New york: Burkinabe Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo called on Thursday for a strong pan-African commitment to the issue of reparations for the crimes of slavery and colonization, during an international meeting on African memory organized in New York by Senegal. “The history of our ancestors forcibly conscripted into colonial wars, the resistance of great African figures and the destructive impact of the colonial economy on our territories are living testimonies to this,” said Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo. In his opinion, memory and reparation are imperatives of justice.
According to Burkina Information Agency, on behalf of the AES Confederation (Burkina, Mali, Niger), Ouedraogo proposed the creation of resistance museums, the integration of the history of slavery and colonialism into school curricula, as well as the establishment of diaspora investment funds and skills return programs. “By uniting on these issues, we are not only asking for recognition of our past, but we are laying the foundations for a more just, prosperous and sovereign future for the peoples of Africa and their descendants,” insisted Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, for his part, recalled that “slavery is the greatest crime against humanity,” as millions of Africans were taken from their families to develop other nations. “Africa suffered from slavery and colonization. Much wealth was stolen from our continent to build rich countries. Reparation is therefore just. Africans, let us unite so that the world apologizes to us for slavery,” he said.
His Senegalese counterpart, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who initiated the meeting, stressed that “reparation is not only a moral requirement, but a political and historical responsibility.” According to him, it is about “building an Africa reconciled with its memory, capable of transforming the suffering inherited from history into a collective force for development and dignity.”
The meeting took place at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan, a historic site where more than 400 Africans, both free and enslaved in the 17th and 18th centuries, are buried. It is part of the African Union’s drive to declare 2025 the “year of justice and reparations.”