OPINION: AU takes a bold stand on colonizers' past exploitation of Africa this year, but what next?

On February 26, 1885, at the conclusion of a fiery three-month conference, fourteen nations signed a document titled ‘The General Act of Berlin,’ at Wilhelmstrasse 77, the official residence of Germany’s head of state. The document was an agreement that laid down the rules by which the signatory nations would conduct themselves in the extraction of Africa’s resources.

In the decades that followed, seven nations – Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain and Italy - went on to carve out large portions of Africa for themselves, resulting in a period of brutal, extractionist domination that lasted close to a century.

This year, the African Union will seek to address the injustices suffered by the continent during this period - including the grand theft of Africa’s resources and the gross violation of human rights – through its chosen theme for 2025: “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”.

Speaking during an AU event last month, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres lent credence to the AU’s theme, stating that Africa has indeed been the victim of two “colossal” and “compounded” injustices - the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism.

In recent years, as society moves towards more equitable global relations, a handful of former colonial masters have endeavored to express varying shades of regret for the severely damaging social, economic and political policies carried out during the colonial period.

In October 2023 for instance, while on a visit to Nairobi, a newly-crowned King Charles III expressed his “greatest sorrow and regret", for violence committed against Kenyans during the country’s fight for independence. However, he failed to offer a formal apology or address the far broader colonial injustices suffered by the nation during that era.

Yet, experts such as Prof. Tendayi Achiume, (former UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary racial discrimination), have stated that former colonizing states indeed have an obligation to make reparations for violation of international law. Such violations would doubtless include not only the unfair extraction of Africa’s natural resources but also the terrible human rights abuses suffered by her people.

Reparatory measures, according to the AU, could take the form of financial compensation, land restitution and investment in projects such as infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Some African nations have also previously demanded debt relief as a form of reparation.

In February 2019, a working group of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recommended that Belgium issue an apology to the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo “for the atrocities committed during colonization”. A year later, Belgium’s King Philippe conveyed his “deepest regrets for those wounds of the past” while addressing DRC’s parliament during a state visit.

However, he, too, did not offer an official apology. Nor did he mention the grossly dishonorable conduct of his great-great-uncle, King Leopold II, who oversaw the brutal repression of Congolese in the early years of the country’s colonization. He did not mention any kind of recompense for DRC either, save for the return of a traditional mask taken from the Basuku tribe during the colonial era. In a baffling twist of logic, the mask was to be kept at DRC’s national museum on “indefinite loan”.

The inclination of former colonial masters to proffer tepid expressions of regret rather than formal apologies appears to be informed by fears that the latter would imply liability, leading to a rush of reparation demands, particularly of the financial kind. Yet, experts note that for justice to be served and full healing to occur, a commitment to reparatory measures must be considered by the former colonizing nations.

In May 2021, after five years of negotiation with Namibia, Germany took the unprecedented step of offering a formal apology to her former colony for the genocidal violence against the Herero and Nama people in 1904-1908. The country committed to providing project-specific financial aid to the tune of 1 billion Euros over 30 years. Though the affected communities have since demanded that financial reparations be directed to themselves rather than to the state, Germany’s willingness to engage has indeed been a bold step in the right direction.

Through this year’s theme, the AU seeks to achieve appropriate recompense for injustices suffered during the colonial period. It is time that former colonizers recognized that reparations would not only enhance racial healing, but would also help repair the grievous post-colonial economic, social and political damage still suffered by the majority of African nations today.

[Paulie Mugure Mugo is a published author and a co-founder of Eagles Leadership Network (ELN), an initiative that trains and equips upcoming leaders in the area of ethical governance.]