From Kenya and Nigeria to South Africa and Uganda, Queen Elizabeth’s death unleashed a flood of official condolences, mourning and reminders of her frequent visits to Africa during her seven decades on the throne.

But the death of the British monarch has also reignited a thorny debate about Africa’s colonial past.

Her death came at a time when European countries are under pressure to reckon with their colonial history, atone for past crimes and return stolen African artifacts that have been preserved for years in museums in London and Paris.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta were among those who expressed their condolences at the loss of an “icon”.

But many Africans reflected more on the tragedies of the colonial era, including the events that unfolded in the first decade of their rule.

Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963 after an eight-year uprising that claimed the lives of at least 10,000 people.

Britain agreed in 2013 to compensate over 5,000 Kenyans who were mistreated during the Mau Mau riots in a deal worth nearly £20 million ($23 million).

“The Queen leaves behind a mixed legacy of brutal oppression of Kenyans in her own country and mutually beneficial relationships,” wrote The Daily Nation, Kenya’s largest newspaper, in a weekend editorial.

Elizabeth was visiting Kenya in 1952 when her father died and she became queen.

“What followed was a bloody chapter in Kenya’s history, in which atrocities were committed against a people whose only sin was to demand independence.”

“Although relations with Britain have been useful, it is difficult to forget these atrocities.”

As part of recent restorations for the past, Nigeria and neighboring Benin have recovered the first of thousands of artifacts looted during the colonial era from Britain and France.

Nigeria’s so-called Benin Bronzes – metal plaques and sculptures dating from the 16th to 18th centuries – were looted from the palace of the ancient Kingdom of Benin and ended up in museums in the US and Europe.

Nigeria’s Buhari said the country’s history “will never be complete without a chapter on Queen Elizabeth II.”

While some praised her role before Nigeria’s independence, others pointed out that she was head of state when Britain supported the Nigerian army during the country’s civil war.

More than a million people died, mostly from starvation and disease, between 1967 and 1970 during the conflict after ethnic Igbo officers in the Southeast declared independence.

“If anyone expects me to express anything other than contempt for the monarch who oversaw a government-sponsored genocide…you can keep wishing for a star,” Nigerian-born US professor Uju Anya said in a Twitter allusion to the Biafra war that sparked heated debates on social media.

Similar mixed reactions were expressed in South Africa, where President Cyril Ramaphosa described her as an “extraordinary” figure.

But the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters or EFF movement was more dismissive, reminiscent of decades of apartheid in which Britain, the former colonial ruler, was often passive.

“We do not mourn Elizabeth as for us her passing is a reminder of a very tragic time in this country and in African history,” EFF said in a statement.

In Uganda, some went back further, commemorating the ruler of the Bunyoro Kingdom, Omukama Kabalega, who defied British rule in the late 1890s.

He was deposed and exiled to the Seychelles and the kingdom was then incorporated into the British Empire.

“As much as the Queen has been able to maintain the cohesion of the former British colonies, she has failed to adequately address the injustices inflicted on some states, including Uganda,” said former intelligence director turned political analyst Charles Rwomushana.

Last month the Uganda Tourism Association called for a committee to oversee the return of Ugandan artifacts from British and other overseas museums, including about 300 from Bunyoro, according to Parliament.

Charles Onyango-Obbo, a writer and critic of the Ugandan government, said on Twitter that many long-reigning African leaders used Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign to justify their own decades in power.

“Now that it’s passed, they strive to learn how to make their arguments persuasively in the past tense.”

Mukoma Wa Ngugi, the son of world-renowned Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o, himself a writer and Associate Professor of English at Cornell University, also questioned the Queen’s legacy in Africa.

“If the Queen had apologized for slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism and asked the Crown to offer reparations for the millions of lives killed in her/his name, then perhaps I would do the human thing and feel bad,” he wrote on tweeters.

“As a Kenyan, I don’t feel anything. This theater is absurd.”