has been investing in infrastructure in Africa a larger sum of funds than the African Development Bank, the EU, the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank and the G8 combined. In 2018, ten new infrastructure projects were funded by China in Africa, which included a brand-new city in Egypt, railway systems in Kenya, Ethiopia, Angola, Nigeria and Djibouti, a new parliament in Zimbabwe, an oil refinery in Nigeria and a cement factory in Zambia. The establishment of these projects is part of the Belt and Road in initiative, a Chinese-led grand scale project supposedly launched to increase connections and cooperation between states. There is another side to that coin though, and it is that China will make significant gains from it too. The country intends to grant loans and fund projects with three main aims. It is true that the infrastructure projects in Africa will create business and employment opportunities, but China is also seeking to make profits out of the initiatives. According to Yiwei Wang, Senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, "It's not just about the infrastructures per se, it's about industries, about connecting each other through trade, logistics, finance, tourism. All this benefits China and Africa". Even more importantly, China is seeking to increase its sphere of influence in Africa and it is doing so, better than France has been doing so far.

Creating opportunities locally by funding infrastructure projects, is an effective way to create footholds to exercise influence in the region. Firstly, from a financial standpoint, China will be grant funds that most African countries are not able to pay back, meaning that they are increasingly becoming dependent on China. At the same time, China is creating employment spaces inevitably improves its image in the region, as demonstrated by the fact that 81% of the respondents of the Barometer CIAN survey consider China to be Africa's most beneficial partner and only 53% see France as the most beneficial.

Moreover, infrastructure projects are not the only way China is increasing its sphere of influence. Chinese presence in Africa is also present in the multiplication of Confucius institutes in the continent, Chinese TV channels are increasingly competing with French channels and African people tend to buy Asian products, mostly from China, over French products due to significant differences in prices. Chinese universities are also hosting more and more African students every year. On top of this, all African countries except for eSwatini have expressed solidarity for China during the Taiwan-China tensions, and some of them actively broke relations with Taiwan in support of China. There is no doubt then that China is increasing its influence and presence in Africa, creating a "Chinafrica" dynamic. This is having an impact on France, whose image in the continent is not as positive as China's. Part of the Chinese strategy to maintain and increase influence in Africa is to make sure it is seen as a "provider" of wealth and opportunity by African citizens. This will ensure that its presence is welcomed in the region, to the loss of France. That is why Paris has developed a desire to contain China's growing influence in Africa. Will Rea confirms the claim: "the decision to return the art was taken to counter the developing influence of China in Africa".

This intention to contain China in Africa can be explained with a comparison with the case of the bipolar system established between the US and the Soviet Union after WWII. The two regions emerged as the world's superpowers wrestling to impose their spheres of interests and influence upon other states. After the war, the US was seeking to maintain a close relationship with Western Europe, while the Soviet Union's political ideology was attracting more and more supporters from Western Europe. To maintain its influence in the European region, the US intervened to reaffirm the Western political order and to contain the 'threat' of communism. The Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan that consisted of $13 billion in aid to Europe to stabilise the region's economy and to keep Western Europe on the US' side. In the same way, France was its former colonies' main partner starting from their independence until 1995, as an investor, trading and development ally and security interventionist. With African countries growing closer to China, France has been losing its privileges and is now seeking to gain them back by wanting to contain the Chinese influence in the continent. Returning the art stolen from France's former colonies is part of a strategy to restore the image of France in Africa and stop it from increasingly turning towards China.

To some extent Beijing is interfering in the Africa-France relations, by funding the MCN which is expected to host some works that would come back to Senegal. In response, the presence of Jean-Marc Ayrault, former Prime Minister of France under François Hollande, at the inauguration of the MCN could be interpreted as France's way to inform its will not to be left out of the picture. Because not only did a high-end Chinese delegation attend the opening of the MCN, also Chinese cultural heritage travelled to Senegal. About 20 masks and costumes from an ethnic museum of Guizhou province were featured at the exhibition for the opening ceremony. When asked about French former Prime Minister's attendance at the opening of the museum, PR woman Mame Magatte Sène Thiaw, assured "As president of the foundation for the memory of slavery, it seems to me that legitimate given the importance of slavery in black people's history and identity. I know, however, that his (Jean-Marc Ayrault) presence honored us and that his Excellency Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal, quoted him at the beginning of his speech. France has always been a privileged partner of Senegal".

While returning the stolen African art puts France in a positive light and French officials give reasons linked to history and morality for the recently-found willingness to do so, those are not necessarily accurate justifications. As African Art History expert, Will Rea, senior lecturer at the University of Leeds puts it, "very little of this has to do with some sort of paternalistic ambition to return the cultural treasures of France". Considering that it has been for over half a century that France has been retaining the art and is only now planning to return it, the timing seems suspicious. In fact, the truth lying behind these actions is linked to the image of France in Africa. What France has been trying to do is restore its image in its former colonies in an attempt to keep them close and to maintain a sphere of influence that is on the way of dissipation.

Returning Africa's looted treasures represents part of a strategy to achieve the goal of improving African citizens' opinion of the country. The fact that the art has not yet been returned is also a factor feeding into the resentment that African citizens have developed towards France so repatriating the treasures would not only serve the country's strategy, but it would also appease this resentment. Of course, this is only a fraction of the broader strategy of restoration of Paris' image. The return of the art is not the only action taken in this direction. Macron has in fact supported the Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo to become Secretary-general of the International Organization of the Francophonie, showed an openness to the "modernisation" of the Franc CFA and publicly recognised France's colonial past as a "crime against humanity".

According to the journalist, Antoine Glaser, expert in French-African relations, Emmanuel Macron is doing 'Realpolitik' in Africa. He realized that the continent was globalised, and this is way out of the traditional "Françafrique". He calls this new paradigm "Africafrance" meaning France is no longer dealing directly in African affairs but rather interested in keeping good relations with francophone African states to retain some influence in the region.

After the speech in Ouagadougou in 2017, President Macron has seemed to be following through with the commitments taken. In 2018, he commissioned a Senegalese scholar, Felwine Saar, and a French art historian, Bénédicte Foy, to write a detailed report on the restitution of the African patrimony, requesting them to lay out what are exactly all the pieces of art that should be returned and where they should be returned. Weeks later, Macron returned 26 pieces of art to Benin. Long-term plans to return more of the art are already in place as well. It should be just a matter of time before MCN's numerous galleries are completely full.