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Benin to Grant Nationality to Descendants of Enslaved People

The Benin government has voted to offer nationality to "people with African ancestry deported as part of the slave trade".

Many enslaved Africans were dispatched from the shores of West Africa, including Benin. On 20 November, the government published the terms of a decree adopted on 30 July allowing Afro-descendants to be recognized as Beninese citizens.

The government said that the slave trade had "left deep wounds on Africa and the descendants of the deported people" and that it wished to help reconnect these descendants with their origins. 

Under the new law, applicants for Beninese nationality must meet the following criteria: "Be 18 years of age or older, provide proof of his Afro descent by authenticated testimonies, civil status document or DNA test carried out in a laboratory approved by Benin." The applicant's father or mother must also have been born before 1944. 

InFocus

IsaacKaledzi/DW

The "door of no return" at the Cape Coast Castle was the point of no return for slaves

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