African Union - Colonialism

The African Union, born in 2002 as evolution of the Organization of African Unity active since 1963, faces for the first time the issue of reparations with Resolution 1339, approved by the Council of Ministers of May 27 - June 1, 1991 by which it decides to establish a group of Eminent African and Africans to the Diaspora in the relevant fields to set out clearly the extent of Africa’s exploitation, the liability of the perpetrators and the strategies for achieving reparation.

The following year, with Resolution 1373 adopted by the Council of Ministers of February 24 - 28, 1992 it mandates the Secretary-General to form the support structures to the Committee of eminent personalities, thanking the Chief MKO Abiola of Nigeria for his commitment and its shares in favor of reparations, while With Resolution 1391 adopted by the Council of Ministers of June 22 - 28 1992 it calls on the Committee of eminent personalities and the Member States to give their full support to the measures undertaken by the Organization of African Unity in reparations for the wrongs done to Africa with the exploitation and the slave trade.

From July 1905 to July 1907 the originary peoples of the southern part of German East Africa rebelled against the colonization acted by the German empire that repressed them brutally during the Maji Maji war killing tens of thousand of people.

On February 8, 2017 during a parliamentary question (88. Mheshimiwa Vedasto Edgar Ngombale) about the measures taken by the Government to compensate the victims of the Maji Maji war the Minister of Defence and National Service Hussein Mwinyi said that his Ministry will work to request for reparations to Germany, taking steps together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among the articles of this period we have chosen for this column Global helmsman Xi Jinping steps up with charm offensive by Pepe Escobar published on Asia Times.

Xi instead is promoting the notion of serial win-win deals; and that’s why his positioning is essentially the ultimate glorious pitch for the New Silk Road, a.k.a. One Belt, One Road (Obor) project, largely featured in the last part of his speech.

Everyone knows about Obor as an essential tool to tweak the Chinese model; develop the Chinese Far West; open an array of Eurasian markets; promote the internationalization of the yuan; and of course consolidate a major geopolitical shift, not least by neutralizing most of the Obama/Clinton “pivot to Asia.”