Opoku starts by pleading with his ancestors to pardon him and his fellow-Africans for not having been able to persuade he imperialist forces to allow us to bury our ancestors as required by African customs and traditions. ‘For many of us, the dead are not gone.’
African governments should not encourage visits by heads of State or Government ‘to partially satisfy their own conscience’ without really doing much.
He critically reviews the efforts made by France (the Martinez-report as a set-back), Germany (regret but no apology by German president in Tanzania; visit motivated by German interest in mineral resources) and Great Britain (delay of Benin-restitutions after Nigerian decision to reaffirm the rights of the Oba in the Benin objects that are returned; massive theft in BM).
