By: Ashiadey Dotse
President of the Republic of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé, has said that an Africa reconciled with its history, its people, and its diaspora can rise again as a great civilization on the move, driven by unity, justice, and shared purpose.
Speaking at the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra on Friday, December 19, 2025, President Gnassingbé said Africa must move away from the margins of global affairs and reclaim its place as a centre of creation, stability, and initiative. He stressed that Africa’s renewal depends on healing past wounds and building strong partnerships with Africans living across the world.
The Togolese leader described the African diaspora as a strategic pillar of African sovereignty, saying it is not separate from the continent but a true political, economic, and intellectual extension of Africa. According to him, Africa’s future is being shaped not only in cities such as Accra, Lomé, and Kigali, but also in New York, London, Kingston, and São Paulo.
President Gnassingbé said the diaspora controls powerful global networks in finance, culture, technology, diplomacy, and the media, and produces wealth and innovation that often exceed traditional development aid. For this reason, he said reparations must include a strong diaspora dimension, with joint Africa–diaspora funds, legal recognition, easier investments, and the promotion of cultural and scientific knowledge.
He warned that no financial, cultural, or digital sovereignty strategy can succeed without mobilising the diaspora, describing Africans abroad as a priceless strength that the continent cannot afford to ignore.
The President also emphasised that collective healing is a political necessity, not just a moral duty. He said slavery and colonialism left deep visible and invisible scars that continue across generations. Healing, he explained, means rebuilding trust among Africans, between Africa and its diaspora, and between Africa and the wider world.
President Gnassingbé called for Africans to reclaim their stories, rewrite history from an African perspective, and teach future generations about Africa’s long tradition of resilience, resistance, and rebirth. He said healing is a source of power, noting that without justice there can be no stability, and without stability, there can be no development.
He urged African institutions, including the African Union, to speak with one voice for an Africa that is sovereign scientifically, digitally, culturally, and economically.
