The US’s ambassador to the UN made similar points during his speech, external, saying his country “does not recognise a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred”.
In addition, Dan Negrea said the US objected to the “cynical usage of historical wrongs as a leverage point to reallocate modern resources to people and nations who are distantly related to the historical victims”.
Ghana, one of the main gateways for the transatlantic slave trade, has long been a leading advocate for reparations.
Forts, where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans were once held under inhuman conditions, remain standing along the West African country’s coast.
As well as the “legal problems” around reparations, the US ambassador said the resolution was unclear as “to whom the recipients of ‘reparatory justice’ would be”.
Negrea also responded to Mahama’s earlier criticism of Donald Trump’s administration for “normalising the erasure of black history”.
Since returning to power, the US president has targeted American cultural and historical institutions for promoting what he calls “anti-American ideology”.
Trump’s orders have led to moves such as the restoration of Confederate statues and an attempt to dismantle a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia.
“These policies are becoming a template for other governments as well as some private institutions,” Mahama had said on Tuesday.
But Negrea said President Trump had done “more for black Americans than any other president”.
“He is working around the clock to deliver for them and make our country greater than ever,” he said.
The resolution also calls for cultural artefacts stolen during the colonial era to be returned to their countries of origin.
“We want a return of all those looted artefacts, which represent our heritage, our culture and our spiritual significance,” Ablakwa said.
“All those artefacts looted for many centuries into the colonial era ought to be returned.”
