Peter Mwaura
5 September 2008
opinion
Nairobi — Last week, Libya became the first African country to receive apologies and compensation from a former colonial power.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologised to the North African country for the damage inflicted by Italy during 40 years of colonial rule and signed an agreement to pay $5 billion as compensation.
Will the Italian move set a precedent? Will the other former colonial masters in Africa be willing to pay reparations for the civil wrongs and human rights abuses they visited on their so-called subjects?
Restitution must begin by saying you are sorry and acknowledging that colonialism was a crime against humanity whose consequences are still with us. An apology is required from countries that benefited from colonialism.
Mr Berlusconi had no qualms about that. "It is my duty, as a head of government to express to you in the name of the Italian people our regret and apologies for the deep wounds that we have caused you," he told the Libyans.
He even bowed before the son of Omar Mukhtar, the hero of Libyan resistance who was executed by the Italians for resisting their occupation.
Can we expect, for example, that one day a British PM will bow before a descendant of Mau Mau hero Dedan Kimathi and say: "I'm sorry for all the deep wounds we have caused you"?
Can we expect the British to acknowledge the massacre and devastation they caused during their punitive expeditions against the various Kenyan tribes when they first entered the country at the beginning of the 20th century?
Will they pay reparations? Or will they take the position of the Germans in Namibia (formerly German South West Africa)?
The German Schutztruppe -- imperial colonial troops -- systematically exterminated more than 100,000 Herero between 1904 and 1908 so that Germans could settle in their land. In 1985, the United Nations' Whitaker Report recognised Germany's attempt to exterminate the Herero as one of the earliest attempts at genocide.
On August 16, 2004, the 100th anniversary of the start of the Herero genocide, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's development aid minister, officially apologised for the first time. She expressed grief about the genocide committed by the Germans.
"We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time," she said. She also admitted that the massacres were equivalent to genocide. But she ruled out paying reparations.
Germany justified the refusal to pay up by declaring that it is Namibia's largest aid donor and has given more than $1 billion (Sh67 billion).
Up till last week's Italian confession and penance, the former colonial powers had refused to acknowledge the legal and moral basis for reparations for the genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, human rights abuses and other international injustices they committed in Africa and whose consequences continue to haunt us.
Italy has indeed come a long way since 1911 when it invaded Libya. It is the same country, under fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, that 24 years after invading Libya also invaded Ethiopia.
Both Ethiopia and Italy were members of the League of Nations (forerunner of the UN), but the league could not control Italy or protect Ethiopia.
In that invasion, Italy also used phosgene, a colourless gas which gained infamy as a chemical weapon during World War I, and mustard gas -- both banned by international conventions.
Will the next news be that Mr Berlusconi has paid reparations to the Ethiopians for attacking them with poison gas?
When Italy invaded Libya, much of the European thinking was that colonialism was legal. But the accompaniments of colonialism had certainly been outlawed by international conventions and international customary law.
Reparations for such crimes are recognised in international law. There are, in fact, many examples in recent history of reparations being paid.
Germany paid reparations to the victims of the Holocaust and in 1952 reached agreement with Israel for the payment of $222 million for the costs of resettling 500,000 Jews who had fled from Nazi-controlled countries.
In 1990, Austria made payments totalling $25 million to survivors of the Jewish holocaust. Japan recently made reparation payments to South Korea for acts committed during the invasion and occupation of the country by Japan.
Most recently, the UN Security Council passed a resolution requiring Iraq to pay reparations for invading Kuwait.
Mr Mwaura is the director of the East Africa School of Journalism. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the school
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It's a straight business deal!
US$ 5 billion of reparation against US$ 15 billion of business deal!!
It's the mirage of a reparation that hides juicy business deals behind. Big commissions will go into the private accounts of the Kadaffi's.
Does this operation not look like being a second Italian colonisation of Libya? The first was a physical occupation. This time it will be the strengthening of Gadaffi & co with corrupt practices worth more than the US 5 billion of reparation costs out of the US$ 15 billion contracts to be extended to Italian firms.
The mafiosos are quite… [Read Full Text]