By: Mercy Darko
President Akufo-Addo has urged Africans to unite and work towards demanding reparations from colonial rulers, stressing that the time to make amends for the wrong doings is long overdue.
Addressing participants at the Reparations and Racism Healing Summit in Accra, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the African continent also deserves a formal apology from the European nations who were behind slave trade and crimes.
While working towards this, President Akufo-Addo stressed the need to create an avenue that will be bring about shared growth and development on the continent to change the narrative.
The summit will create an opportunity for all to leverage on existing initiatives, to discuss and reflect on the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery in the America, colonialism and strategies for reparations and racial healing.
The summit seeks to also provide an opportunity for various actors on the continent and the Diaspora to commit to redefining strategies, build bridges and engender trust in the global campaign for compensation to Africa for all the wrong done to the continent.
President Akufo-Addo said the calls for reparations for Africa are justified as slave trade had devastating effects on the continent.
Head of the African Governance Architecture Secretariat at the African Union, Ambassador Salah Hammad in a remark said at the end of the summit, Africa will speak with one voice and in unity to seek justice for crimes committed.
The global summit on Reparations and Racial Healing is being co-hosted by the African Union Commission, AUC, the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund and other stakeholders.
As part of the healing process, participants will visit some landmark areas in Ghana.
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