“What has been, has been,” said French President François Hollande as he ruled out payment of reparations for the role of the state-owned CDC bank in the slave trade.
During his speech to mark France’s slavery remembrance day, Hollande went on to say: “History cannot be rubbed out. It cannot be subjected to an accounting process that…would be impossible to complete.”
His comments are despite allegations from the Council of Black Associations that a debt of 21 billion euros has crippled Haiti for centuries.
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