December 2, 2025
African nations are intensifying efforts to secure reparations for the colonial-era crimes that caused widespread devastation across the continent and beyond.
On Nov. 30, African diplomats and leaders met to advance an African Union resolution introduced earlier this year that calls for justice and reparations for the harms of colonialism, the Associated Press reports.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf cited his country’s experience under French rule, emphasizing that true accountability requires compensation and the return of stolen property. Such restitution, he said, is “neither a gift nor a favor.”
“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, marginalization, and backwardness,” Attaf said.
The renewed push for reparations builds on discussions from the African Union’s February summit, where leaders backed a proposal to establish a unified stance on reparations and to officially classify colonization as a crime against humanity.
The effort reflects international norms that ban slavery, torture, and apartheid, and prohibit the seizure of territory by force under the UN Charter. However, the Charter does not explicitly address colonialism.
At the February summit, leaders explored a plan to establish a unified stance on reparations and formally classify colonization as a crime against humanity. They emphasized the enormous economic toll of colonial rule, estimated in the trillions, as European powers extracted vast wealth from Africa’s natural resources through violent exploitation, leaving communities impoverished.
The push also aligns with growing calls across the continent for the return of artifacts taken during the colonial era and still held in European museums.
Attaf emphasized that hosting the conference in Algeria was intentional, given the country’s history of brutal French colonial rule and its bloody struggle for independence. He noted that Algeria has long advocated for addressing colonialism under international law, while carefully navigating tensions with France, where the war’s legacy remains politically sensitive.
“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.
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