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Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade Makes

Historic Pronouncement on Status of African Diasporas

The Senegalese Leader Ups the Stakes on the Unification of Africa by

Offering “Visa Free” Travel Status to Members of the African Diaspora

WASHINGTON DC

At the conclusion of an official visit to the Republic of Ghana by invitation of Ghana’s Head of State John Atta Mills, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade announced his intention to introduce legislation allowing members of the global African Diaspora community to visit Senegal without need of a visa. The Senegalese leader was in Accra to participate in an International Colloquium honoring the legacy of Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah. In addition, this historic legislation would include a provision allowing members of the Diaspora to acquire a special passport.

This is the first time any African head of state has offered “Visa Free Status” to members of the African Diaspora. This historic initiative by President Wade results from discussions with Her Excellency, Ambassador Dr. Erieka Bennett, Founder and Head of Mission of the Diaspora African Forum, based at the W.E.B. DuBois Center in Accra. Recognized by the African Union, the Diaspora African Forum holds diplomatic status granted by Ghana and is the first diplomatic mission in the world dedicated to the African Diaspora. While in Accra, President Wade visited the Diaspora African Forum, where he met with the Head of Mission, H.E. Dr. Erieka Bennett, and invited her to open the forum’s second mission in Senegal’s capital Dakar.

“The president asked me to lead a Diaspora delegation to Senegal to work out the modalities for the new mission,” Ambassador Bennett stated. "This is an important, transformational moment in the history of Africa and especially for the political and economic evolution of African and African Diaspora affairs,” she concluded. The distinguished and renowned, ninety-three year old Jamaican diplomat, Ambassador Dudley Thompson, represented the African Diaspora community at the International Colloquium, which also celebrated Kwame Nkrumah’s 100th birthday.

Ambassador Thompson applauded Senegalese President Wade’s leadership on Diaspora affairs, adding that he was delighted to see such a breathtaking development in his life time. “This decision represents a giant step in helping to unite Africa and the Diaspora, and demonstrates in a most meaningful way the visionary leadership of President Wade and importance of the African Diaspora to 21st century Africa."

In a related development, President Wade also announced that in honor of the works and legacy of Kwame Nkrumah, the Republic of Senegal would create a Chair on Pan Africanism at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University, and further proposed in addition to the establishment of the Diaspora African Forum mission in Dakar, that a permanent Pan African Secretariat also be established in the capital city.

For additional information - and to obtain interviews with H.E. Dr. Erieka Bennett, Founder and Head of Mission of the Diaspora African Forum, news media are invited to contact: [log in to unmask] by email, or by telephone at Division 12 Media in Washington, DC at: (202) 587-5648.                                                                                      Ambassador Dudley Thompson is the President of World African Diaspora Union (WADU) Contact WADU @718-523-3312 (NYC) or WADUPAM.ORG

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Launching of Statue of the African Renaissance

Second there was a sense of reconciliation with Africans in the Diaspora. A renewed sense of who Africans are in Brazil, and Latin America, and North America. The fact is, it was our efforts, running parallel with theirs, to help in the decolonizing movements. In the very particular sense in southern Africa, most specifically South Africa, we used our leverage to get our country to declare sanctions on South Africa. So there’s a growing sense that we are of mutual value to each other, and that they of course have a great celebration, heads of state were here, eight from around Africa. I wish our own government had been here but the statue erected here in Senegal will be a lasting monument. And in one sense, we [African Americans] have returned, 400 years later, but we have returned, and returned with power that we didn’t have when we left. We returned with more education, more business, more acumen, more Congressmen, more people in the United States government. We have returned.

S.B.: What is your hope for what Senegal and Africa will be like in 50 years?

J.J: There will be a United States of Africa. There will be a common currency just as there’s a Euro now. And once they get a common currency, everything will change. Right now no currency spends from South Africa to Europe, all European currency spends from Europe down to South Africa. So right now, you have the lack of common currency and many languages. But now the idea [of the African Renaissance] has been born, and we have a way of catching up with good ideas. A United States of Africa will promote trade and culture.

