On Friday, the delegation – composed of representatives of Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and the United States – presented to Mahama its expectations, i.e. financial compensation and formal admission of abuses committed by countries participating in the slave trade and exercising colonial power in Africa.
The article continues below the video
What losses did the African World Reparations Commission estimate?
Who met John Dramani Mahama?
What claims did representatives from different regions make?
What has the African Union announced for 2026-2036?
The project is under the patronage of the African Union, which has announced the years 2026-2036 as the Decade of Reparations and demands very general justice, redress of wrongs, cancellation of debts and reform of international organizations, such as the UN, which would grant more seats to Africans. But the African World Reparations Commission estimated these losses very specifically at $1.37 trillion. A quadrillion is a number with 15 zeros (one million trillion).
The idea has many supporters, not only in Africa but also in the Caribbean, who argue that the legacy of slavery and colonialism still shapes today's inequalities, including racism.
Colonialism in Africa. Over 12 million people were kidnapped
In many African countries, where colonialism ended in most cases over 60 years ago, it is still the most frequently used argument to justify failure and poverty. It is raised even in Liberia, a country that has never been colonized by a white man, where the colonizers are the descendants of African slaves, sent in the mid-19th century from the United States to the African Atlantic coast to create a free country for themselves.
Critics argue that modern states and institutions should not be held responsible for centuries-old crimes. Most leaders of European countries that can be associated with the slave trade and colonialism have refused to cooperate with the African Union to satisfy their still unspecified claims. And at the European Union-African Union summit in Luanda last month, leaders of both blocs acknowledged the “unspeakable suffering” caused by slavery and colonialism, but the Europeans refused to make any declarations about paying reparations.
Historians estimate that at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported on European ships between the 15th and 19th centuries and then sold into slavery. Algeria is taking actions independent of the African Union, which on Saturday began working in parliament on a bill criminalizing the times of French colonialism from 1830-1962.
