African leaders push for recognition of colonial crimes and reparations – Guardian 30-11-2025

“African leaders push for recognition of colonial crimes and reparations

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Associated Press
Sun 30 Nov 2025 21.40 GMT

African leaders are pushing to have colonial-era crimes recognised, criminalised and addressed through reparations.

At a conference in the Algerian capital, Algiers, diplomats and leaders convened to advance an African Union resolution passed at a meeting earlier this year calling for justice and reparations for victims of colonialism.

Algerian foreign minister Ahmed Attaf said Algeria’s experience under French rule highlighted the need to seek compensation and reclaim stolen property.

A legal framework, he added, would ensure restitution is seen as “neither a gift nor a favour”.

“Africa is entitled to demand the official and explicit recognition of the crimes committed against its peoples during the colonial period, an indispensable first step toward addressing the consequences of that era, for which African countries and peoples continue to pay a heavy price in terms of exclusion, marginalisation and backwardness,” Attaf said.

International conventions and statutes accepted by a majority of countries have outlawed practices including slavery, torture and apartheid. The United Nations Charter prohibits the seizure of territory by force but does not explicitly reference colonialism.

That absence was central to the African Union’s February summit, where leaders discussed a proposal to develop a unified position on reparations and formally define colonisation as a crime against humanity.

The economic cost of colonialism in Africa is believed to be staggering, with some estimates in the trillions. European powers extracted natural resources often through brutal methods, amassing vast profits from gold, rubber, diamonds and other minerals, while leaving local populations impoverished.

African states have in recent years intensified demands for the return of looted artefacts still housed in European museums.

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Full report “African leaders push for recognition of colonial crimes and reparations” on The Guardian’s website (last checked in April 2026).

Check also the Algiers Declaration on the Crimes of Colonialism in Africa, adopted by the African Union Conference in Algiers on 1 December 2025 and officially endorsed by the African Union on its summit on 14 and 15 February 2026 in Addis Ababa , in the ‘Primary sources’ section of this website.