'Sceptics, naysayers, alarmists should be aware US ready to work with Ghana on reparations despite UN vote' — Ablakwa

Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says Ghana has received formal communication from the United States indicating its willingness to work with the country towards a fairer and more just global order.

Mr Ablakwa welcomed the development despite the US voting against the UN resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity.

He made the disclosure at the Next Steps High-Level Side Event on Reparatory Justice, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York last Wednesday.

"I must also use this opportunity to commend the United States of America.

"We have received formal notice from the United States of America that even though they voted against this resolution, they are willing to begin to work with us towards that fair and just world we all seek.

"So to the sceptics, to the naysayers, to the alarmists, this is your response," Mr Ablakwa stated.

The Foreign Affairs Minister expressed hope that the US engagement would encourage other countries holding African cultural heritage to participate in the restitution process.

He said the Accra Next Steps Commitments were intended to strengthen cooperation rather than create divisions among Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas.

Mr Ablakwa also cited a new US law on the restitution of Jewish cultural property as an example of the principle that should be extended to African heritage taken during periods of colonialism and conflict.

He argued that the principle underlying the legislation—that looted cultural property should be returned regardless of where it is held or how long it has remained there—should also apply to African artefacts.

“If that principle can apply so beautifully to the Jews and we commend the US for this new law signed by President Donald Trump, we are also deserving of the same principle,” he said.

Mr Ablakwa also called on European countries that maintain legal restrictions on the deaccessioning of national collections to review and repeal such laws, pointing to France and the United States as examples.

He said the issue of restitution was not merely an abstract historical debate, stressing that significant portions of Africa’s cultural heritage remained outside the continent.

"Restitution is very important in this generation. In museums in Europe and the United States of America, in private collections," he said.

He noted that Africa’s history, represented in sacred wood carvings, royal bronzes, Kente and manuscripts, remained preserved in collections thousands of miles away from the communities that created them.

Mr Ablakwa stressed that Ghana’s reparatory justice campaign was not intended to create division, insisting that the initiative was being pursued in good faith.

He acknowledged that reparatory justice was a difficult and emotionally charged subject but said the current generation had a responsibility to establish a new relationship based on trust, reconciliation and cooperation.

The Minister also highlighted recent developments in the restitution of African cultural heritage, including the Netherlands’ cataloguing of 2,000 Ghanaian artefacts for return, Germany’s engagement with the Kpando traditional area and France’s legislative initiatives on restitution.

He further cited the return of the Djidji Ayokwe talking drum to Côte d’Ivoire as evidence of progress, while calling for such efforts to be transformed into a permanent and coordinated global system for restitution.