What’s more, African leaders are increasing their pressure for acknowledgement of colonial grievances and reparations. They’re drawing specific attention to the good fight of Algeria under French colonialism, in the 1950s and 60s. This momentum is rooted in colonialism’s enduring impacts. It has left a legacy of profound economic and social wounds throughout the continent. In June this year, Algeria’s foreign minister, Ahmed Attaf, underscored how the quest for reparations is about more than just justice. It is a major step he argues to finally finishing what decolonization started.
This brutal legacy of colonialism is embodied by Algeria’s history under French rule. Legally speaking, the nation still belonged to France. As a result, many Algerian men were conscripted into military service during World War II. Yet, amid this integration, nearly a million European settlers enjoyed significant political, economic, and social privileges, perpetuating systemic inequalities that continue to resonate today.
Since the colonial era, European superpowers have violently plundered their precious natural resources. This brutal system of profit-making proved extremely lucrative in the extraction of gold, rubber, diamonds and other minerals. Estimates of the economic cost of colonialism in Africa are beyond enormous, with some projections tumbling upward into the trillions. This financial legacy pains the need for reparations and acknowledgment of the harm done to African nations.
Attaf expressed Algeria’s position well, setting the issue of Sahrawi self-determination up as a matter of incomplete decolonization. He stated, “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.”
The political sensitivity around colonialism is still very much alive in France, making reparations discussions even more complicated. In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged parts of French colonialism as crimes against humanity. He did not provide a formal apology for France’s colonial legacy. This ambivalence betrays the difficulty of African leaders’ position as they call for recognition and redress for historical harms.
The dramatic impact of colonialism’s legacy underlies Algeria’s position in the Western Sahara conflict. This serves as a key reminder about the ways that historical injustices shape today’s political landscapes. African nation-states are fighting to get back the looted artifacts currently housed within European Museums. For them, this demand is a central pillar of reparative justice.
Attaf further emphasized the necessity of acknowledging the everyday crimes, violence, and abuses inflicted on African people under colonial rule. He stated, “Africa is entitled to demand the official and explicit recognition of the crimes committed against its peoples during the colonial period, an indispensable first step toward addressing the consequences of that era, for which African countries and peoples continue to pay a heavy price in terms of exclusion, marginalisation and backwardness.”
The African Union has defended a bold line against colonialism and advocated for reparations. This position rhetoric reflects perceptibly chosen by Algerian authorities sentiment expressed allowed. It is time for Africa’s leaders to be united in their accountability and justice demands. They fearlessly tread the ground ruled by a complicated colonial legacy.