$42.6 Billion Petitioned by the East Africa Nation- Burundi: In Reparations for Colonial Statutes

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- Burundi which is on one of the East African nations, is an erstwhile German colony and subsisted under Belgium rule until attaining independence for almost sixty years ago. According to reports, the East African nation schedule to ask Germany and Belgium – former rulers to pay damages and not just cash to the tune of €36 billion ($42.6 billion) in reparations for colonial rule, media reports released on August 16th, 2020 let out.

Furthermore, the government’s parliament has put concurrently a panel of specialists to evaluate the damage done during colonialism and recommend on the cost of damages, according to Radio France International. The broadcaster announced, once the amount has been agreed on, Burundi schemes to send these propositions to the German and Belgium administrations. In excursus, Burundi also aims to urge the European nations to reinstate extorted ancient heirlooms and archive paraphernalia.

Heretofore 1890, Germany colonized Burundi which came to be part of German East Africa. After World War I, the country was ruled by Belgium until it attained its independence in 1962. During the colonial epoch, the ruling powers intensified the divide between the Hutu and Tutsi factions. This nonetheless, rendered to fatal ethnic discord between them in the 1970s and then another civil war for twelve years from 1993, which killed some 300,000 people.

The Belgium government carried out a program of kidnapping biracial children and Belgium Congo during the 1940s and 1950s. And concurrently Belgium officially asked forgiveness for this in 2009.

Additionally, although less well-known than other colonial powers, Germany was at one time the fourth-largest colonial power in the world. In upswing to German East Africa, which was made up of present-day Rwanda and parts of Tanzania in expansion to Burundi, Germany had sovereignty in what is now Ghana and Namibia and elsewhere.

The German administration has been in consultations since 2015 with Namibia — the government yearns for both financial reparations and an official apology from Germany for casualties sustained and crimes perpetrated during its colonial legislation. And Belgium is scheduling to set up a committee of connoisseurs to educate its government on how to rectify with its colonial history.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent

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