The Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis says he wants a “frank” discussion with his UK counterpart Keir Starmer over the thorny issue of slavery reparations at Commonwealth Summit in Samoa.
This comes following Starmer's remarks on Monday that Britain would not bring the matter to the table at the ongoing summit.
Davis said on Thursday that he would seek the issue of reparations for historical transatlantic slavery to be stressed in the leaders' final statement at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
UK's King Charles III acknowledged calls from some of Britain's former colonies for a reckoning over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The British royal understood “the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he told leaders in Apia on Friday.
He however stopped short of mentioning financial reparations that some leaders at the summit have urged.
Instead, the king urged them to find the “right language” and an understanding of history “to guide us towards making the right choices in future where inequality exists."
Endless discussions
“None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right the ine qualities that endure," said Charles, who is attending his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, as Britain's head of state.
His remarks at the summit's official opening ceremony echoed comments a day earlier by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the meeting should avoid becoming mired in the past and “very, very long endless discussions about reparations.”
The UK leader dismissed calls from Caribbean countries for leaders at the biennial event to explicitly discuss redress for Britain’s role in the slave trade and mention the matter in its final joint statement.
But Britain's handling of its involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade is seen by many observers as a litmus test for the Commonwealth's adaptation to a modern-day world, as other European nations and some British institutions have started to own up to their role in the trade.
“I think the time has come for this to be taken seriously,” said Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at London law firm Leigh Day. “Nobody expects people to pay every single penny for what happened. But I think there needs to be negotiations."
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported by European ships and merchants and sold into slavery.
Those who survived the brutal voyage ended up toiling on plantations under inhumane conditions in the Americas, mostly in Brazil and the Caribbean, while their enslavers profited from their labour.
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