In late February 2025, a group of former African heads of state and finance experts gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, to sign the Cape Town Declaration – a bold call for a comprehensive debt relief program for African nations. This initiative, led by the African Leaders Debt Relief Initiative (ALDRI), comes at a time when Africa’s economy is shackled by a debt burden that is suffocating development, forcing governments to prioritize repayments to Western and private creditors over essential services like education, healthcare, and infrastructure.

The numbers are staggering. As of 2021, Africa’s external debt had skyrocketed to $824 billion, with many countries spending over 60% of their GDP servicing these loans. In 2025 alone, Africa is projected to spend $74 billion on debt repayments – money that could instead fund schools, hospitals, and roads. But this crisis is not a simple case of financial mismanagement; it is a direct continuation of a system of economic subjugation that was established during colonial rule and perfected in the post-independence era through institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

For decades, African nations have fought to break free from Western economic dominance, and many visionary leaders have proposed radical solutions to liberate the continent. Among the most ambitious efforts were those led by Muammar Gaddafi, who sought to establish a gold-backed African currency, an African Central Bank, and an African Organization of Natural Resources – initiatives that, had they succeeded, could have ended Africa’s dependence on Western financial institutions.

Africa’s modern debt crisis cannot be understood without revisiting its colonial past. European powers extracted resources........

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