Cabo Verde’s Head of State calls on Africa to make amends with its own ugly past

WEDNEDAY February 5, 2025

By The Tranquility News Reporter, Tanzania

Africa, the world’s remaining resource-rich continent, is currently lulled to sleep by civil wars and laments about historical injustices, including the transatlantic slave trade, observes José Maria Pereira Neves, President of the Republic of Cabo Verde.

Officiating at a solemn ceremony to flag off the judicial year of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, on Monday February 3, 2025, President Neves commends the theme of this year’s ceremony: Advancing Justice Through Reparations.

The topic acknowledges the need for confronting, with courage and resolve, historical injustices that shaped the continent, he says.

To him, reparations are a holistic process grounded on restoring dignity and promoting not only politics, diplomacy or numbers, but also inclusive socio-economic growth.

For centuries, millions of Africans were brutally uprooted from their lands, stripped of their freedoms, and forced to feed the economies of other nations with their sweat and suffering.

The immeasurable repercussions of the historic crime continue echoing, perpetuating structural inequalities, social marginalisation, and wounds that have yet to heal.

Our Continent – the cradle of humanity – still bears the scars of multiple scourges – fratricidal wars, instrumentalised ethnic divisions, including the apartheid system, and injustices created, imposed, and perpetuated – that have not only marked its past but continue compromising its present and its future,” José Maria Pereira Neves, President of the Republic of Cabo Verde.

“Reparation for this legacy is not an option – it is rather a moral, political, and social obligation,” says President Neves, quoting Vice Chairperson of the African Union Commission Monique Nsanzabaganwa as saying:

“The demand for reparations is not an attempt to rewrite history or to continue the cycle of victimisation. It’s a call to recognise the undeniable truth and make right the wrongs that have gone unpunished for far too long and continue to thrive presently.”

President Neves notes: “Our Continent – the cradle of humanity – still bears the scars of multiple scourges – fratricidal wars, instrumentalised ethnic divisions, including the apartheid system, and injustices created, imposed, and perpetuated – that have not only marked its past but continue compromising its present and its future.”

Persistent conflicts witnessed in Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sahel go beyond physical destruction, as they uproot communities; dismantle social, economic, and political fabrics; and inflict intergenerational traumas that endure through time, he says.

President Neves sees children in these countries being robbed of their childhood, right to education, and fear and uncertainty replacing their dreams.

Creeping in his mind also are images of women being subjected to violence, villages being devastated, and culture being devalued or completely being erased.

“These wounds, both visible and invisible, demand more than words from us – they demand effective reparations,” he stresses.

In terms of justice, reparation to President Neves means acknowledging the suffering of victims, restoring their violated dignity, and ensuring the crimes committed are not repeated.

It means extending justice beyond punishment to an instrument of reconciliation, reparation, and transformation. It means creating an environment where the wounds of the past can heal, and the future is built on mutual respect and equal rights, he clarifies, warning:

“Where justice is silenced, impunity reigns, cycles of violence are perpetuated, and despair is germinated.”

Neglecting to repair destroyed education systems, for instance, perpetuates a vicious cycle of conflict and marginalisation, compromising not only the present but also the future generations.

Where conflicts sow fear and hatred, education is a primary tool for reconciling communities that once were divided, says President Neves, stressing:

“There is no place for ethnicity or religious distinctions in a classroom – there are only students, children – each with dreams to fulfill and hopes to feed.”

Culture is equally important in healing the wounds conflicts leave behind, as it preserves identity, keeps collective memory alive, and ensures people are not lost in oblivion.

Despite conflicts and historical injustices looting sacred sites, silencing languages, and relegating ancestral knowledge to obscurity, the African cultural heritage has all along remained lit under the ashes, ready to ignite the flames of reconciliation and rebirth.

Culture should, therefore, be at the heart of reparation policies to support artists, preserve historical sites, rebuild museums, return the cultural property illicitly taken from the continent, and celebrate Africa’s wealth in cultural diversity.

“Reparation through culture means giving back to Africa its humanity,” says President Neves, explaining: “For in the preservation of our culture, lies the strength to transform pain into hope and the past into a future of justice and resilience.”

Reparations process calls for responsibility of both countries that benefited from the slave trade and  Africans themselves to lead the transformation of their future.

“Africa needs to roll out a second decolonisation – a mental decolonisation that frees its societies from dependence on neocolonial narratives,” notes President Neves, observing: “We still rely on stories that do not belong to us, narratives that subjugate us, and systems that perpetuate inequality.”

The mental decolonisation must face prevailing challenges of hate speech, anti-immigration policies, the resurgence of xenophobic, racism, supremacist ideologies, and the persecutions that threaten to repeat the darkest episodes in the history of mankind.

“Let us be guided by the principles of ubuntu – the belief in a universal bond that connects all humanity,” suggests President Neves, concluding: “Our pursuit of justice should be seasoned with wisdom; our demand for accountability should be balanced with compassion; and our vision for the future should be rooted in the strength of our shared history.”

The annual solemn ceremony, which dates back to 2022, aims at reflecting on the previous year’s activities of the court and sharing with stakeholders the new year’s activities with an eye on a selected theme.

A Judicial Seminar on Women’s Rights and Reparations followed the ceremony the following day to promote awareness among the court’s stakeholders, given low number of cases relating to violation of women’s rights filed at the court.

African Court president Imani Aboud is optimistic the seminar will go a long way in sensitising governments to revisit their domestic laws that violate women’s rightsΩ