African leaders are intensifying demands for the recognition, criminalisation, and reparation of colonial-era crimes. At a conference in Algiers, diplomats and officials convened to advance an African Union resolution calling for justice and restitution for victims of colonialism.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said Africa is entitled to demand official and explicit recognition of crimes committed during the colonial period. He argued that this is an indispensable first step toward addressing the consequences of an era for which African countries continue to pay a heavy price in terms of exclusion, marginalisation, and backwardness.
The economic cost of colonialism in Africa is believed to be staggering, with some estimates in the trillions. European powers extracted natural resources through brutal methods, amassing vast profits from gold, rubber, diamonds, and other minerals while leaving local populations impoverished. African states have also intensified demands for the return of looted artefacts still housed in European museums.
Attaf highlighted Algeria’s experience under French rule, describing it as a rare model of colonial brutality. Between 1954 and 1962, Algeria fought a bloody war for independence, during which French forces tortured detainees, disappeared suspects, and devastated villages. He also framed the disputed Western Sahara as a case of unfinished decolonisation, calling it “Africa’s last colony”.
The conference follows an African Union summit in February where leaders discussed developing a unified position on reparations and formally defining colonisation as a crime against humanity. International conventions outlaw slavery, torture, and apartheid, but the UN Charter does not explicitly reference colonialism.
