UK minister Kemi Badenoch suggests African nations should apologise for slave trade
Conservative party minister Kemi Badenoch argued that African countries should apologise for their role in the transatlantic slave trade, prompting historians to dispute the claim and emphasize the systemic nature of European involvement.
British Conservative minister Kemi Badenoch wrote on X that if Caribbean nations seek a formal apology from Britain for the transatlantic slave trade, they should also ask descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who participated in the trade to apologise. Her comment came amid renewed calls for a British apology and reparations to Caribbean countries.
Historians Panashe Chigumadzi and Bayo Holsey said the slave trade was a system created and driven by European demand, arguing that African societies were largely victims rather than primary beneficiaries. Holsey noted that European powers profited from the trade and that the wealth generated helped shape the modern economies of Europe and the United States, while most African nations did not retain lasting economic gains.
Both scholars emphasized that the scale of African loss—estimated at over 12 million people forced onto slave ships—destabilised societies on the continent and that subsequent colonial exploitation continued the pattern of exploitation. They argued that reparations should focus on the historic responsibility of European nations rather than on African states.
Chigumadzi also pointed out that Britain compensated enslavers after the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, a payout that was only fully settled in 2015, and that several African countries have issued apologies and symbolic gestures toward diaspora communities. The scholars called for collaborative efforts across the African diaspora to address the legacy of slavery rather than framing the issue as a matter of blame between regions.