Of 46 signatories to the historic 1975 Lomé Convention, only two remain alive, while six died by execution. The distance between a conference room and a firing squad was shorter than anyone imagined.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, December 11, 2025 - They are old men now—90 and 80 respectively—and they carry a memory that weighs more than half a century.

Percival James Patterson in Kingston, Jamaica, and Vernon Johnson Mwaanga in Lusaka, Zambia, are the last living witnesses to a moment when the post-colonial world believed it could reshape global power through signatures and good faith.