|
 In
1999, The Honorable Matthieu Ke’re’kou President
of the Republic of Benin hosted a conference to apologize for
the involvement of his nation’s
ancestors in the slave trade. Interested parties attended the conference
from many parts of the world including members of the Diaspora
from the United States. The conference became just a stepping-stone
to full restoration between the African Diaspora and the Nations
of Africa.
The inspiration to heal the wounds of this terrible
event in history came from the words of President Ke’re’kou
as part of his address to the conference.
“We owe to ourselves
never to forget these absent ones standing among us who did
not die of their
own death, to acknowledge our share of responsibility in the humiliation
and opprobrium, to feel the shame for what our other absent ones
did, to look differently at the false images, to surrender to forgiveness
in order to start a fresh and pursue our goal towards progress
and free ourselves from misery without succumbing to vanity
of material
possession.”
For Africans this awareness opens the way to forgiveness
and reconciliation”. The Reconciliation and Development Corporation was formed to facilitate
this process and to serve as a partner to the Government of Benin
and other African Nation. The Corporation was commissioned by
a meeting held at the Benin Embassy in August of 2002 and ratified
at a meeting at the Embassy on April 1st 2003. |
