On Tuesday, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana urged African leaders to present a unified front in support of requests for compensation for losses caused by colonial-era colonization and transatlantic slavery.
Recently, a few Western leaders have taken steps to acknowledge the wrongs done to Africa during the colonial era, and museums have started to return artefacts and treasures that were stolen from Africa.
However, the idea of making monetary amends for a trade that involved the shipping of millions of slaves from West and Central Africa is still unclear.
During his speech to the UN General Assembly this year, Ghana’s leader made a strong case for reparations and more recognition of the effects of colonial exploitation.
“No amount of money can restore the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade and its consequences. But surely, this is a matter that the world must confront and can no longer ignore,” Akufo-Addo said at a reparations conference with African leaders in Accra.
“Even before these discussions on reparations conclude, the entire continent of Africa deserves a formal apology from the European nations involved in the slave trade,” he added.
In order to achieve reparations, Akufo-Addo urged Africa to collaborate with the Caribbean, calling it a “valid demand for justice.”
African Union Chairperson and President of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani, referred to slavery and colonialism as “Africa’s dark phase” and stated that their effects are still being felt, “wreaking havoc in our population.”
This month, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, voiced his “shame” at the crimes carried out in Tanzania while his nation was a colony.
The owner of the British newspaper The Guardian apologized earlier this year for the founders’ part in the transatlantic slave trade and declared a “decade-long programme of restorative justice” in the wake of an independent investigation.
The restoration of stolen antiques and valuables has made steady progress, even though the argument regarding compensation for slavery is still in its early stages.
Nigeria is currently returning thousands of metal plaques, sculptures, and other artefacts that date from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which were taken from the ancient Kingdom of Benin and ended up in museums and the collections of art collectors in the US and Europe.
A large number of the antiques were first removed during the attack and destruction of Benin City by a British military expedition in 1897.
Nigeria’s neighbor Benin last year inaugurated an exhibition of its artworks and treasures returned by France after two years of negotiations.
