RESOLUTION FOR FREEDOM, JUSTICE, AND PEACE
IN THE AFRO-ARAB BORDERLANDS, CONFLICT ZONE IN AFRICA
Taken by the Pan Africanism conference which was held in Accra between 24th-28th July 2006

 

The occupation of Africa by external forces marginalized Black Africans in their ancestral lands. In order to stem the tide of nationalism and Pan-Africanism some measure of self rule was granted.

Sudan, Mauritania and the Afro-Arab borderlands, especially ethnic groups straddling Afro-Arab borders, such as the Peul, Wolof and Soninka in Mauritania and the Nubians in Sudan and Egypt, did not fare well in these arrangements. The people in this area of Africa were cast as pawns in an international arrangement, which was to keep Black Africans in perpetual bondage and economic marginalisation.

The Arab/Israeli conflict further complicated these arrangements and is being used as a means of silencing the voice of Black Africa by the Arab world. Notwithstanding, the grand design for the borderland area of the African nation is unraveling before our eyes, as seen in Darfur in western Sudan, with the Baja in eastern Sudan and the Manasir and the Nubians in northern Sudan (and southern Egypt as well), where conflicts on land and natural resources, between the indigenous Africans and the Arab governments lead to the mass killing of civilians.

Conference noted that in this unfolding scenario Black Africa in general has chosen to look the other way, rather than be actively invloved in defending the interests of its kith and kin. No such indifference was seen during the freedom movement in Southern Africa, where what was at stake was African emancipation and the safeguarding of white transnational economic interests.

To compound the problem the issues of Sudan, Mauritania and the borderlands in general were not discussed at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

Conference noted:

With profound disappointment the indifference and inability of the Black African governments and their African Union (AU) to defend kith and kin in their ancestral lands.

Conference took note of the generalized racism and slavery in the borderlands and in particular in Mauritania and Sudan

Conference registered the utter humiliation of all Black Africans, both at home and abroad in the face of African chattel bondage anywhere in the world

Conference demands an apology and reparations for the enslavement of Africans in the lands of their birth.

Conference demands an independent and international investigation into the circumstances that lead to the killing of Sudanese refugees outside the UNHCR Office in Cairo, Egypt on the 30^th December 2005 and that compensation be paid, by those responsible for this outrage, to those who suffered the consequence of this tragedy. The resettlement of the awaiting Sudanese refugees by the UNHCR Office in Cairo should proceed forthwith.

Conference urges the African Union to cease at once its inactivity and prove its capacity to defend the interests of Black Africans wherever they may be, recognizing that all Black Africans are members of the Pan-African family on equal basis

Black Africans will no longer sit indifferently whilst their Sisters and Brothers are mistreated – touch one, touch all. The world is watching

Conference promoted the rights of the marginalized people of Mauritania, Sudan and the borderlands to:

FREEDOM- from slavery, to be recognized as the representatives of their respective countries, with the sovereign right to rule themselves, with full membership for them and the eastern Diaspora, of the Pan-African family

JUSTICE- their right to atonement, reparations and equal opportunities

PEACE- their right to peace, in a democracy representing the will of the people, living in prosperity.