“This act, which is symbolic, humane and historic, is not merely an administrative gesture. It is a gesture of the soul, a return to one’s roots, a hand extended to those whom history, in its brutality, had torn from this land,” the government said in a statement on Monday, following the ceremony.
By enacting the My Afro Origins Law last year, Benin joined countries like Ghana and Guinea-Bissau in offering citizenship to people with an African ancestor who was taken from their homeland as part of the transatlantic slave trade.
Descendants can apply to become a citizen via a recently launched website, external.
Just last week, Benin appointed renowned American filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, a seasoned producer and author, as its ambassadors for African-Americans in the US.
Benin’s coastline is part of what was once known as the Slave Coast – a major departure point for enslaved Africans shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
Between 1580 and 1727, the Kingdom of Whydah, a major slave-trading centre located on what is now Benin’s coast, is estimated to have exported more than a million Africans to the US, the Caribbean and Brazil.