The Accra declaration

The Accra Declaration adopted by the Heads of States at the conclusion of the African Union Summit states:

The Assembly of the Union, meeting at its 9th Ordinary Session in Accra, Ghana, from 1 to 3 July 2007,

RECALLING our decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 156 (VIII)adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2007 on the need for a “Grand Debate on the Union Government” with a view to providing a clear vision of the future of the African Union and of African unity;

CONVINCED that the ultimate objective of the African Union is the United States of Africa with a Union Government as envisaged by the founding fathers of the Organization of African Unity and, in particular, the visionary leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana;

ALSO CONVINCED of the need for common responses to the major challenges of globalization facing Africa and boosting regional integration processes through an effective continental mechanism;

RECOGNIZING that opening up narrow domestic markets to greater trade and investment through freer movement of persons, goods, services and capital would accelerate growth thus, reducing excessive weaknesses of many of our Member States;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that the Union Government should be built on common values that need to be identified and agreed upon as benchmarks;

ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of involving the African peoples in order to ensure that the African Union is a Union of peoples and not just a "Union of states and governments", as well as the African Diaspora in the processes of economic and political integration of our continent;

HEREBY DECLARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. We agree to accelerate the economic and political integration of the African continent, including the formation of a Union Government for Africa with the ultimate objective of creating the United States of Africa.

2. We agree on the following steps to attaining the Union Government:

a) to rationalize and strengthen the Regional Economic Communities, and harmonize their activities, in conformity with our earlier decision, so as to lead to the creation of an African Common Market, through the stages set in the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty), with a reviewed and shorter timeframe to be agreed upon in order to accelerate the economic and, where possible, political integration;

b) to conduct immediately, an Audit of the Executive Council in terms of Article 10 of the Constitutive Act, the Commission as well as the other organs of the African Union in accordance with the Terms of Reference adopted by the 10th Extraordinary Session of our Executive Council held in Zimbali, South Africa on 10 May 2007;

c) To establish a ministerial Committee to examine the following:

i.) Identification of the contents of the Union Government concept and its relations with national governments;

ii.) Identification of domains of competence and the impact of the establishment of the Union Government on the sovereignty of member states;

iii.) Definition of the relationship between the Union Government and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs),

iv.) Elaboration of the road map together with timeframes for establishing the Union Government; and

v.) Identification of additional sources of financing the activities of the Union.

3. The outcome of the audit and the work of the Ministerial Committee will be submitted to the Executive Council, to make appropriate recommendations to the next ordinary session of our Assembly.

Now!

Now we must be aware! Now we must act!

We must be aware of our recent history. We must be aware of the last 500 years of torture, racism, slavery, colonialism, jim crow, apartheid, lies and oppression.

We must be aware of our lot. Of suffering, disadvantage, ignorance, war, poverty, disease and death.

Now we must act!

The 9th ordinary session of the heads of state of Africa starts today, the only agenda is the grand debate on African Unity. Act!

East African Federation Now!

Friends,

First I must apologize for not updating this blog as frequently as I should. Work and professional commitments have been overwhelming in recent times and as a result I haven't had as much time to research and write. As a result I will only be updating this blog once a week. I know that this may not be a very comprehensive treatment of the subject matter since there is so much to say and write. I am working to remedy that and hopefully the situation will be resolved soon. Bear with me.

To the matter at hand. Good things are happening. Some have said this is the African millennium, and the events shaping up on the continent may be setting the stage for just that.

I think the most encouraging developments this week are the accession of Rwanda and Burundi into the East African Community(EAC).

Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda went on record saying "the community was the only answer to the "colonial irrationalities" that divided Africa with artificial borders. He said East Africa was the most well-placed to lead Africa out of "the straight jacket of political balkanisation."

"A balkanised African continent will not guarantee the future of the black race as well as other African peoples," he argued.

He warned that Africa was now threatened by global warming. "Who is responsible for global warming? Certain countries which I do not want to mention because I might not be given aid," Museveni explained, drawing laughter from the audience.

Speaking in a mixture of Kiswahili and English, he outlined what he described as other distortions that colonialists created. For instance, he said, the hinterland of Uganda was cut off from its gateway along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coastlines.

You can read all about it here and here

Federation

The East African Community is seeking to fast track it's formation into a political federation. In fact the plan is to write a constitution that will see East Africa have a single government and one President by 2009, and presidential and parliamentary elections by universal suffrage by the year 2013.

In effect East Africa( specifically Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) should be functioning as a single country by 2009.

