The United States has condemned in a strongly worded statement the nomination of notorious former Liberian warlord Prince Johnson to a top defence post and said it would not have any “relationship” with him in his new job.

Johnson, a brutal figure in Liberia’s first civil war from 1989-1997, was elected head of the Liberian Senate Committee on Defense and Intelligence on Tuesday.

A failed presidential candidate and a Senator, the 68-year-old sent shockwaves around the world for brutality after a video showed him calmly sipping beer while his men tortured former president Samuel Doe to death in 1990.

Johnson is accused of war crimes, mass killings and torture but has never been brought to justice.

The United States, a traditional ally of Liberia — Africa’s oldest republic founded by freed US slaves — published a trenchant statement on Wednesday evening slamming Johnson’s appointment.

“Senator Johnson’s gross human rights violations during Liberia’s civil wars are well-documented; his continued efforts to protect himself from accountability, enrich his own coffers and sow division are also well known,” the US embassy in Monrovia said in a statement.

“That the Liberian Senate would see fit to elevate him to a leadership role – particularly in the area in which he has done this country the most harm – creates doubts as to the seriousness of the Senate as a steward of Liberia’s defense and security.”

The embassy said Washington’s “longstanding partnership with the Ministry of National Defense and Armed Forces of Liberia… will continue – but we can have no relationship with Senator Johnson.”

Like many other museums around the world, the Theodore-Monod museum of art in Dakar reopened this week after over a year of pandemic-induced closure with a “new vision” and works of art returning to the continent after years.

Visitors will find improvements as well as additions to the already extensive collection.

Built in the early 1930s, the building housed the French Institute for Black Africa — since re-named the Fundamental Institute for Black Africa (IFAN) — before being converted to a museum in 1960 and named for French scientist and explorer Theodore Monod in 2007.

But the current exhibit celebrates Senegalese figure Amadou-Mahtar Mbow, the first African director of UNESCO, who turned 100 years old on Thursday.

During his tenure as UNESCO chief, Mbow penned “A Plea for the Return of an Irreplaceable Cultural Heritage to those who Created It” in 1978, in which he asked that member states take measures “for the return of cultural property to the countries from which it has been taken”.

• ‘Unparalleled in Africa’ –

Curator El Hadji Malick Ndiaye describes the collection at the Theodore Monod Museum “unparalleled in Africa”.

Some of the works were acquired in the 19th century and with IFAN researchers later adding art they collected in the context of their studies: figurines, masks, vessels, cloth, ornamental or live weapons of wood, metal, earth or leather, mainly from West Africa or the Sahel.

Recently arrived from Paris are several works that had been on loan for years to the Quai Branly museum.

“It isn’t a restitution, it’s a return,” explains Ndiaye, “But still, the symbolism is there: these are objects that have returned to African soil.”

At the entrance of the exhibit is an installation made from crates in which artworks are transported — “the symbol of the crossing”, says Ndiaye.

Nearby, a megalith is on display that not so long ago graced the halls of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A portrait of Mbow celebrating his centenary hangs in the middle of the exhibit, and his appeal is prominently featured.

“The vicissitudes of history have… robbed many peoples of a priceless portion of this inheritance in which their enduring identity finds its embodiment,” it reads.

“The men and women of these countries have the right to recover these cultural assets which are part of their being.”

• ‘New vision’ –

Ndiaye laments the fact that the museum’s 9,000 works of art were forced into “invisibility” by the pandemic, as well as the loss of revenue for the IFAN.

But the institute seized on the closure as an opportunity.

“It allowed us to take a long look at the state of the museum,” he says, noting the outdated layout and signage around the exhibition spaces, as well as the rundown gardens.

“Reopening required us to have a new vision of the museum,” he says of the space that was originally built to house Dakar’s district command in the early 1930s.

Improvements have been made to lighting — direct sunlight that once glared in from openings is now being diffused to make detail on the works more visible.

Work carried on up to hours before the public was admitted. In the quest for post-pandemic normalcy, Ndiaye says his museum is “the admiral ship that symbolises the return”.

Zambia’s top opposition figure Hakainde Hichilemaon Wednesday launched his campaign for an August 12 presidential election, promising to end hunger and boost education.

The impoverished southern African nation is in default on external debts, estimated at 10 billion euros ($12 billion), half of which are held by private lenders.

Known as “HH” by his supporters, United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hichilema is up against incumbent President Edgar Lungu, 64.

He has pulled together a slew of other opposition parties to back his “The Zambia We Want” alliance.

“We will make sure that you no longer go hungry and your children should be able to go to school,” Hichilema told a crowd of dozens of supporters in Lusaka after filing the papers for his candidacy.

“We want to win and win big. We want to win in the first round,” he added.

People in the crowd shouted “we want change”, while others carried banners declaring “enough is enough, we want HH”.

Hichilema narrowly lost in a 2016 presidential bid and was jailed for four months after challenging the result.

Zambia has enjoyed relative stability since its first multi-party elections in 1991.

Voters will pick both a new president and parliament in the August 12 polls.