Prince William needs to do more than express his "profound sorrow" over Britain's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade: He needs to take steps to repair it, says Hakim Adi from the University of Chichester in England.

"It's meaningless, really," the Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora tells PEOPLE about the comments made by William at the residence of the Governor-General of Jamaica on March 23, during which the Duke of Cambridge, 39, also described slavery as "abhorrent."

Continues Adi, "One needs to look at the whole context of the royal tour. The whole reason for the visit seems to be to maintain the colonial ties between Britain and the Caribbean, particularly in the wake of the efforts of Barbados and others to become republics."

"The whole tour is designed to reinforce the relationship founded on slavery and colonialism, so it's meaningless," he says. "It has sought to highlight this history, but there's no sense of repair or attempt at a repair."

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