Keypoints:
- Mahama’s AU role places him at centre of reparations push
- Delegation urges African unity and political courage
- Ghana presses reparations case globally
GHANA’S President John Dramani Mahama, serving as the African Union’s designated champion on reparations, has been urged to take a leading role in mobilising African heads of state behind a unified push for justice over transatlantic slavery and colonialism.
Mahama held talks in Accra with a global delegation of historians, legal scholars, economists and civil society leaders drawn from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The delegation encouraged him to use his AU mandate to persuade political leaders across the continent to ‘choose courage over comfort’ by publicly backing reparations claims advanced by African nations and their diaspora.
The meeting took place as Ghana hosted Diaspora Summit 2025 in the capital Accra on December 20-21, where slavery, displacement and historical redress feature prominently on the programme. The summit seeks to spotlight the contributions of Africa’s diaspora while confronting the unresolved legacies of forced migration and economic exploitation.
AU seeks one African voice
In a statement released on Friday, the delegation said it presented Mahama with priority actions aligned with the AU’s reparations agenda. These proposals span financial compensation, formal acknowledgements of historical wrongdoing, and long-term policy reforms aimed at dismantling structural inequalities rooted in slavery and colonial rule.
The AU formally launched its reparations initiative in February, with the stated aim of crafting a ‘unified African vision’ on what reparatory justice should look like and how it should be pursued at the global level. Advocates argue that Africa’s bargaining power depends on collective political resolve rather than fragmented national efforts.
Historical estimates cited by campaigners indicate that at least 12.5 million Africans were forcibly taken by European traders between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Reparations advocates maintain that the consequences of that mass abduction remain visible today in global racial hierarchies, economic underdevelopment and persistent inequality.
European reluctance clouds momentum
While calls for reparations have gained traction internationally, resistance from parts of Europe remains firm. Several European leaders have opposed even opening formal discussions, arguing that present-day governments and institutions should not be held accountable for crimes committed centuries ago.
That reluctance was evident at a recent European Union–AU summit in Luanda, where leaders from both regions acknowledged the ‘untold suffering’ caused by slavery and colonialism but stopped short of endorsing reparatory measures. TRT Afrika reported that while symbolic recognition has increased, commitments to material or legal redress remain absent.
Ghana pushes moral case globally
Ghana has consistently positioned itself at the forefront of Africa’s reparations diplomacy. At the Luanda summit, Vice President Jane Opoku-Agyemang urged EU member states to support a forthcoming United Nations resolution being prepared by Accra to recognise slavery as one of the ‘gravest crimes against humanity’.
The delegation also met earlier in the week with Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Mahama’s special envoy on reparations, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah. They stressed the need for strategic coherence among African governments and closer alignment with civil society and diaspora movements.
As the AU’s reparations champion, Mahama now occupies a pivotal diplomatic position. Whether Africa can translate moral consensus into coordinated political pressure may depend on how decisively he uses that mandate to rally the continent behind one of its most enduring historical demands.
