Africa Day is supposed to celebrate the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It can also be an event to celebrate Africa. Whatever your take on the day, positive introspection and good feelings both come with severe challenges on 25 May 2012.
One of the most prominent features of the day in 2012 is the knowledge of the killing of Gaddhafi who was instrumental in founding the OAU. His rule became too much for his own people. In central Africa, a series of coups is not much more than another wave of violence and discontent interlaced with a desire for power. In a number of the COMESA countries warlords and government troops are accused of horrifying human rights abuses, including genocide and campaigns of rape. Hundreds of thousands of refugees flee from pillar to post. Their location can be determined by where the latest wars and insurgencies are taking place.
On the horn of Africa and in northern Africa, Islam continues its spread with a combination of bloodshed and removal of rights. A new wave of faux colonialism, long-term land leases which closely resemble the colonial land grabs are taking place. Its natural resources are mortgaged by the offspring of its liberators. Piracy has become so rife that it now damages international trade. And now, we also have the clear knowledge that the US has troops on the ground, yet another abdication of the sovereignity of a continent, albeit of many nations.
Africa Day can be said to mark the end of colonial rule, its abuses and the genocides that happened in places such as in Namibia and the Congo, but what use is replacing one set of nightmares with another?
Africa is a continent that those of us who are born here, regardless of nation, tribe, religion or colour, have to love. We belong to it and it belongs to us. For those of Africa, who struggle to understand the love, and for those of you who are foreign and find the sentiment inconceivable, love of the continent is the only defense against the hatred, anger and despair that Africa breeds.
Africa Day needs to change its form now.
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. Unity will not help us or define us fairly if those with who we unite are evil, greedy and callous towards the lives and prosperity of the people of our continent. And looking back may leave us in the same condition as Lot's wife.
If Africa Day is to have a purpose, it should be to find a new ubuntu. It should be to think about what we can fix, and what we must abandon and put behind us.
A note on Namibia
Although we have our complaints, we should be thankful. We have more chances and far more freedoms than others.
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