This will provide considerable impetus for the unity of the rest of the continent. East Africa intends to lead by example, be one of the foundations for African Unity and provide a considerable boost to the momentum for African Federation, which is growing.

East Africa is already engaging its citizens in this discussion, village meetings sponsored by each of the governments have been collecting views on this initiative. A people driven initiative. The outcome has been positive given that most East Africans, predictably, are for Federation.

Progress has been good. According to a recent report on the matter:

A committee led by Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako, consulted East Africans and had recommended that a referendum be held in September 2009 to decide on a federal President and Parliament by 2013.

According to the Wako report, the East African federation would be launched in 2010 with the presidents holding rotational presidency and the first elections for a new federal president and Parliament would take place between January and March 2013.

The three countries which were joined by Rwanda and Burundi yesterday are currently carrying out nationwide consultative meetings seeking views on the fast-tracking of the political federation.

According to President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya:

"With a land area of 1.9 million square kilometers of Africa's most productive landscapes, continued GDP growth of over $41 billion, the East African Community has the potential to be a formidable economic power. E.A. sovereignty will be fundamental to buttressing and building a political entity with democracy."

At the just concluded summit the East African heads of state also agreed to hasten the fast-tracking of East Africa's political federation which would see one political head leading the five East African Community(EAC) members by 2013.

Read about this initiative here , here and here

Private initiatives

Some pro-african business initiatives, led by pan-africanist visionaries are already using business to realize the goal of African Unity. One noteworthy, and profitable initiative is known as the One network.

This effort has already earned international recognition and is singular in it's ambition, vision and scale.

As one report put it:

A leading pan African mobile phone network has expanded its One Network to include East and Central Africa and more than 160 million people in six countries.

Celtel International, the leading pan-African mobile telecommunications company announced today that it was expanding One Network, the world's first borderless mobile network, to include the Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of Congo. This comes nine months after the successful launch of One Network in East Africa(Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi).

In September 2006, Celtel made history by breaking boundaries and offering its customers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda the opportunity to move freely across geographical borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls. This initiative made news worldwide; as it was the first time a mobile company was able to completely remove traditional roaming charges and offer its customers the same services abroad that they could access in their home country such as airtime transfer from friends - Me2u, voicemail and customer service in their local languages.

Following the East Africa One Network launch a great proportion of customers in the region are now benefiting from the service. Speaking last September in Kampala, Nairobi, and Dar es Salaam during simultaneous press briefings Celtel told the public that this was only the beginning of their efforts to connect Africa as no other mobile phone operator has been able to do to date, and that their efforts would not stop within East Africa. Under a year later this promise has been realized by expanding the service to include three other countries within Central Africa.

Commenting on the expansion of One Network, Moez Daya, Chief Executive Officer of Celtel International said, "We are delighted to bring 160 million people from East and Central Africa closer together through One Network. In a region historically dependent on freedom of movement across borders, we are now offering a communications solution that fits the needs of our customers, breaking down barriers and making life better for businesses, families and individuals from West to East. We have made the service easy to use and convenient by putting in place more than 140,000 places where our customers can buy airtime."

Following the expansion of One Network the only change for users within East Africa will be the introduction of the three new Central African countries; Republic of Congo, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Following today's One Network extension into Central Africa, post-paid and pre-paid Celtel subscribers in all six countries will now be able to make calls at local rates, receive incoming calls free of charge and top-up their pre-paid phones with locally-bought airtime cards. Alternatively, Celtel's prepaid customers may top up their accounts with airtime cards they have brought from their home networks, whether in the Republic of Congo, Gabon, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda. The One Network service is automatically activated upon crossing the geographic border into one of the six countries, with no prior registration required or sign-up fee charged.

Read all about it here

For the interested

Finally a note on history. I'm only including this since African history is an area of interest for me and perhaps some of the readers of this blog.

Recent findings have had to revisit the stature of the ancient kingdoms of Kush and Nubia. Research and archaeological findings this year place these two kingdoms on the same stature as ancient Egypt. The three Kingdoms had thriving trade between them, wars and rivalries and were equal in status. This overturns previous notions that tended to elevate the status of ancient Egypt over it's two neighbors.

The BBC report on the findings in Sudan is available here

Africa: The next chapter

Africa: The next chapter was the theme of the just concluded TED Global Conference.

