Tanzania, May 4 -- For decades, calls for colonial reparations in Africa were dismissed in Western capitals as rhetorical gestures-moral appeals from the margins that could be acknowledged with vague "expressions of regret" and little else. By the end of 2025, that era of complacency had begun to close.

With the adoption of the Algiers Declaration, the African Union (AU) has shifted from grievance to strategy, launching what amounts to a coordinated legal and political campaign.

Emerging from the International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism held between November 30 and December 1, the declaration lays out a structured roadmap for the AU's 2025 theme: Justice through reparations.

At its core is a bold demand-to codify coloniali...