President John Dramani Mahama has placed the African diaspora at the centre of Ghana’s national and continental development vision, urging Africans worldwide to take collective ownership of their history and future as the fight for reparative justice gains renewed momentum.
Opening the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra, President Mahama said the Summit was designed not only to reflect on the painful legacy of slavery and colonialism, but to confront their enduring consequences and forge a united, forward-looking agenda grounded in justice, truth and self-determination.
Held under the theme “Resetting Ghana: The Diaspora as the 17th Region,” the two-day Summit seeks to formally reposition Africans in the diaspora as critical stakeholders in Ghana’s development while strengthening Pan-African solidarity and coordinated global action on reparations.
President Mahama stressed that Africa could no longer allow others to define its narrative or erase the historical crimes that laid the foundation for today’s global inequalities. He noted that Ghana’s forts and castles stand as enduring symbols of a shared history, linking Africans on the continent to millions of their descendants across the Atlantic.
He argued that divisions along colonial borders, ethnicity, class and geography were deliberately created to weaken African peoples, and called for a renewed commitment to unity, describing it as the continent’s most powerful instrument for transformation.
On reparations, the President clarified that justice must go beyond financial compensation to include official acknowledgment of wrongdoing, institutional reforms, debt relief, the return of looted cultural artefacts and sustained investment in Africa’s development. He reiterated Ghana’s intention to table a motion at the United Nations General Assembly to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity.
Adding a regional perspective, President of the Council of Ministers of Togo, Mr Faure Gnassingbé, said the reparations movement was about building a just and stable future, not revisiting the past. He noted that slavery and colonialism reshaped the global economy by creating deep productivity and technological gaps that continue to disadvantage Africa.
He described the African diaspora as a strategic asset for continental sovereignty, warning that Africa could not fully realise its potential without harnessing the influence, resources and networks of its people abroad.
African Union High Representative for Silencing the Guns, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, credited President Mahama with helping to elevate reparations from moral advocacy to a structured continental agenda. He said the African Union had integrated reparatory justice into Agenda 2063 and was working to translate political commitments into concrete outcomes.
Dr Ibn Chambas noted that the Accra Summit reflected the AU’s belief that Africa’s long-term prosperity was closely tied to effective diaspora engagement, particularly in areas such as trade, innovation and development.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said Ghana’s recognition of the diaspora as the 17th Region was a practical demonstration of Pan-Africanism and a deliberate rejection of historical divisions. He said the Summit aimed to move the reparations debate from symbolism to coordinated global action supported by diplomacy and strategic partnerships.
U.S. civil rights attorney Mr Benjamin Crump said the Summit sent a powerful message to Africans in the diaspora that the continent was ready to lead the global conversation on reparations. He noted that addressing intergenerational trauma required truth, accountability and meaningful repair, adding that Africa and its diaspora were now organising to claim justice rather than waiting for it.
The Diaspora Summit 2025 has positioned Accra once again as a focal point for global Pan-African dialogue, with participants united around a shared vision of justice, healing and collective advancement.