The introduction read:

Over the past few years, a growing number of people in the TED community have become passionate about Africa, a continent that appears to be at an important tipping point. Its problems and challenges are well known. Less well known is that across the continent, change is afoot. Instead of relying only on development aid, Africans across the continent are beginning to take matters into their own hands. Ingenious solutions are being applied to tackle some of the toughest health and infrastructure problems. Businesses are being launched that are capable of transforming the lives of millions. New communication technologies are allowing ideas and information to spread, enabling markets — and governments — to be more efficient. And the numbers suggest that incomes are starting to nudge up in some countries and real growth is on the way. A new Africa beckons.....

Check it out here

African renewal - Thabo Mbeki

THE AU DETERMINED TO ACCELERATE AFRICAN RENEWAL - MBEKI

The three-day meeting of the African Heads of State and Government (28-30 January, 2007) in Addis Ababa marked steady progress on a number of fronts – despite negative press accounts of the meeting. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa provides an interesting perspective on the steady and deliberate steps that are being taken by African leaders to move the continent closer to integration and renewal.

Writing in the ‘ANC Today – the online voice of the African National Congress’ – President Mbeki noted there were more reasons to celebrate and be hopeful about than fret in hopelessness.

During the last few days, from 28-30 January, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, home to the headquarters of the African Union, hosted meetings of the NEPAD Heads of State Implementation Committee, the African Peer Review Forum of Heads of State and Government, and the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

The website “EUX.TV” entitled its report on the Assembly, datelined Addis Ababa, 31 January, with the words, “African Union ends without progress”.

A Pan African News Agency (PANA) report carried by “Africa News”, also datelined Addis Ababa, 31 January, was headed “African Union summit fails to agree on an African government”.

The website “allAfrica.com” published a report attributed to the "Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)”, again datelined Addis Ababa, 31 January, entitled “Somalia: AU Summit Concludes with Failure of Raising 8,000 Peacekeepers for Somalia”.

The Canadian newspaper, the “Globe and Mail”, published an Associated Press (AP) report, once more datelined Addis Ababa, headed, “Sudan again fails in bid to lead African Union”.

Our own “Beeld” newspaper carried an article, again datelined Addis Ababa, entitled, “SA denies buying time on crime”. Among other things this article said “the report of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on South Africa was not tabled before the AU’s heads of state, as planned”. It said “The South African government has strongly denied that it intervened on Sunday to prevent discussion by the African Union of a report that strongly criticised the crime rate in this country, (South Africa), among other things.”

The “Beeld” report went further to say that I had made some comments about the APRM report on South Africa, while “attending the AU’s biannual conference in the Tanzanian capital”. The report concluded with the account that, “In his opening address on Sunday, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said the APRM project was intended to help countries learn from each other’s mistakes, but this would work only if there was no political interference.”

Don't believe the hype

This and other reports and the headlines we have cited convey a dismal message of African failure and an entrenched, virtually genetic, African disaster.

They convey the message once communicated by a prestigious European magazine a few years ago under the dramatic title, “Africa: the Hopeless Continent”.

They suggest the persistence of a psychological fixation that feeds a centuries-old and deeply entrenched global Afro-pessimism that is incapable of comprehending any facts indicating that our continent is steadily responding to its most important challenges.

With regard to the simple matter of facts, contrary to what the “Beeld” says, Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia and not Tanzania.

The APRM reports are presented to the APR Forum, and not the “AU heads of state”. Because of this, the perfectly public agenda of the “AU (Assembly of) heads of state (and government), which any ordinary journalist can obtain freely and easily, has no agenda item headed, for instance, “APRM reports”.

This is because the “AU heads of state” never discuss or have the structural possibility to consider the APRM reports. This is because accession to the APRM is entirely voluntary, and currently involves 26 of the 53 Member States of the African Union.

In addition, the “Beeld” reporter who wrote that Nigerian President Obasanjo delivered his “opening address” at the APR Forum “on Sunday (28 January)”, which would consider the APRM reports, should be aware of the simplest of facts that the “AU (Assembly) of heads of state” began the following day, Monday 29 January, and not Sunday.

This reporter should have known that the “opening address” at the meeting of “AU heads of state” would be made by the then current Chairperson of the AU, President Denis Sassou-Nguessou of Congo- Brazzaville, and not the President of Nigeria.

On 26 January we arrived in Davos, Switzerland to attend the annual global conference of the World Economic Forum. On this occasion, on the same day, among other things, we served on a Panel convened to debate the topic “Delivering on the Promise of Africa”.

