On Sunday, Africans marked the 200th anniversary of Britain’s abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade at a ceremony at a former slave fort at Elmina in Ghana. Elmina was sub-Saharan Africa’s first permanent slave trading post. South African musician Hugh Masekela spoke at the ceremony.

Hugh Masekela: “If you look at Africans all over the world in any society, whether it’s Brazil, Colombia, United States, the Caribbean, we live in squalor. So the state of slavery from a dungeon point of view hasn’t changed. And it’s very important for us to realize that the impact of slavery hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s getting worse.”

Meanwhile, thousands of people marched in London on Saturday to mark the anniversary, as well. Prime Minister Tony Blair released a statement by video, but he declined to give a formal apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade.

Tony Blair: “It is an opportunity also for the United Kingdom to express our deep sorrow and regret for our nation’s role in the slave trade and for the unbearable suffering, individually and collectively, that it caused.”

While Britain ended its role in the slave trade in 1807, slavery remained legal in the United States for another six decades.