Black Power and Reparations

THE ACCRA DECLARATION ON REPARATIONS & REPATRIATION

We the participants of the First Historic International Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission Conference, representing Cote d’Ivoire, Namibia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Jamaica, Tanzania, U.S.A, U.K., South Africa, Barbados, Martinique and Guadeloupe, give homage to t history he of the Pan-African movement and pioneers such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie, Paul Robeson, Queen Mother Moore et al.

The Afrikan World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission (AWRRTC) declares, as we enter the 21st Century, that Reparations & Repatriation are paramount issues and concerns of the African World, consistent with the principles established during the First Reparations Conference, held on the African Continent December, 1990 in Lagos, Nigeria (under the auspices of the late Moshood Abiola); the Reparations Conference held in April, 1993 in Abuja, Nigeria; the Repatriation Conference held April, 1999 in Ouidah, Benin and the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) held in June, 1999 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

We hereby resolve, and it is hereby resolved:

That the Afrikan World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission successfully hosted the First Historic International Truth Commission Conference on Reparations and Repatriation, held in Accra, Ghana August 9 – 13, 1999 at the W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture.
That the Truth Commission Conference was held as a result of the socio-economic deterioration of the global African society today, which is directly linked to the burdensome African so called ‘debt crisis’, which has strangled development in Sub-Saharan Africa
That the Truth Commission Conference noted the root causes of Africa’s problems today are the enslavement and colonization of African people over a 400 year period-through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the illegal occupation by European nations on Africa’s sovereign soil.
That an international team, of Continental African and Diasporan lawyers, will be established to pursue all legal means, to demand justice (e.g. monetary compensation, US $777 trillion principal with interest per annum at the current market rate) from those nations of Western Europe, Americas, and institutions who participated and benefited from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism. This will be done through international bodies, such as the United Nations, International Court of Justice, Organization of African Unity, International Labour and Trade Organizations and other bodies. Compensation will be paid to a Foundation, which will be administered by designated individuals. An African People’s Bank (APB) will be established in order to help develop intercontinental trade on the African Continent and trade between the Continent and the Diaspora, as well as the development of a Pan-African currency.
That Diasporan Africans, who are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans, have the unconditional “Right of Return” to the continent of Africa. Those African descendants, who wish to remain in the land of their captivity, should be granted full human rights in that country and institutions developed to improve their community, their economy and African Centred educational systems. Measures are to be implemented to rehabilitate and integrate all political prisoners into both African Continental and Diasporan communities.
That worldwide monitoring and networking systems are to be instituted to ensure that Reparations and Repatriation will be achieved by the year 2004, and that yearly conferences will be held to provide updates and progress reports on our declared goals.
That there is no African ‘debt’, therefore, AWRRTC demands that the current so – called ‘international debt owed’ by Africa and all countries of African slave descendants, be unconditionally cancelled.
That AWRRTC charges the organization of African Unity (OAU) with the following:

To co-ordinate the African approach to Reparations & Repatriation, by encouraging African states to acknowledge that ‘crimes against humanity' have been committed against African People and to seek legal redress through the International Court of Justice. African states such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin, as well as others in the sub region are to be the Flag bearers for Reparations and Repatriation Issues.
To Promote the Union of African States (UAS), thereby establishing a general identity card for descendants of enslaved Africans, which will enable free entry into any African country.
To lobby those nations of Western Europe, the Americas, and institutions who participated and benefited from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism, to provide seaworthy vessels and aircraft for Diasporan Africans to facilitate their Repatriation to their African Continent.
To reactivate the Group of Eminent Persons, to encompass the ideals and goals of Reparations and Repatriation.
To allocate permanent seats in the O.A.U. to representatives of the Diaspora., One observer seat to be allocated to AWRRTC, for the purpose of monitoring the progress of Reparations and Repatriation to its successful end.
To implement the OAU Charter as a blueprint for nation building.

9. That AWRRTC is committed to the following:

To facilitate the development of two way orientation centres which will assist the Diaspora to adjust and Re- integrate into Africa and her communities (receiving centres). To this end, a Marcus Garvey Repatriation & Reparations Centre is to be established to facilitate an orderly return to Africa from the Diaspora.
In 1994 an atonement and purification ceremony was performed, in Ghana, led by the President of The National House of Chiefs, representing the Traditional Stools and Skins' seats of authority, under the initiation of the Afrikania Mission, in the spirit of apology for the mistakes of some of their ancestors during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Therefore, in the spirit of re-unification, approaches will be made to the traditional owners of the land/or traditional chiefs in Africa, to grant land to returning African descendants.
To encourage Diasporan and Continental Africans to develop strategies to better educate urban, rural communities and the youth. Additionally, to establish and develop African-centred primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

In conclusion, African people should remain true to their spiritual origins.

“If we Africans forget the atrocities committed against us in the past (slavery & colonialism), surely, Our children will suffer tomorrow!”

SIGNED…………………………. SIGNED………………………
Dr Hamet Maulana, Mrs Debra Kofie
Co-Chairperson, AWRRTC, Co-Chairperson, AWRRTC
12 August/99

DIASPORA