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Algeria leads African diplomatic offensive for historical justice and reparations from Accra
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Algeria /Elections & Politics

Algeria leads African diplomatic offensive for historical justice and reparations from Accra

From El Watan · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Algeria is leading a diplomatic push across Africa for international recognition of atrocities linked to slavery and colonialism.
  • The country has enacted a new law criminalizing colonization and positions itself as a continental leader demanding truth, justice, and reparations.
  • Algeria offered to share its historical archives and experiences from its own struggle for liberation to support this cause.

Algeria is spearheading a significant diplomatic initiative across Africa, forcefully demanding international recognition of the atrocities committed during the eras of slavery and colonialism. Leveraging a new national law that criminalizes colonization, the country is positioning itself as a prominent leader in a continental movement advocating for truth, justice, and material reparations from former colonial powers and international organizations.

today we launch a renewed and sincere call for explicit international recognition, by the UN organizations and former colonial powers, of the systematic and criminal nature of practices related to slavery, colonialism, and other serious violations targeting African peoples.

โ€” Azzouz NasriStating Algeria's renewed call for international recognition of historical atrocities during a conference in Accra.

From Accra, Ghana, a historical hub for Pan-African thought, Algeria's delegation made a strong statement at a high-level consultative conference on reparative justice and historical reparations related to the transatlantic slave trade. Representing President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the President of the Nation Council, Azzouz Nasri, issued a renewed call for explicit international acknowledgment by UN organizations and former colonial powers regarding the systematic and criminal nature of slavery, colonialism, and other grave violations against African peoples.

This advocacy aligns with a global trend questioning colonial narratives, as African and Caribbean nations increasingly unite to demand accountability. Nasri emphasized Algeria's full support for African historians and international law experts in their concerted efforts to gather irrefutable documents, testimonies, and legal evidence of crimes perpetrated against the continent during the periods of slavery and colonization.

Algeria fully supports the commitment of African historians and international law experts in a concerted action aimed at gathering documents, testimonies, and irrefutable legal evidence demonstrating the crimes perpetrated against the peoples of the continent during the periods of slavery and colonization.

โ€” Azzouz NasriHighlighting Algeria's support for gathering evidence of historical crimes.

Beyond rhetoric, Algeria is offering its own historical experience to aid this cause. Having endured 132 years of French occupation and a brutal war of liberation, Algeria has declared its readiness to provide African and international institutions with the extensive historical documents, material evidence, and authenticated testimonies it holds. This offer stems from its "heritage of struggle and its unique experience of national liberation."

Strong in its heritage of struggle and its unique experience of national liberation [...], Algeria declares today its full availability to provide African and international competent institutions with all the historical documents, material evidence and authenticated testimonies it holds.

โ€” Azzouz NasriAlgeria's offer to share its historical archives and experience to support the cause of justice and reparations.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Watan in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.