France will return five sections of a mural from an Egyptian tomb that had been on exhibit at Paris's Louvre museum, ending a cultural standoff between the two countries.French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand says the Louvre purchased the mural sections in good faith. (Joel Saget/Pool/AP)

French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand announced Friday that the museum's committee recommended the mural pieces be returned. They will be sent back to Egypt immediately, Mitterrand said.

Egypt had been asking for their return ever since a tomb from which the mural sections were believed to have been pillaged was unearthed in 2008.

The country's Supreme Council for Antiquities said Wednesday it would suspend co-operation with the Louvre until the issue was resolved.

Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, had accused Louvre officials of knowing the pieces were illegally exported when they purchased them.

According to Mitterrand, the mural fragments were acquired in good faith by the museum between 2000 and 2003.

The threatened actions by Egyptian officials would have stopped work on an archeological dig by the Louvre on the necropolis of Saqqara, south of the capital, Cairo.