African leaders are pushing for colonial-era abuses to be officially recognised, criminalised and remedied through reparations. At a conference in Algiers, diplomats and officials met to advance an African Union resolution adopted earlier this year that calls for justice and compensation for victims of colonialism. Algerian foreign minister Ahmed Attaf said his country’s experience under French rule underscores the need to seek compensation and reclaim stolen property and that a legal framework would prevent restitution being treated as charity.
Attaf argued that official, explicit recognition of crimes committed during the colonial period is an essential first step toward addressing persistent exclusion, marginalisation and underdevelopment across the continent. While international law already outlaws slavery, torture and apartheid and the UN Charter forbids seizure of territory by force, the charter does not explicitly name colonialism. That omission was central to discussions at the African Union summit in February, where leaders debated a unified position on reparations and the formal classification of colonisation as a crime against humanity.
The economic toll of colonialism is vast, with some estimates running into the trillions of dollars. European powers extracted natural resources, often by brutal means, amassing large profits from gold, rubber, diamonds and other minerals while leaving local populations impoverished. Calls for the return of looted artefacts from European museums have grown alongside demands for financial redress.
Algeria was chosen intentionally as the conference host. The country endured some of the harshest French colonial practices and fought a brutal war of independence from 1954 to 1962. During that period nearly a million European settlers enjoyed political, economic and social privileges even though Algeria was legally part of France. Many Algerians were conscripted during the second world war, and hundreds of thousands died in the revolution as French forces used torture, forced disappearances and village destruction in counterinsurgency campaigns.
Algerian officials say the country’s bitter ordeal remains a striking example of colonial violence and shapes its diplomatic posture. That history also informs Algeria’s stance on the disputed Western Sahara, a former Spanish territory claimed by Morocco and contested by the pro-independence Polisario Front. Attaf described Western Sahara as an unfinished case of decolonisation, echoing the African Union’s formal position even as an increasing number of member states have recognised Morocco’s claim. He framed the Sahrawi struggle for self-determination as supported by international law and UN decolonisation doctrine.
For decades Algeria has pushed for colonial injustices to be addressed through international law while generally avoiding actions likely to inflame tensions with France, where memories of the war remain politically sensitive. In 2017, France’s president described some elements of that history as crimes against humanity but stopped short of a formal apology and urged people not to dwell on past grievances.
Mohamed Arezki Ferrad, a member of Algeria’s parliament, told the press that any compensation must be substantive rather than symbolic, and he highlighted that looted Algerian artefacts have still not been returned, citing the 16th-century cannon Baba Merzoug that remains in Brest.
Similar demands for recognition and reparations are appearing elsewhere. Caribbean delegations leading slavery reparations movements have been preparing visits to former colonial powers to press for redress. Caribbean governments are calling for formal acknowledgements of the enduring legacies of colonialism and enslavement and seeking reparative measures from former colonisers, including apologies and financial compensation.