African leaders are pressing for colonial-era crimes to be officially recognised, criminalised and remedied through reparations.
At a conference in Algiers, diplomats and officials gathered to advance an African Union resolution passed earlier this year that calls for justice and reparations for victims of colonialism. Algerian foreign minister Ahmed Attaf said Algeria’s experience under French rule underlines the need to seek compensation and reclaim stolen property. He argued a legal framework would ensure restitution is seen “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,” Attaf said, citing long-term exclusion, marginalisation and underdevelopment.
While international conventions outlaw slavery, torture and apartheid, and the UN Charter bans seizure of territory by force, the charter does not explicitly reference colonialism. That absence was central to the African Union’s February summit, where leaders discussed developing a unified position on reparations and formally defining colonisation as a crime against humanity.
The economic cost of colonialism in Africa is enormous, with some estimates running into the trillions. European powers extracted natural resources — often by brutal means — amassing vast profits from gold, rubber, diamonds and other minerals while leaving local populations impoverished. African states have also intensified demands for the return of looted artefacts held in European museums.
Attaf said it was deliberate the conference was hosted in Algeria, which endured some of the harshest French colonial practices and fought a bloody war of independence from 1954 to 1962. Nearly a million European settlers enjoyed superior political, economic and social privileges despite Algeria being legally part of France; many Algerians were conscripted during the second world war. Hundreds of thousands died in the revolution, while French forces used torture, forced disappearances and village destruction in counterinsurgency operations.
“Our continent retains the example of Algeria’s bitter ordeal as a rare model, almost without equivalent in history, in its nature, its logic and its practices,” Attaf said.
Algeria’s history shapes its stance on the disputed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony claimed by Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front. Attaf framed Western Sahara as a case of unfinished decolonisation, echoing the African Union’s formal position even as more member states have recognised Morocco’s claim. He called it “Africa’s last colony” and praised the Sahrawis’ fight for self-determination, which he said is supported by international law and UN decolonisation doctrine.
For decades Algeria has advocated tackling colonialism through international law while avoiding moves that might inflame tensions with France, where the legacy of the war remains politically sensitive. In 2017, French president Emmanuel Macron described some elements of that history as a crime against humanity but stopped short of a formal apology and urged Algerians not to dwell on past injustices.
Mohamed Arezki Ferrad, a member of Algeria’s parliament, told the Associated Press that compensation must be substantive, not symbolic, and noted that looted Algerian artefacts have yet to be returned — including Baba Merzoug, a 16th-century cannon still in Brest.
Similar demands are emerging elsewhere: the Guardian reported in November that a Caribbean delegation leading that region’s slavery reparations movement planned a visit to the UK to press for redress. Caribbean governments have called for recognition of the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement, seeking reparative justice from former colonisers, including formal apologies and financial compensation.
