Finland has returned the extracted stone fragments of the Ondonga people to the Namibian government.

The handover was done at State House, witnessed by President Hage Geingob and his counterpart, Sauli Niinisto of Finland.

The stone fragments were taken by a Finnish missionary, Martii Rautanen, more than 130 years ago from the Ondonga kingdom.

Rautanen was believed to be on a research mission when he came across the stone and took parts of it for experiments.

The fragments have since been kept in the National Museum of Finland until negotiations started more than four years ago to return them to Namibia.

President Geingob says the government will officially hand over the sacred cultural item to the Ondonga Traditional Authority on a date yet to be announced.

He commended the gesture and called on other countries that are still in possession of Africa's artifacts to follow suit.