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Geopolitics

Suspected “French Connection” In Bo Xilai Affair Arrested

Worldcrunch

LE FIGARO, LE MONDE, AFP (France)

After weeks of relative silence, the Bo Xilai affair that has shaken China's highest echelons of power has taken a new turn with the arrest of a French architect known to have close connections to the disgraced politician and his jailed wife.

A spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Phnom Penh confirmed Patrick Devillers was arrested on Tuesday, French daily Le Figaro reported. Agence-France Presse later reported that Cambodian police said the arrest was carried out with the cooperation of Chinese authorities, who are seeking Devillers' extradition.

Bo, the former leader of the southwestern Chinese region of Chongqing who'd appeared destined for a top position in the Communist party ranks, is being investigated for corruption allegations, while his wife, Gu Kailai, has been arrested for suspected involvement in last year's murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.

Press reports in China had delved into possible connections between Devillers, 52, and the business dealings of Heywood. In an extensive interview last month with Le Monde that took place in a hotel in Phnom Penh, Devillers denied any involvement with corruption or foul play, yet he spoke openly about his many interactions with Bo. The Frenchman worked in the department of architecture and urban affairs of Dalian, the city where Bo had became China's youngest big-city mayor. "In his eyes, I was a sort of artist," Devillers said of the rising politician.

Of the slain Heywood, Devillers said the two had been connected in the 1990s in large part because they were both married to Chinese women. "He had a grand nobility," he recalled, "in the best English tradition of honor."

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Society

Returner's Remorse? Why Germany Is Worried About The Benin Bronzes

Germany is returning looted Benin bronzes back to Nigeria. But there are now concerns that they will now disappear into private ownership or that they will be threatened with damage or loss

A close up of the face of a Benin bronze

Commemorative head of a king (Benin bronze) during the ceremony for the return of the Benin bronzes to Nigeria in Abuja

Matthias Buses

-Analysis-

BERLIN — It was supposed to be the world's most extensive repatriation of looted colonial property: the transfer of ownership of some 1,130 Benin bronzes from 20 German ethnological collections to the Nigerian government.

But there has been a great deal of agitation since it was revealed that Ewuare II, the current Oba of Benin, or traditional ruler of Nigeria's Edo State, was appointed the owner and administrator of the first 22 Benin bronzes returned by Germany to the Nigerian state — and for all other old Benin treasures returning to the country.

This was the decision of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, published as a decree in the official gazette number 57 of March 28, 2023.

For weeks now, people in Germany have been puzzling over the meaning and consequences of the presidential decree.

Their fear: will important cultural assets disappear into private chambers instead of being shown to the people of Africa?

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