African and Caribbean leaders are demanding financial compensation, debt cancellation and formal apologies from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade after adopting a sweeping reparations plan at a conference in Ghana.The 19-point framework calls for financial compensation, debt relief, a Global Reparations Fund and the return of looted cultural artifacts and ancestral remains.It also seeks reforms to international financial institutions that supporters say disadvantage Third World countries.The proposal is expected to be presented at the next UN General Assembly as African and Caribbean nations step up a coordinated push for slavery reparations.The plan was adopted Friday by the African Union and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Reparatory Justice at the end of a three-day conference.REPARATIONS ADVOCATES PUSH FOR PAYMENTS TO BLACK AMERICANS DESPITE BUDGET AND LEGAL CHALLENGESJohn Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, and other dignitaries attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans.
(Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)"None of us gathered in this hall today can be held personally responsible for the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade," Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama told delegates."History does not ask us to inherit guilt, but it asks us to inherit responsibility," Mahama added.The proposal does not identify specific countries that should provide compensation or issue formal apologies.TULSA MAYOR PROPOSES $100M REPARATIONS PLAN FOR DESCENDANTS OF 1921 TULSA RACE MASSACREJohn Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, lays a wreath at Christiansborg Castle in Accra during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans on Friday.(Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)It does call for debt cancellation, climate justice financing, expand...