November 12, 2025 – Addis Ababa — Restoring stolen lands and erased memories : that was the powerful call made on the third day of the 6th Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA). During the session titled “Opportunities and Challenges of Addressing Historical Land Injustices, Heritage Restitution and Reparations for Africans,” participants explored ways to repair historical land injustices inherited from colonization and to revive Africa’s cultural heritage.
Inside the modestly decorated Hall 2 of the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, the conference took on the tone of a collective introspection. The panel, devoted to land restitution, heritage recovery, and reparations in Africa, brought together scholars, practitioners, and community representatives around a shared conviction: there can be no land justice without addressing the historical wounds of dispossession and cultural plunder.
From the outset, the tone was set:
“When our ancestors are held captive, where do we go?”
cried one speaker, referring to the case of Zimbabwe. For her, land restitution and cultural restitution are two sides of the same coin — both essential to restoring the dignity and identity of African peoples, shattered by centuries of colonization and exploitation.That idea was echoed forcefully by Sir Jonathan Ochom, one of the panelists, who compared colonial dispossession to an “original sin”:
“Colonialism was built on extraction. Land was the first forbidden fruit, torn from African peoples.”
According to Ochom, recognizing this original wrongdoing is essential to rebuilding land policies on ethical and moral foundations. Reforms in countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe have shown progress, but remain incomplete as long as they fail to include full acknowledgment of historical injustices — and a firm commitment not to repeat them.
Concrete examples abounded. The restitution of the Benin Bronzes, accompanied by a €35 million loan to rebuild cultural heritage, illustrates the link between land justice, economic reparations, and cultural renaissance. Similarly, in Nigeria, the return of looted artifacts has paved the way for new museums and the growth of the cultural sector.
But the slow pace of the process raises concern.
“Ninety-five percent of African heritage is still in the West, and barely one percent has been returned,”
lamented one expert. The obstacles are numerous: rigid museum policies, endless provenance research, and outdated international conventions — like the 1970 UNESCO Convention, which excludes objects stolen before that date, i.e., most of the colonial loot.
Tanzanian researcher Laza reminded the audience how colonial conservation policies perpetuated dispossession. In 1896, the creation of the Selous Reserve now Nyerere National Park led to the expulsion of the Ndamba and Mwera peoples from their ancestral lands.
“Conservation was used as an instrument of exclusion,”
he said, calling for a restorative model: one that recognizes displaced communities as the legitimate stewards of ecosystems, ensures fair sharing of tourism revenues, and restores access to sacred sites. Laza advocated for holistic reparations, combining financial compensation, land access, cultural restitution, and symbolic recognition through education and memory.
“Healing the land is also healing memory,”
he summarized, recalling that African human remains displayed in European museums are still regarded in many traditions as living beings torn from their communities.The theological metaphor resonated throughout the session.
“Redemption is possible,”
concluded Jonathan Ochom of Transparency International, urging land governance experts to learn from the cultural restitution movement. If Europe can return statues across continents, he argued,
“there is no justification for denying land—still here—to those who rightfully own it.”Participants agreed that restitution must go beyond the physical return of property. It requires acknowledging wrongs, moral repair, community rehabilitation, and guarantees that such injustices will not recur. A comprehensive framework based on the five pillars of restorative justice restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and non-repetition was cited as a reference model.
By the end of the session, several recommendations emerged:
- Link land justice and cultural restitution through an integrated approach to development and collective memory.
- Strengthen national and regional legal frameworks to explicitly include restitution in land policies.
- Support states and communities in provenance research and negotiations with institutions holding looted artifacts.
- Establish African funds for restitution and memory, ensuring that these processes benefit local populations.
Between emotion and clarity, the voices gathered at this session reaffirmed a simple truth: land justice in Africa cannot be reduced to the redistribution of land titles. It demands a deeper reconciliation — between peoples and their history, their land, and their ancestors. As one speaker concluded,
“To restore land and memory is to restore Africa to itself.”
By kilalopress
