African leaders call for formal recognition and reparations for colonial-era crimes

African leaders meeting in Algiers on Sunday called for colonial-era crimes to be formally recognized, criminalized and compensated for through an African Union-backed reparations process.

The AU resolution was passed a summit in May, that pushed to define colonisation as a crime against humanity. Current international law does not explicitly outlaw the practice.

Participants stressed the massive economic damage done by colonisation in Africa as European powers plundered the continent’s natural resources, such as gold, diamonds and rubber, leaving communities impoverished. The economic cost of colonialism in Africa is believed to be staggering, with some estimates putting the cost of plunder in the trillions.

Algeria’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said hosting the meeting in his country was symbolic, given Algeria’s experience under French rule. A legal framework, he added, would ensure restitution is seen as “neither a gift nor a favor.”

Nearly a million European settlers held greater political and economic privileges than Algerians even though Algeria was legally part of France. Hundreds of thousands of Algerians died in the country's war of independence. French forces tortured and disappeared people, and devastated villages as part of a counterinsurgency strategy.

“Our continent retains the example of Algeria’s bitter ordeal as a rare model, almost without equivalent in history, in its nature, its logic and its practices,” Attaf said.

In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron described elements of French colonial history as a crime against humanity but stopped short of issuing an official apology. He implored Algerians not to dwell on past injustices.

The drive for reparations is linked to moves by African states to secure the return of looted artifacts from European museums. Many prominent Algerian objects such as the 16th-century cannon Baba Merzoug are still held in France.