By the First Pan-African Conference on Reparations
Abuja, April 27-29, 1993
Source: Proceedings of the First Pan-African Conference on Reparations, Ed by J.F. Ade. Ajayi and Margaret O. Vogt, (published by RADOC-The Research and Documentation Committee of the OAU Group of Eminent Persons for Reparation) pp.167-168
ADOPTION OF THE ABUJA DECLARATIONAfter a brief discussion, "The Abuja Declaration", as embodied herein, was adopted.
This First Pan-African Conference on Reparations held in Abuja, Nigeria, April 27 -
29, 1993, sponsored by the OAU Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) for Reparations, and
the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Recalling the establishment by the Organization of African Unity of a machinery for
appraising the issue of reparations in relation to the damage done to Africa and its
Diaspora by enslavement, colonization, and neo-colonialism;
Convinced that the issue of reparations is an important question requiring the united
action of Africa and its Diaspora and worthy of the active support of the rest of the
international community;
Fully persuaded that the damage sustained by the African peoples is not a thing of
the past" but is painfully manifest in the damaged lives of contemporary Africans from
Harlem to Harare and in the damaged economies of Africa and the Black World from
Guinea to Guyana, from Somalia to Surinam;
Aware of historic precedents in reparations, ranging from German payment of
restitution to the Jews, to the question of compensating Japanese-Americans for the
injustice of internment by the Roosevelt Administration in the United States during the
World War II;
Cognizant of the fact that compensation for injustice need not necessarily be paid
only in capital transfer but could include service to the victims or other forms of
restitution and readjustment of the relationship agreeable to both parties;
Emphasizing that the admission of guilt is a necessary step to reverse this situation;
Emphatically convinced that what matters is not the guilt but the responsibility of
those states and nations whose economic evolution once depended on Slave labor and
colonialism, and whose forebears participated either in selling and buying Africans, or in
owning them, or in colonizing them;
Convinced that the pursuit of reparations, by the African peoples in the continent and in
the Diaspora will itself be a learning experience in self-discovery and in uniting political
and psychological experiences;
Calls upon the international community to recognize that there is a unique andunprecedented moral debt owed to the African peoples which has yet to be paid - the
debt of compensation to the Africans as the most humiliated and exploited people of the
last four centuries of modern history;
Calls upon Heads of States and Governments in Africa and the Diaspora itself to set
up National Committees for the purpose of studying the damaged African experience,
disseminating information and encouraging educational courses on the impact of
enslavement, colonization and neo-colonialism on present-day Africa and its Diaspora;
Urges the Organization of African Unity to grant observer status to select
organizations from the African Diaspora in order to facilitate consultations between
Africa and its Diaspora on reparations and related issues;
Further urges the OAU to call for full monetary payment through capital transfer and
debt cancellation.
Convinced that numerous looting, theft and larceny have been committed on the
African people, calls upon those in possession of their stolen goods, artifacts and other
traditional treasures, to restore them to their rightful owners - the African people.
Convinced that the claim for Reparations is well grounded in International Law,
urges the OAU to establish a legal Committee on the issue of Reparations.
Also calls upon African and Diaspora groups already working on reparations to
communicate with the Organization of African Unity and establish continuing liaison.
Encourages such groups to send this declaration to various countries to obtain their
official support for the movement;
Serves notice on all states in Europe and the Americas which had participated in the
enslavement and colonization of the African peoples, and which may still be engaged in
racism and neo-colonialism, to desist from any further damage and start building bridges
of reconciliation and co-operation, through reparation;
Exhorts all African states to grant entrance, as of right, to all persons of African
descent, and the right to obtain residence in those African states, if there is no
disqualifying element on the African claiming the "right to return" to his or her ancestral
home, Africa.
Urges those countries which were enriched by slavery, the slave trade, colonialism
and neo-colonialism to give total relief from Foreign Debt, and allow the debtor countries
of the diaspora to become free for self-development and from immediate and direct
economic domination.
Calls upon the countries largely characterized as profiteers from the slave trade and
colonialism to support proper and reasonable representation of African Peoples in the
political and economic areas of the highest decision-making bodies;
Requests the OAU to intensify its efforts in restructuring the international system in pursuit of justice with special reference to permanent African seat on the Security Council of the United Nations.
