Algeria Mobilises Africa Against Colonial Crimes

The issue of colonial crimes in Africa has returned to the continental stage, coinciding with an international conference hosted by Algeria on November 30 and December 1, 2025, under the high patronage of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

African officials will discuss mechanisms and ways to unify the African position on historical justice, reparations, the return of cultural property, and the preservation of collective memory.

This international conference is a significant continental event. It falls within the framework of the decision made at the African Union Summit of Heads of States and Governments in February 2025, which endorsed the initiative of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to organise a conference dedicated to celebrating and implementing the African Union’s 2025 theme: “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations.”

It is worth noting that Algeria, under President Tebboune’s leadership, is working to promote collective reflection and action aimed at criminalising colonialism, slavery, and apartheid as crimes against humanity, in line with the relevant recommendations issued by the African Union.

According to the event’s document, reviewed by Echorouk, this important continental conference will bring together ministers, legal experts, historians, academics, and specialists from Africa and the Caribbean to discuss an agenda focused on the human dimensions of colonial crimes. This will involve opening a discussion on the intergenerational traumas, as well as addressing the economic dimensions, such as the exploitation of resources and the unjust economic systems inherited from the colonial era.

The conference will also explore legal avenues to strengthen the criminalisation of colonialism and establish a permanent African mechanism for reparations and the restoration of rights. Furthermore, it will address the cultural dimension, including the looting and destruction of African cultural heritage, and the environmental impacts, including nuclear tests targeting African populations.

Following discussions on these issues, the conference is expected to adopt the “Algiers Declaration,” which will serve as a future reference point for the African continent on all matters related to highlighting the crimes of colonialism and acknowledging their consequences. The “Algiers Declaration” will then be presented to the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2026 for consideration and ratification.

As the host country and initiator, Algeria plays a leading role in supporting and strengthening the African system of historical justice by providing a high-level platform aimed at intensifying international efforts to explicitly recognise the crimes of colonialism and establish practical ways to redress the damages caused by colonisers.