King's severed head flown home

The severed head of Ghanaian King Badu Bonsu II, who was executed by colonialists in the 1880s, was flown back home to a solemn traditional ceremony.

A group of tribal leaders who received the bottled head from Dutch authorities a day earlier, were met at Kotoka international airport by government officials and members of the beheaded king's clan on Friday.

Traditional prayers were said and libation ceremonies staged by tribal leaders to welcome home and invoke the spirit of a hero of the colonial era.

The king, who was leader of Ghana's Ahanta group, is believed to have been decapitated in retaliation for the killing of two Dutch emissaries.

His head was taken back to the Netherlands and has been preserved for 170 years in formaldehyde, among the anatomy collection of Dutch's Leiden University Medical Centre.