Pan-African reparations are not only about repairing the past. They are about ending injustice where it still lives. Ambazonia’s case reminds the world that decolonization delayed is justice denied, and that reparations without political truth remain incomplete.
By Ali Dan Ismael Editor-in-Chief
Executive Framing
The contemporary Pan-African reparations movement—revitalized through diaspora summits, continental dialogues, and global advocacy—represents a moral and political reckoning with the enduring consequences of slavery, colonialism, and post-colonial dispossession.
The case of Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons) stands as a living, unresolved chapter of that same historical injustice. Ambazonia’s struggle aligns naturally with Pan-African reparations platforms because it is not merely a question of governance failure, but of unfinished decolonization, illegal annexation, economic dispossession, and structural violence rooted in colonial arrangements.
Ambazonia as an Unfinished Decolonization Case
Unlike many post-colonial states, Ambazonia’s grievance is not retrospective alone. It is ongoing. Southern Cameroons was a United Nations Trust Territory whose people exercised a conditional right to self-government. That process was never lawfully completed in accordance with international law. The resulting annexation produced a system of political erasure, cultural suppression, and economic extraction that persists today. Pan-African reparations discourse must therefore include active and unresolved colonial injuries, not only historical ones. Ambazonia exemplifies this category.
Reparations Beyond Slavery: Structural and Political Harm
Modern Pan-African reparations frameworks increasingly recognize that repair must address political dispossession, resource extraction without consent, cultural and linguistic erasure, and militarized repression of colonized populations. Ambazonia meets every one of these criteria. Its people have endured the loss of self-governance, systematic underdevelopment, and large-scale displacement. These are not abstract harms. They are lived realities with generational consequences. This places Ambazonia squarely within the expanded reparations framework now advocated by African intellectuals and diaspora platforms.
Diaspora Mobilization and Moral Consistency
Diaspora-led summits and reparations initiatives emphasize responsibility, transnational solidarity, and the reclamation of African agency. Ambazonia’s diaspora has long been engaged in legal advocacy, humanitarian support, and international awareness campaigns. Moral consistency requires that Pan-African reparations movements recognize and amplify ongoing decolonization struggles, not only historical narratives that are politically convenient or safely concluded.
Fair Global Trade and Economic Repair
Calls for fairer global trade resonate deeply with Ambazonia’s experience. The territory possesses strategic ports, fertile agricultural zones, and energy resources that have been exploited without local consent or equitable development. Reparations must therefore include restorative economic frameworks that return agency and decision-making power to affected populations. Ambazonia’s inclusion strengthens the argument that reparative justice must restore economic sovereignty, not merely redistribute aid.
Strategic Value to the Pan-African Reparations Movement
Including Ambazonia within Pan-African reparations advocacy enhances the movement’s credibility and coherence. It demonstrates a commitment to justice even where the political costs are higher, connects historical colonial harms to present-day consequences, and grounds reparations discourse in urgent human realities. Ambazonia is not an outlier. It is a test case.
Position Statement
Ambazonia affirms that the Pan-African reparations movement must address both historical and ongoing colonial injustices. Any reparations framework that excludes unresolved decolonization cases risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative. Ambazonia therefore calls for inclusion, dialogue, and principled solidarity within diaspora-led reparations platforms, consistent with the movement’s commitment to justice, dignity, and African self-determination.
Conclusion
Pan-African reparations are not only about repairing the past. They are about ending injustice where it still lives. Ambazonia’s case reminds the world that decolonization delayed is justice denied, and that reparations without political truth remain incomplete.
Ali Dan Ismael Editor-in-Chief The Independentist