One of the members of this Panel was a major German media owner and publisher. Of the greatest importance with regard to this important global agenda item and the Davos setting, this Panelist distinguished himself by directly addressing the set topic - the Promise of Africa - in plain language, without resort to the traditional “politically correct” rhetoric. (The members of this Panel, moderated by the Reuters Chairperson, Niall Fitzgerald, were Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf, President of Liberia; UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka; Bill Gates of the Gates Foundation; Hubert Burda of the German Burda Media; Pat Davies of SASOL; Madame Sadako Ogata, former Japanese UN High Commissioner for Refugees and current head of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Kumi Naidoo, CEO of the non-governmental Civicus-World Alliance for Citizen Participation; and the well-known popular musician and defender of the interests of the peoples of the developing countries, Bono.) (South Bulletin- 139 59 15 February 2007 3 )

In his statement during the Panel discussions, the German media Panelist to whom we have referred, Hubert Burda, strongly denounced the unfortunate reality in terms of which the media, including his own, is enslaved by a highly negative stereotype of Africans and Africa, refusing to see, acknowledge and report the very many positive things the peoples of Africa are and have been doing to extricate themselves from a centuries-old crisis of dehumanisation.

Speaking during the proceedings of the Panel, I was very pleased publicly to thank him for what he said and to appeal to him to work with us to respond to the difficult challenge to tell the objective truth about our Continent, honestly reflecting both the good and the bad.

What has been reported at home and abroad concerning the recent 28-30 January proceedings in Addis Ababa, as reflected above, relative to the distinct and separate institutions constituted by the APR Forum, the NEPAD Heads of State & Government Implementation Committee, and the AU Assembly of Heads of State & Government, forcefully reminded us of the honest and heartfelt remarks that Hubert Burda had made about reporting contemporary Africa in Davos, Switzerland on 26 January.

In its 2007 January 8th Statement issued on the occasion of the 95th Anniversary of our movement, our National Executive Committee directed that one of the milestones we must celebrate this year is “the 50 Anniversary of the independence of Ghana, a watershed moment in Africa’s history, giving impetus to the process of de-colonisation on the continent and engendering a renewed sense of a common African destiny”.

When it considered the issue of who should serve as the 2007 Chair of the AU, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government made the determination that it should elect President John Kufuor of Ghana to this important and prestigious position.

This was a unanimous decision that was proposed, among others, by President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. Like our movement, as reflected in our January 8th Statement, the AU felt that everything should be done to commemorate the historic independence of Ghana in 1957.

The decision taken by the AU Assembly in Addis Ababa, concerning who should chair the Union during 2007, had absolutely nothing to do with humiliating or rejecting Sudan and President Omar al-Bashir!

As a demonstration of their intent fully to honour the 50th Anniversary of the rebirth of Ghana, the African Heads of State and Government will gather in Accra, Ghana in March 2007, and again in July 2007, to celebrate Ghana’s independence, attend to the ordinary business of the African Union, and reflect on the challenge further to accelerate progress towards African integration and unity.

Hopefully, during the July Ghana meetings, the African Peer Review Mechanism Panel (APRM) will also table before the APR Forum of the Heads of State and Government whose countries have acceded to the APRM, its considered and final reports on Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa. (Incidentally and fortuitously, these happen to be the three countries that led the historic African initiative that gave birth to NEPAD and its organically associated African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).)

In this regard, we must also mention the fact that in its meeting in Addis Ababa, the Implementation Committee of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government decided that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, should succeed President Obasanjo of Nigeria as Chairperson of the NEPAD Head of State and Government Implementation Committee, and Chairperson of the APR Forum, once President Obasanjo ceases to serve as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, after the April/May 2007 democratic elections in Nigeria.

Those of us who serve within the structures of the African Union, and daily bear the responsibility to respond to what the World Economic Forum described as the Promise of Africa, have a task to address Africa’s actual and real challenges.

To succeed in what we have to do, in the interest of the African masses, this means that we must separate prejudice and illusion from the hard and exciting reality of the actuality of the evolving African condition.

As a consequence of this, we celebrate the fact that for the first time ever, at the 2007 Addis Ababa AU Assembly, a united Africa had occasion to celebrate the fact that in 2010, our Continent would, for the first time, have the possibility to host the eminent global sports tournament, the FIFA Soccer World Cup.

As a result, the assembled African Heads of State and Government had the possibility, for the first time, to listen to the Presidents of FIFA and CAF and, incidentally, a head of government from Trinidad and Tobago, who could speak for the African Diaspora in the Caribbean.

They also launched the International Year of African Football. We also celebrate the fact that the 2007 Addis Ababa AU Assembly took the positions it did, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the independence of Ghana.

This will enable our Continent to engage in a critical assessment of what its independence from colonialism and apartheid has meant, and therefore what it should do to address the common aspirations that the African masses have shared for a long time, in favour of African unity and an African Renaissance.

We celebrate the fact that in Addis Ababa, Africa’s political leaders took the decision to involve the African masses in deciding what needs to be done to achieve the purposes of the African Revolution, including the advance towards the realisation of the objective of African unity.

We welcome the fact that in July, as decided in Addis Ababa, Africa’s political leaders will meet in Ghana in a special two-day session solely to address this important issue.

We celebrate the fact that when it applauded President Obasanjo’s valedictory address, the Assembly confirmed its determination to respect constitutional rule and the rule of law, as a result of which President Obasanjo would not seek to serve during a third term, which is prohibited by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Assembly also adopted the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, saying that it constituted “a major step towards the realisation of the democratic agenda of the Union.”

We celebrate the fact that the 2007 Addis Ababa Assembly paid particular attention to the critical issue of Africa’s involvement in the development of science and technology, resulting in the adoption of an African Indicative Plan focused on the development and application of science and technology to address our Continent’s challenges, including mitigation of, and adaptation to climate change.

We celebrate the fact that, in Addis Ababa, Africa’s political leaders reaffirmed their determination to mobilise all our resources successfully to accomplish the task to ensure security and stability in all our countries.

This represents a binding commitment by all member states of the AU to contribute whatever they can towards the resolution of such confl icts as confront Sudan, Somalia, Côte d’Ivoire, Comoros, Guinean (Conakry), Chad and so on.

We celebrate the fact that the Assembly approved a budget that will provide substantial funds for the implementation of the programmes of the Union. In the past the Union depended on voluntary contributions by the member states and donations from the rest of the world to fund its programmes. This has seriously affected its capacity to advance the objectives spelt out in the Constitutive Act.

We celebrate the fact that the 2007 Addis Ababa Assembly attracted perhaps the largest number ever of representatives of important non-African countries and multilateral organisations, all of which sought to engage the AU in constructive dialogue. The presence and addresses of the UN SG, the SG of the Arab League, the President of the Palestine Authority, the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Italy, the Presidents of FIFA and CAF, the CEOs of the ADB, FAO and UNESCO, senior representatives of the EU, the US, UK, French and Iranian governments, and so on, all confirmed that we have succeeded to place Africa among the leading items on the global agenda.

We celebrate the fact that during the few days of our presence in Addis Ababa, we witnessed the opening in the city the first ever campus outside our country of the University of South Africa (UNISA).

This demonstrated Africa’s commitment to put in place the building blocks we need to achieve the objective of African solidarity, integration and unity, specifically focused on using our national strengths to accelerate balanced and mutually beneficial development among our countries. In this regard the Assembly accepted the report of the NEPAD Heads of State & Government Implementation Committee, which include a decision to undertake a comprehensive review of the functioning of the programme ahead of the June G8 Summit Meeting in Germany, which will discuss its cooperation with Africa as one of its principal agenda items.

Significantly, the Assembly also accepted a proposal made by the African Ministers of Finance and Economic Affairs for the elaboration of an African Charter on Statistics. The Charter will be considered by the AU Executive Council (the Foreign Ministers) at its meeting in July. The decision of the Assembly said the Charter “will provide a lasting solution to issues related to the production of statistics on our Continent.” (Clearly the Continent needs accurate statistics precisely to measure the progress we are making in addressing our challenges.

However, the decision to elaborate the African Charter on Statistics emphasises the point that much of what is presented as fact, concerning our Continent, is little more than guess work.

Of course, this gives the possibility to all and sundry to characterise our Continent in any way they wish.

The January 2007 Eighth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU confirmed that our Continent remains united in its determination to pursue the objectives fundamental to the African Renaissance.

These include promoting African integration and unity, ensuring peace and stability, entrenching democracy and a culture of human rights, accelerating socio-economic development to address the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment, and ensuring that Africa takes its rightful place within the world community of nations.

As an expression of its commitment to achieve these objectives, the Assembly took important decisions to assess the effectiveness of the institutions of the African Union precisely to ensure that Africa realises the faster progress that it needs to achieve.

The AU must ensure that it has the capacity to attain the important goals it has set itself. This is what the January 2007 Eighth Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly decided. With that, it conveyed an unequivocal message of hope to all the peoples of Africa.

This article is reproduced from the South center bulletin (South Bulletin-139 60 15 February 2007 4) of February 2007. Available here

This is another article by President Mbeki, which though unrelated to African Federation, should be very stimulating.

It is a reflection on visit to Vietnam and says in part:

We were privileged recently to make a highly successful state visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This was the first time that I and many in our delegation had occasion to be in a country that had inspired us, for many decades, with an unprecedented example of heroism and self-sacrifice in the struggle for freedom and national independence.

As we grew up in our own liberation movement and struggle, we accepted at least two of Vietnam's outstanding leaders, the late President Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho), and General Giap, as our own leaders. Constantly, we sought to understand what they stood for, what they said, and what they did, because we felt that all this was directly relevant to the victory of our own struggle.

As members of the ANC Youth League and Youth and Student Section, we drew inspiration from the fact that in 1954 the Vietnamese people had scored a famous victory against the French colonial forces at Dien Bien Phu. For our education about this and other matters pertaining to the progressive struggle at home and abroad, we were privileged to have access to the progressive newspaper, New Age, until it was banned.

Among my treasured souvenirs from the visit to Vietnam are some books by General Giap, the great military leader who led the Vietnamese armed forces in the titanic struggles stretching over a period of 30 years, from 1945, during which they defeated first the French armed forces in 1954, and then the US armed forces in 1975.

In many ways, the victories of the Vietnamese people against the major world powers during the 20th century echoed the historic successes scored by the African slaves of Haiti at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, when they defeated the Spanish, British and French military machines.

Surely, one day, when we act to expose our youth to the historic struggles of the oppressed for their liberation, we will communicate the unequivocal message that the victories in Haiti and Vietnam occupy pride of place among the great moments that they and all freedom-loving people should celebrate for all time...........

Thabo Mbeki

Submission from Civil Society Organisations to the Pan African Parliament- The way forward

Submission from Civil Society Organisations to the Pan African Parliament on the Proposal for Continental Government

14 May 2007, Gallagher Estate, Midrand, South Africa

Thirty-five African and international civil society organisations working in over forty African countries participated in the first Consultative Dialogue with the Pan Africa Parliament under the theme “Building Effective Mechanisms for Civil Society Engagement with Pan African and Regional Institutions”.

Aware of the 7th ordinary session of the Pan African Parliament being held under the theme of “African Union Government”, the Consultative Dialogue provided an opportunity for civil society organisations to reflect on the proposal on the Union Government in preparation for the African Union Summit in June 2007 in Accra, Ghana.

After carefully studying the Study for the Proposal for Continental Government and the Study into the Modalities for Continental Government, it is clear that without the full involvement and participation of African women and men, the vision of a Peoples Union will not be realised. In this regard, the Pan African Parliament could play a pivotal role in catalysing informed dialogue at both continental and national levels.

Consequently, we hereby recommend to Honourable Members of the Pan African Parliament that they consider including in their position on Continental Government, the following seven points;

1. Support the vision of deeper political and economic continental integration underpinned by the principles of democracy and rights based governance

2. A commitment to inform their National Assemblies and convene public consultations before the July Summit

3. Prioritisation in the work of the Pan African Parliament committees, the national implementation of continental legal instruments and policies;

4. A proposal to the Heads of States in July for clear consultation mechanisms for African citizens prior to all of the decision-making stages of the Continental Government;

5. A clear call to the Heads of States to immediately abolish visas for Africans travelling within Africa, as a precursor to the lifting of all restrictions on African men and women to reside, work and trade throughout Africa;

6. A further call for a clear domestic financing strategy for the proposed new functions, which may include the options of taxing air flights and other creative ways of raising revenue for the Union Government and lastly;

7. The need for increased speed in rationalising the regional economic communities so that they can become effective building blocs for continental integration.

While institutional renewal and consultation within the African Union and its Specialised Organs is important, the immense political will needed to realise political and economic integration will only be sustained if our peoples are informed and supportive of such efforts. A public mandate is necessary for Continental Government to succeed.

We urge members of the Pan African Parliament, in true recognition of their representative role, to champion this process. Lastly, we assure the Pan African Parliament of our commitment to sustain the dialogue through regular submissions and interaction.

Signed by participants from the following organisations who attended the Consultative Dialogue with the Pan African Parliament:

ACCORD – South Africa

ACORD

Africa Institute of South Africa

African Civil Society Organisation ACSO

African Forum for Debt and Development – AFRODAD

AFRIMAP

Centre for Policy Studies

Centre for Public Participation

CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Golden Centre of Learning

Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia

Denis Hurley Peace Institute

Economic Justice Network

Electoral Institute for Southern Africa

G20 – Platform for Civil Society Organisations - Mozambique

Institute for Democracy in South Africa

Institute for Democratic Governance - Ghana

Institute for Global Dialogue

Institute for Policy Studies

Mwelekeo wa NGO - MWENGO

Oxfam GB

SADC-Council of Non Governmental Organizations SADC-CNGO

Southern Africa Trust

Southern African Regional Poverty Network -SARPN

Southern African Research and Documentation Centre - SARDC

Electoral Institute for Southern Africa

Southern African Trade Union Co-ordination Council -SATUCC

The Centre for Multiparty Democracy - Kenya

Trust Africa

UN Millennium Campaign

University of KwaZulu-Natal- Centre for Civil Society – CCS

The Statement has been also endorsed by:

ActionAid International

Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition

Send Foundation – Ghana

Pan African Movement

Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme

Centre for Democracy and Development - Nigeria

Reflections on globalisation

These are excerpts taken from an inspiring speech given by the Acting Director-General of the Institute of International Relations, Mr. Nguyen Quang Chien at the Vietnam Institute of International Relations on the occasion of Africa Day in Hanoi, 25th May 2007. The full text is available here:

The topic I was asked to focus on has been addressed extensively almost everywhere, including, I am certain, here at the Institute of International Relations.

Writing about the period between 1848-1875, in his book, The Age of Capital, historian Eric Hobsbawm says that:

"An enormous amount has already been written about the nineteenth century, and every year adds to the height and bulk of the mountain ranges which darken the historical sky."

The same can be said about the fact that so much has been written on this matter of globalisation - some good, others not that good - that "every year adds to the height and bulk of the mountain ranges which darken the historical sky". Indeed, because of the 'darkened historical sky', at times when we analyse the current era and in a sense try to illuminate the 'darkened historical sky', we fall prey to the seduction of the glitter of the modernity of the current conjecture and begin to believe, wrongly, that this is a self-contained period which can be tidily separated from other historical epochs.

So seduced, we may even convince ourselves that nothing lies beyond this self-contained period and as Francis Fukuyama boldly proclaimed at the beginning of the 1990's that this is "the end of history and the last man'.

Fortunately, real history is more dynamic, durable and complex to come to an end merely because one ideology, in this case neo-liberalism, seemed to have vanquished rival ideologies.

I therefore approach this topic on the assumption that there is a general understanding of the dialectics of history, that what is happening now has germinated from the seeds of the past and that in turn this period will leave its positive marks into the future and for us from the developing countries this will be like flowers that sprout and blossom as winter gives way to the sunshine of spring.

Often, we use the term globalisation without dissecting its meaning and in many ways we have seen those who have political and economic power in the world using the term to justify actions that benefit this small section of humanity, thus engendering strong opposition from the oppressed and the marginalized.

Accordingly, we have a situation where the powerful and the marginalized would agree on the elements that constitute globalisation but disagree on the advantages and disadvantages of the phenomenon.

Classical theorists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and others, engaged in a huge effort to analyse the complexities of a changing world, characterised by industrialisation as well as the globalising nature of that phenomenon.

Indeed, the phenomenon of globalisation is not new. It appeared in different forms at various periods of history.

Among others, Karl Marx spoke about this phenomenon during his time. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx said:

"The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie. The East-Indian and Chinese markets, the colonisation of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and in commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development.

"Modern industry has established the world market for which the discovery of America paved the way."

He continued:

"The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere.

"The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists, it has drawn from under the feet of industry the national ground on which it stood. All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes. In place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal inter-dependence of nations.

"(The bourgeoisie) compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image."

Mr. Nguyen Quang Chien continues that the above passage:

Gives a clear description of the nature of globalisation in the era of the capitalist mode of production and consumption.

The globalisation that we are engaging today is a phenomenon that has evolved in a process of qualitative historical changes that have brought about the hegemony of the capitalist mode of production and consumption on a global scale.

Although socio-economic interaction on a global scale goes back to antiquity, the difference with this phenomenon in the capitalist era is its pervasiveness and depth, reaching the most remote corners of the world as well as radically uprooting the traditions, cultures as well as social fabrics and systems everywhere.

Because of the avarice and the insatiable appetite to amass as much profit as possible and dominate markets, capitalism has to use all means possible, including military conquest so as to 'nestle everywhere, settle everywhere and establish connexions everywhere".

This insatiable appetite and the concomitant aggression to satisfy it led to the colonial and imperial invasions of vast areas of land in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Accordingly, whether in Vietnam, South Africa or Chile we see how, historically and adapting to the local conditions, the bourgeoisie has been able to give a cosmopolitan character to the capitalist mode of production and consumption.

Both before and after Marx, the globalisation of economic relations benefited the rich and the powerful. Initially, this powerful and rich group was almost exclusively confined to the colonial lands. For instance, early in the 20th century, the economist John Keynes explained the exotic lifestyles of the British when he wrote in his book 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace'. He said:

"The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such a quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means venture his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world, and share, without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and advantages; .Most importantly of all, he regarded this state of affairs as normal, certain, and permanent, except in the direction of further improvement, and any deviation from it as aberrant, scandalous, and avoidable."

(P7, A Future Perfect, J. Micklethwait & A. Wooldridge, Published by Crown Publishers, 2000)

One of the central elements ensuring that the Londoner enjoyed that exotic life was the quick movement of products. The phone, the steam engine, the telegraph and the advent of electricity ensured that products could be easily ordered 'from the whole earth'; whatever quantity as might have been fit could easily be carried and delivered at his doorstep.

Clearly, the telephone, steam engine and electricity radically changed the means and pace of communication among people and between countries.

Today the rich have become richer and more extravagant while billions of people continue to live in misery, a point succinctly put by the then Administrator of the UNDP, Mark Malloch Brown, when he said:

"In large parts of the world, inequality is increasing, both within and, particularly, between rich and poor countries. Our Human Development Report estimates that the income gap between the fifth of the world's people living in the richest countries and the fifth in the poorest was 74 to 1 in 1997. This is up from 60 to 1 in 1990 and 30 to 1 in 1960.

"The international development goal of halving poverty by the year 2015 is receding fast. Of the 6 billion people on our planet, an estimated 2.8 billion are struggling to survive on less than two dollars a day. And 1.3 billion live in absolute poverty, surviving on less than one dollar a day."

(Mark Malloch Brown at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, 25 October 1999).

As in the past periods, a critical feature in the capitalist mode of production and consumption is the speed with which people, products and ideas move. While the means of transportation is still very critical and central in today's society, what has clearly made a decisive change is the speed with which information flows and the quality of such information.

This radically faster movement of information derives from the development of computer technologies, ensuring rapid computing capacity based on digitisation and the almost instantaneous transmission of information by digital signal processes through radio, satellite or fibre optic cables that have brought about a real revolution in the realm of communication as well as the dissemination and use of information and knowledge.

Although these technological advances are the continuation and modernisation of old technologies, it is their pervasive reach, their qualitative and quantitative impact on the socio-economic conditions and relations of people as well as their profound ability to supplant established social and cultural systems that distinguishes them from those of the past.

Again, as we know, all major technologies strongly influence both the means and the structure of production and this has certainly been the case with these modern technologies. Certainly, the majority that Malloch Brown spoke about are excluded in this communication and information technology.

So, what does all these mean to us, as the people of the South?

Globalisation is a fact of life. There are a number of challenges facing us developing countries. Among them is the impact this phenomenon has had on areas such as:

* domestic industries;
* trade between the developing countries and between the developing and the developed countries;
* local cultures;
* the nation-state and sovereignty;

Chairperson,

Throughout history, the rich have always been defined by the large amount of resources at their disposal. This is still the case today. One of the distinct features of the modern globalised economy is the growth and rapid national and trans-national movement of capital. Among other things, this has resulted in trade in money coming to represent much larger values than trade in goods.

The consequent ability of short-term capital to cause serious crises in the real economies of many countries, as happened in the ASEAN region in 1997/1998 has been discussed extensively. However, the availability of these large volumes of capital in the world economy also signifies the possibility to increase investment in the real economies of countries, drawing on accumulated global savings, as Vietnam has done and is doing.

The process of contemporary globalisation has also been accompanied by the further concentration and centralisation of capital, leading to the emergence of mega-corporations that play a dominant role in their sectors. We see this process continuing everyday, with regular news of mergers and acquisitions leading to the creation of more and more multinationals in various sectors such as banking, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, oil and gas, ICT, electronics and other sectors regarded as highly profitable.

The full text of this speech is available here.


Here is an interesting image I found on the BBC website of one of the Meroe pyramids of Sudan (not Egypt).