Dudley Thompson (Lawyer from Jamaica, at 93 one of the oldest living pan-Africanists. Participated in the 1945 Pan Africanist Congress, knew Marcus Garvey, close friend of Kwame Nkrumah): Well, I think it’s good for them to come together. It’s fortunate to have brought together a lot of people, many of whom are conscious, and deeply conscious in one direction, Senegal, and many who have seen a wider picture. I am one of those who has seen a wider picture. That statue to me is a lot of things, as I say, as I said tonight. America has got a Statue of Liberty, Brazil you’ve got this statue of Jesus, in Senegal you now have this statue of unity, unity of Africa, because that’s our aim. Our aim in WADU [World African Diaspora Union], the association in which I’m very actively engaged, is to restore the eminence of Africa. To come from underneath and by black empowerment in every way, to erect Africa, a united Africa with the Diaspora as a major player in global affairs. That is our aim.

Dudley Thompson at the Parade

S.B.: So you agree with the formulation that President Wade was talking about, a United States of Africa by 2017?

D.T.: Oh yes, I’m very happy they put a target to it. Whether we see it or not, it’s a positive step, and I think they can do it, oh yes, they can do it, they can do it, if you have enough presidents [participating]. You know, all my years, I’m old, I’m 93 and I hope, I only hope, that I have another 7 years. I want to see that 2017, I want to hold in my hand, before I close my eyes finally, a passport as a citizen of a united Africa, that is my hope, my dream.

Djibril Diallo: For me, coming from the U.N., this is an amazing experience, in the sense that we are trying very hard to get as many African countries as possible to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. For us, culture is a very powerful means to reach Africans from the remotest villages. So for us the African Renaissance monument symbolizes the powerful use of culture as a means for development, as a means for promoting peace. That is why we feel that this being done is very important, and that we need to work very hard to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS which is really like a bushfire, destroying a lot of development gains in Africa. The good news is that Senegal is an island of hope because the infection rate in Senegal is one of the lowest in the world. So to be in Senegal with such an American delegation means that we can learn how Senegal managed to keep its infection rate at under 1%, and then try to help other African countries and other countries around the world to do likewise so that we promote prevention. We need to have information to change the behavior of people vis-à-vis AIDS, and then care for those who have been infected, and promote sustainable human development.

S.B.: What would you like to see 50 years from now?

D.D.: I would like to see a world free of hunger, a world where nobody is going to bed hungry every night, a world where all children, boys and girls, are educated, a world where the environment is fully protected, and a world where there is big partnership between all of us.

Senegalese American Recording Artist AKON with Djibril Diallo (R) 

AKON (Who introduces himself as an entertainer, philanthropist and businessman): I have a lot of feelings of joy, man, you know, coming up here today it just showed me how far we’ve come as African people, as people of color, you know, as a people in general. And I think this is one of those situations that allows people to really come together and understand what the future needs to be. I’m lovin’ the way how the heads of state here in Africa all came together for the same purpose. Because back about 15 or 20 years ago this would have never happened. So this shows just how far we as a people have come for one common goal.

S.B. What do you wish for Senegal and Africa 50 years from now?

AKON: Man, 50 years from now you know, I’m expecting Africa to be along the lines of all these other nations around us, just as developed… and still hopefully in a democracy where the people continue to run the country. We still have areas where we have to work in, areas in Africa where they’re still warring over different things. But I think by 2060 we’ll probably have overcome and ironed out all our kinks to where we can actually operate freely as a nation.

Ben Jealous (President and CEO of the NAACP): We’re here in Senegal for the unveiling of the African Renaissance monument. It’s the eve of Easter, and there’s a lot of emotion here in the crowd, especially among the American delegation who came. We just returned from Gorée island, many of us visiting for the first time. We were hit both with the sense of deep sadness and loss. Just to stand there in the Door of No Return and look out at waters where millions of people were sent into slavery or to their death. And yet I felt a great sense of triumph and hope for black people on the continent and throughout the diaspora. And this monument really symbolizes that sense of hope. Just as Obama becoming president is a great symbol of hope here on the continent, so we hope that this century will bring forth great positive change, just like the last did for Africa.

Djibril Diallo Speaks with RTS on Goree Island

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SF

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