Accra Reparations Conference calls for Africa united front to redress slave trade injustices

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has called for a united front with African leaders on demands for reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonial-era damages, as they gathered on Tuesday (14 November) in Accra for a four-day conference that aims to explore how to address such historical injustices.
Speaking at the opening session hosted by Ghana, its president declared the trans-Atlantic slave trade as “the most barbaric episode in human history,” emphasizing its devastating effects on Africa, highlighting its economic, cultural, and psychological stifling of the continent’s progress. Held under the theme ‘Building a United Front to Advance the Cause of Justice and the Payment of Reparations to Africans,’ the inaugural Accra Reparations Conference (ARC) explores legal and moral grounds for reparations and discusses different models of reparatory justice.
African leaders attending the conference have issued a collective call for reparations and restitution to address the historic crimes of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with Akufo-Addo stressing that “the call for reparation is not a plea for arms but a call for justice.” They argued that the enduring injustices and inhumane treatment inflicted during this dark period continue to reverberate in both African societies and the diaspora, eroding self-esteem, dignity, and identity. The leaders are expected to come up with an African-led action plan to push for reparatory justice, establish an African committee of experts to oversee the plan’s implementation. Though some Western leaders have recently acknowledged the wrongs of the colonial era in Africa, the concept of paying financial reparations over the slave-trade remains vague.