As the second Conference of
Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora (CIAD II) opened
Wednesday in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil, a panelist on poverty,
racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination suggested
that countries that benefited the most from the African slave
trade should provide the vital resources to the New Partnership
for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Njunga Mulikita, a Zambian expert on democracy and governance
issues, said the gathering of about 1,000 delegates from African
leadership in the continent and the Diaspora should urge African
leaders to re-engage the countries that profited from the African
slave trade to support NEPAD.
“I am not suggesting that banks in the Western countries that
played a big part in the African slave trade should be compelled
to make large monetary payments to African countries,” Mulikita
told PANA here on his way to the conference.
Drawing on the Jewish Holocaust to back his opinion, he said the
state of Israel continues to receive reparations on account of
the mass murder that cost six million lives in death camps under
the German Nazi regime in World War II.
A few years ago, Mulikita recalled, the Jewish Diaspora lobby in
the USA pressured the notoriously secretive Swiss banking
industry to open up its archives so that the truth regarding the
role of Swiss banks in the holocaust would be uncovered.
“This pressure led to banks in Switzerland making payments to
survivors of the holocaust and their next of kin,” he said.
Though Mulikita linked reparations to NEPAD, he explained that
Western politicians and policy makers would, with some measure of
justification, claim that corrupt African politicians and
bureaucrats might gobble such payments up.
The 12-14 July 2006 gathering, organized by the Brazilian
government in collaboration with the African Union (AU), is being
held under the general theme of ‘The Diaspora and the African
Renaissance’.
It is intended to revive, situate and harness the contribution of
African intellectuals on the continent and the Diaspora as a
vehicle for innovative ideas, development and social
transformation.
“In my opinion, CIAD II offers intellectuals and policy makers of
the Diaspora and the continent, a unique platform to re-consider
the case of reparations to Africa for injustices and inequities
such as slavery and colonialism, which severely harmed the
continent and its peoples.
“The ramifications of these injustices are still felt today, even
though the Western media and intellectual figures mischievously
trivialize the severely harmful impact on Africa’s socio-economic
development, resulting from the slave trade and colonialism,”
Mulikita asserted.
On his talking point at the conference, Mulikita said CIAD II
should result in a call for the establishment of a mechanism
within NEPAD to address xenophobia, racism and other forms of
discrimination suffered by people of African descent in the
Diaspora.
“People of African descent and Africans living outside the
continent continue to suffer discriminatory practices and
xenophobia, rendering them particularly vulnerable to poverty and
social exclusion,” he said.
In his view, the mechanism he proposes would not only publicly
name and shame countries tolerating racist behaviour but also
lobby such bodies as the UN Human Rights Council and the Office
of High Commissioner for Human Rights to censure the culprits as
violators of universal human rights instruments.
“Such a step would go a long way in alleviating the sad plight
that people of African descent suffer on account of
institutionalized racism and xenophobia in the world of the 21st
century,” Mulikita added.
CIAD I, held from 6-9 October 2004 in Dakar, Senegal, resolved
that a follow-up conference be held in the Diaspora.
Brazil, the host of the second gathering, has the second largest
population of African descent after Nigeria. Salvador is the most
visibly African city in Latin America, evincing traditions and
customs taken to the Americas by African slaves centuries ago.
According to the AU secretariat, some African, Caribbean and
South American Heads of State and Government would take part in
CIAD II along with diplomats, civil servants, policy makers,
Nobel laureates, representatives of civil society and the private
sector, and intellectuals from all walks of life.
Among other objectives, the AU said CIAD II would revisit African
history in order to build a new awareness and forge a continental
identity that will enable Africa to organize its process of
integration in a pragmatic manner.
The conference will seek to establish related ways and means of
projecting Africa’s image and identity as a relevant and
important actor in a rapidly changing world.