Germany has agreed to return a sacred statue stolen from Cameroon at the beginning of the last century.

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which manages the museums in the capital, Berlin, said it would return the female figure, known as Ngonnso, to the Nso community in north-west Cameroon.

The statue was taken by a colonial officer and donated to Berlin’s Ethnological Museum in 1903.

A prince from the Nso kingdom told the Reuters news agency that the announcement was warmly received in Cameroon.

"After more than 120 years, we can only remain happy for it is a moment to commemorate and come closer to our ancestral links with love and togetherness,” Mbinglo Gilles Yumo Nyuydzewira is quoted as saying.

The foundation also said that it will return 23 pieces to Namibia and is planning an agreement to repatriate objects to Tanzania.