Stop the Maangamizi: Africans 'never received even an apology for slavery'

Thousands of people have handed in a petition to the UK government urging it to acknowledge the damages of the genocide and ecocide against African people during the colonisation period. Petitioners are also calling for the end of the so-called "Maangamizi", which translates from Swahili as African genocide, which they said still occurs today.

"We, the undersigned, recognise the continued, internal occupation, colonisation, destabilisation, terrorisation and oppression of Afrikan heritage communities," read the petition on Change.org. "The proliferation of guns, the distribution and sale of drugs and the resultant Black on Black self-annihilation has reached epidemic proportions, causing harm to Afrikan heritage communities within and beyond the United Kingdom; prolonging the (Maangamizi) against Afrikan people all over the world."

The petition is part of a worldwide campaign by the International Social Movement for African Reparations that aims to raise awareness on the negative effects of colonialism, neo-colonialism and slavery. The campaign has been organising rallies all over the world, the last of which occurred in London on 1 August 2016.

Thousands of people participated in the protest across London and chanted, among other things, "Black Power" and "enough is enough".

"The petition looks at African slavery, colonisation of countries, neo-colonisation, genocide and ecocide of the African people," Nishika Hewitt Nnabude, from the Stop the Maangamizi campaign, told IBTimes UK.

A protester said: "We as Africans, have never received any form of reparations for slavery, we have never received even an apology and an acknowledgement that it was and is a crime against humanity."

When contacted by IBTimes UK, a spokesperson for the UK government said: "This government abhors slavery, and indeed the Prime Minister has announced a new task force to drive further progress in tackling slavery and people trafficking. It the long-standing position of the UK that we do not believe reparations is the right approach – we want to focus on the future and work to address shared global challenges and spread prosperity."