Africa Day should be about Africa’s solutions to African problems

“The OAU has come and gone but its historical legacies remain. It successfully completed the task of Africa’s decolonization and vanquished apartheid. Africa has since come a long way. The OAU’s successor, the African Union (AU), has provided us with a new opportunity to find African solution to the African problems, not only in the promotion of peace, security and stability in the continent, but also in the acceleration of its political and socio-economic integration and development,” said John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana, current President of the African Union at the Africa day celebration in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last week.

Sudan, as a founding member the of OAU, throughout its history has been guided by its firm resolve towards independence, non-interference, fighting for freedom and acceptance of views and new ideologies free from the influences of force.

The Sudanese people have been known for sympathizing with those who have been humiliated and persecuted because of their ideas and ideologies. They have allied with and supported liberation movements across Africa even before attaining their independence not limiting itself to the founding of the Organization of the African Unity (OAU), Afro-Arab initiatives but also Asian and international initiatives.

Sudan was one of the first few African nations to have acquired independence in January 1956, and in its early days committed itself towards rooting out colonialism and apartheid in the continent at its top priorities. In addition its foreign policy was directed towards affirming the rights to self-determination its different government systems.

Sudan participated effectively in the OAU’s efforts through its membership of the Special 19 committee establishing a new strategy for the liberation movements, which include the Dar Es salam Strategy, the Accra Strategy for the purpose of combating colonialism. It was also the first country to boycott the then apartheid regime of South Africa and to impose sanctions against its racist system during the establishment of the Confederation of African football which ultimately led to the dismembering of South African Football association from competitions and and the first passport granted to Nelson Mandela was Sudanese.

Sudan worked towards African unity by generously contributing resources and support to other liberation movements in Kenya, Eritrea, Cape Verde, South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Congo, Chad and others. In fact, as testimony to Sudan’s resolve, during the 1964 OAU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia expressed its commitment by closing its air and maritime routes to South African interests and opened military training camps for liberation movements.

In addition, Sudan appealed to fellow African countries during the Algeria OAU summit of 1967, to dispatch military experts to the liberation movements which were under the control of African Liberation Movements and also it demanded in 1972 for upgrading its contribution to the Fund of African Liberation committee by up to 50% because the committee was considered the most successful mechanism of the OAU for decolonizing Africa. It aimed at bolstering financial, moral, military, diplomatic and political support and also enlightening the international public view about the role of the liberation movements.

On the Africa-Arab pivot, Sudan established a symposium of African and Arab liberation movements and development in January 1976, which paved the way for convening of the conference of Arab-African ministers of Foreign Affairs at Dakar, Senegal in April 1976.

Similarly, on the Asian pivot though Sudan did not get its official independence it effectively participated as a founding member at the conference of African, Asian consolidation movements along with the other four African countries Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and Liberia in Bandong, Indonesia in1955. The conference came out with a solid decision of establishing national and equality concepts among different races besides becoming a germ of non-aligned movement (NAM). During the fifth conference of (NAM) on supporting liberation movements in Africa and third world countries, Sudan’s call had been embodied as the first decision handed down by the conference.

In addition, in the UN when Sudan took charge of the presidency of UN security council in 1972, Sudan for the first time convened Security Council session in Addis Ababa, headquarters of OAU and appealed for the acceptance of representatives of African liberation movements as observers at the international organization.

Sudan undertook a very important role at the thirteenth session of UN 1975 which coincided with the fifteenth anniversary of the declaration of granting independence for peoples and countries under colonialism.

Sudan’s then Foreign Minister, Mohamed Ahmed El Mahgoub, in a statement in 1958, focused on liberation war in Elgiena, and racial conflict in South Africa and the statement welcomed the independent countries as well. The Minister of foreign Affairs, Ahmed Khaer, in 1959 welcomed the independence of Nigeria, Togo, Somalia and Cameroon and appealed for the liberation of other African nations and reiterated in 1960 in his statement, Sudan’s concern over the liberation of the African continent.

Other statements presented by Sudanese Foreign Ministers before the UN General Assembly condemned colonialism and has been calling for liberating African countries for the benefit of the people and improvement of life economically, socially, and politically.

Sudanese diplomacy achieved tangible success by helping in issuing United Nations General Assembly Resolutions which called for direct negotiations with colonial governments and liberation movements for the sake of desisting confrontation and allowing full independence and self-determination.

Sudan, which enjoys African identity which fuses naturally with influences from other parts of the world particularly from the Arab world, has led to the creation of the national embodiment of the concept of unity in diversity, and out of its understanding,Sudan’s relation with neighboring African countries is the policy of peaceful coexistence which required mutual respect and integrity, national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs as well as consolidating national liberation movements and combating colonialism and apartheid . Out of its undrstanding sudan’s leadership during consecutive governments have paid high prices for its above-mentioned position, which put it front and center against colonial powers.
One, therefore, would like to appeal that Africa should not abandon Sudan at this critical moment in time when the Darfur issue has been spun into tales of conspiracy and outrageous accusations.

The darfur crisis has been used as a tool of pressures to discredit sudan. Therefore Africa should come to the aid of one of its member states. The AU has so far done a commendable job in trying to solve the crisis in darfur and should continue to do so in the effort of truly bringing African solutions to the problems of the continent.

Sarah I. Daniel is the Second Secretary at the embassy of the Republic of Sudan, Addis Ababa Ethiopia