Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The Royal Belgian Museum of Central Africa (AfricaMuseum) has announced the signing of the Dakar Declaration, which aims to strengthen partnerships between museums in Africa and Europe, the museum announced in a press release. African and European museums in an international forum at the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, Senegal. The aim of this first edition was to create a network to implement a multilateral partnership program between African and European museums.
Convinced that museums play a major role in promoting peace and mutual understanding, we jointly commit to building and strengthening partnerships in order to meet contemporary challenges and to pass on the spirit of mutual trust and respect to future generations.
The AfricaMuseum in Brussels was one of the museums organizing the conference. A partnership has already been established between the museum and the Museum of Black Civilizations. “Both museums are pooling their expertise and resources to launch new cultural and scientific projects,” explains Bart Overy, Director of the AfricaMuseum since March.

The AfricaMuseum has been on a long journey to come to terms with its turbulent colonial past. Long considered Europe's last colonial museum, it reopened in 2018 with a revamped collection that sought to shed its colonial image. Today, the museum continues to grapple with sensitive issues such as the handling of the looted artwork and human remains in its collection.