Ghanaian President Mahama Calls for End to Colonial-Era Resource Exploitation at UN

UNITED NATIONS, September 25. /TASS/. Africa will no longer accept a colonial model of exploiting its natural resources, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said in an address to the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

"Let me warn. Africa will not remain a passive arena for a new scramble for resources. Critical mineral extraction in Africa must not replicate the colonial-era exploitation. We will process our minerals at home. We will build local industries that create dignified jobs for our youth. And we will retain the value of our natural resources in Africa," Mahama said. He added that Africa seeks equal partnership anchored in mutual respect.

The president called on the international community to move beyond symbolism and dismantle what he described as the "persistent engines of exploitation" that continue to hold Africa and the Global South in subjugation. He cited unfair global trade regimes, predatory resource extraction and the existing global financial architecture among these mechanisms.

Mahama said developing nations and countries of the Global South borrow at interest rates up to eight times higher than industrialized nations. According to him, African and Caribbean countries hit by climate disasters are forced to take on crippling debt to rebuild after floods and droughts they did not cause.

"Governments are forced into a tragic choice: to service predatory debt or serve their people. We demand reform. We need long-term, affordable, and accessible concessionary financing that enables developing economies to invest in human capital, industrialisation, and climate adaptation," he stressed.

The Ghanaian president also raised the issue of reparations from former colonial powers, noting that the structural legacies of slavery continue to fuel existing global inequalities.

"But real repair demands structural transformation. It requires dismantling the persistent engines of exploitation: unfair global trade regimes, predatory resource extraction, discriminatory credit ratings, unsustainable debt burdens, and the continued export of raw materials from Africa while real value addition and job creation occur elsewhere," he said.