African leaders at a conference in Algiers want colonial-era crimes officially recognized and are pushing for reparations. Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said his country dealt with serious abuse under French rule, and he wants compensation plus stolen property returned through a legal framework that treats restitution as an obligation rather than some kind of favor.
The African Union passed a resolution earlier this year calling for justice over colonial crimes, and diplomats are trying to build momentum behind it. Attaf pointed out that African nations still deal with exclusion and economic setbacks because of what happened back then. International law already bans slavery, torture, and apartheid, and the UN Charter blocks territorial seizures by force, but colonialism itself never got explicitly called out in those documents.
The African Union passed a resolution earlier this year calling for justice over colonial crimes, and diplomats are trying to build momentum behind it. Attaf pointed out that African nations still deal with exclusion and economic setbacks because of what happened back then. International law already bans slavery, torture, and apartheid, and the UN Charter blocks territorial seizures by force, but colonialism itself never got explicitly called out in those documents.
