African Union says Pay up for slavery
/The African Union plans to relaunch attempts to gain reparations for
the countless Africans who were abducted from the continent and sold
into slavery over the centuries, the pan-continental body said.
In a statement released late on Friday from its headquarters in Addis
Ababa, the African Union said its executive Commission would push the
issue, and would also call on African parliaments to do so. "In the
coming months the Commission will relaunch a committee on repairing the
damage caused by slavery," said spokesperson Adam Thiam. He added that
the AU was calling on African countries to take measures to outlaw
slavery like those adopted by France in May 2001. The new French law
classifies both slavery and the slave trade as a crime against
humanity. Talks on the issue took place on the sidelines of
celebrations in Ethiopia to mark what would have been the 60th birthday
of the late Jamaican singer Bob Marley. [more]
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