PARIS: France is ready to return five relics to Egypt if the Pharaonic antiquities at the Louvre Museum were indeed stolen, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said Wednesday.
Egypt is demanding that the Louvre hand over the decorative fragments from a tomb excavated in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor.
The minister said in a statement that he had convened a meeting for Friday of a special commission that is empowered to rule on restitution.
The minister is ready, if the commission were to issue a favorable ruling, to implement provisions of the UNESCO convention and restitute the relics to the Egyptian authorities without delay, said the culture ministry statement.
Egyptian Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told AFP in Cairo that the Paris museum had bought the antiquities in 1980 even though its curators knew they were stolen.
The culture ministry said the Louvre acted in good faith when it purchased the fragments in 2000 and 2003 and it was only in November 2008 after archeologists discovered the tomb that serious doubts were raised about their origin, said the culture ministry.
Egypt on Wednesday announced that it had severed ties with the Louvre over the restitution row. -AFP
