“Someone is stealing from the African countries because the dominant forces, economic forces, in South Africa that kept Black people enslaved are still there,” said Kahinda Otaffire, Uganda’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, TeleSUR reported.

He added that amid rampant economic challenges facing many African governments, which have kept millions of people in abject poverty, the continent’s natural and human resources continue to be exploited and plundered by foreign forces, a reality that continues to this day despite the assertion that Africa is liberated.

“We have allowed the ideologically bankrupt to lead our communities,” Otaffire told the crowd, which included Ugandan and South African soldiers. The South African delegation praised Uganda for its staunch support for the struggle against apartheid.

The ceremony comes only weeks after US President Donald Trump boasted that there was “tremendous business potential” on the African continent, adding that he had friends “trying to get rich” there. His statement came only days prior to US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley arrival in Ethiopia in an initial step towards US re-engagement with the African continent.

“The president is sending me because we want to build our African policy back up to what it was under President George W. Bush; it has fallen and our African friends feel that,” Haley told a George W. Bush Institute event in New York.

Meanwhile, back in Uganda, delegates urged a restructuring of the educational system in order to teach African children the true history of the continent and fulfill its economic needs. They also concluded the time has come for African nations to tighten their belts in order to economically liberate their countries.

In related news, Tanzania announced plans to nationalize diamonds valued at US$29.5 million belonging to a mine majority-owned by London-listed Petra Diamonds, according to Reuters. The mining corporation is accused of under-declaring its exportation in minerals.