France open to engaging on slavery reparations, says Ghana
The African nation says discussions with President Macron last week included economic inequities, structural racism and looted artefacts
Ghana said France was open to having discussions with a coalition of countries that are calling for reparations for transatlantic slavery, following a meeting last week with President Emmanuel Macron.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, accompanied by Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and other officials, held talks with Macron in Paris on Wednesday.
Ablakwa said on X after the meeting that Macron had indicated France was open to discussions on reparations, including the return of looted artefacts, addressing global economic inequities and dismantling structural racism.
An official from Élysée Palace said on Sunday that both countries discussed France’s efforts to return culturally significant objects and human remains, as well as the legal frameworks around these restitutions.
The official did not mention the additional measures cited by Ablakwa.
The meeting followed the United Nations’ adoption last month of a Ghana-led resolution recognising slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations.