By Francis Kokutse
The late Ethiopian leader, Emperor Haille Selassie must have been ahead of his time to determine that Africans will one day be pleading for their recognition, when he said, “we must be bigger than we have been, more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook.”
That was in May 1963. Many decades later, the African Union Representative, Amr Aljowaily, at the 9th Pan-African Congress in the Togolese capital, Lome, on last December 8, pointed out that there was a “power imbalance” within the multilateral institutions, and for that reason, there was the need for reforms to give Africa a voice because “Africans remain unrepresented despite bearing the fruits of the many decisions emanating from there.”
This clearly shows that, If Africans had listened to exert themselves in the past, they will not be the need to be calling for reforms now. But it is not too late.
Aljowaily, who was addressing the opening session of the Congress, said the meeting provided “a timely opportunity to reiterate that genuine reparatory justice must encompass the implementation of the common African position on the UN Security Council with at least two permanent seats with all the prerogatives and privileges, including the veto if it still exists,” adding that, “This is not a plea for favour.”
He said, Pan-Africanism has evolved from resistance to liberation, to integration to transformation, pointing out that, “the Atlantic Ocean may be a geographical reality, but historically it is only a river that binds the culture and the history of Africa and the people of African descent. So we are committed to deepening the joint African-Caribbean diaspora advocacy platform for cooperation.”
Against this background, he said plans are underway to host for the first time, a session of the United Nations Permanent Forum for People of African Descent at the premises of the Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“Africa has suffered in its post-colonial unjust rule of systematic looting and destruction of African cultural, intellectual and spiritual heritage, as well as deliberate erasure and distortion of African histories,” Aljowaily said, pointing out that the convening of the congress was yet another confirmation that an unconditional right of African people to the restitution of artefacts, manuscripts, sacred objects, archives, and ancestral remains.
Touching on the issue of Reparations, which he said do have a structural dimension in global governance, he said, “it is a demand for historically grounded equity and for a multilateralism that reflects today’s realities.”
Aljowaily said education and knowledge production are central to decolonisation, adding that, thematic sessions at the Congress on Mind Decolonisation and Self-Prevention, and were designed to give an opportunity to highlight the imperative to reform curricula, support African scholarship and invest in archives, documentaries and artistic works that tell our stories with accuracy.
Togolese President of the Council of Ministers, Faure Gnassingbe, also expressed his disgust at the poor treatment of Africa at the United Nations.
He described the abnormality within the UN which has denied the continent a permanent seat on the Security Council as an “aberration,” because the continent cannot be absent from where international global issues are discussed that will eventually affect it anyway.
President Gnassingbe said, it is sad that the continent of about 1.4 billion people, representing 28% of the UN member states, still does not have a permanent seat on the Security Council, and stated that, “this is not an anomaly; it is an aberration. Our continent cannot remain absent from the places where peace, trade, or global finance are decided.”
He said the “Global South is asserting itself, and the international system, which was designed without us, was conceived in a world that no longer exists. Our nations were still under colonial rule and therefore did not have a voice in the matter,” but for some time now, “Africa has held a clear position. And the representative of the African Union has reiterated it: two permanent seats on the Security Council, with veto power. This position is fair, it is legitimate, and it must be heard.
”President Gnassingbe said for centuries, “the people of Africa have been dispersed, silenced, orphaned of their own voice, in the concert of nations. Yet our peoples have resisted, they have shouted, they have rebuilt the world, carrying Africa in their memory, in their struggle, in their arts.” He said, many years after the first Pan-African movement, Africa and its diaspora, through the Congress, have found themselves together once again at the Lome Congress, standing united, aware of their strength and their unity, noting that, “this ninth congress comes at a time when Africa is no longer peripheral, it is no longer silent, it is young, it is strong, it is open to the world and determined not to be shaped by others anymore.”
“This ninth congress is therefore not a commemoration, it is a reaffirmation, it is a reconquest, it is a turning point, because never, since independence has our collective destiny been so much in our hands, never has our voice been so awaited, never have our choices had so much resonance in the world,” President Gnassingbe said.
He said “the Pan-Africanism we are calling for here is not one of slogans. It is a pragmatic and demanding Pan-Africanism. A Pan-Africanism that unites our peoples, our cultures, our markets, our knowledge. A Pan-Africanism capable of acting in a world that will not wait for us.
”President Gnassingbe said what needed to be affirmed was a simple conviction that Africa can no longer be content with being a spectator on the world stage and reminded delegates that a divided Africa will remain vulnerable, but a “united continent, will be strong.”
The continent, he said must move beyond its quest to become part of the global system and call for reforms within the international institutions in order to correct the governance imbalance, adding that, “this reform of multilateralism is not only an African demand, but also a condition for stability for the entire world.
”President Gnassingbe said what needed to be affirmed was a simple conviction that Africa can no longer be content with being a spectator on the world stage and reminded delegates that a divided Africa will remain vulnerable, but a “united continent, will be strong.”
Africa’s development, he said will not come from solutions from elsewhere. It will first come from within, from the continent’s natural resources, from Africa’s young talents, and businesses, as well as the diasporas, local knowledge, and cultures, pointing out that, “this is what modern sovereignty is. Funding our own priorities ourselves. Preserving our raw materials ourselves.”
“For centuries, the image of our continent has been created outside of Africa. It has been distorted, stereotyped, used as a tool. We must no longer, we cannot continue to accept that our achievements remain invisible, that our talents are ignored, that our cultures are reduced to clichés. Reclaiming our narrative means restoring the truth of our history,” President Gnassingbe said.
The Togolese Foreign minister, Robert Dussey said Pan-Africanism should not be confused with nationalism, explaining that “nationalism is completely different from Pan-Africanism because it is driven by nations and African countries,” pointing out that, “the advantage we have for Pan-Africanism is that the idea was born from Afro-descendants, not Africans.”
“By fighting for 125 years for human dignity, Pan-Africanism fights for dignity and humanity. By fighting for 125 years for justice, Pan-Africanism fights for a fairer world. ,. By fighting for 125 years for justice, Pan-Africanism fights for the healing of humanity’s deep wounds and for a humanity reconciled with itself, Dussey added.
He said in this moment of transformation, “one reality is clear, no African nation can face alone the magnitude of contemporary challenges — climate justice, health crises, technological divides, or global economic competition. Pan-Africanism is therefore no longer just an idea; it is an imperative, it is a strategy for sovereignty.
”The passion with which every speaker spoke at the Congress is indicative that, so much work remains to be done. Hopefully, the voices will not be dimmed after the closing ceremony, because Africans and the Diaspora, will expect more work to be done to achieve all that was said.”
