Mbeki urges Africans not to betray liberation struggle ideals

ALGIERS – South Africa’s former president Thabo Mbeki has called on African nations to remain true to the objectives of the liberation struggle and the 1960 United Nations Resolution 1514 declaration on the granting of independence to colonised countries.

Addressing an international conference on the 50th anniversary of the UN Resolution on Decolonisation in Algiers, Algeria on Monday, the former South African head of state urged delegates to ponder on whether current generations of African leaders are still committed to the noble goals and objectives of the liberation struggle.He said African leaders must ask themselves whether they have advanced towards the achievements of the equality of nations, towards mutually beneficial international economic cooperation and whether they have managed to move towards creating better standards of living for the African masses who are now free people.Other goals, according to Mbeki, include ensuring that there is equal rights for women and men as well as ensuring the irreversibility of the process of the all-round liberation of the people on the African continent.’We must together examine the nature and quality of the leadership we have to help ensure that the ordinary people of Africa, rather than the self-serving elite, enjoy a better life in larger freedom. We must benefit from mutually beneficial international economic relations, rather than being captive to economic imperatives decided by others in their interest,’ he said.Mbeki added that Africans must truly exercise their right to self-determination and should not exist as neo-colonial dependencies, while African leaders must truly serve the people of the continent instead of preying on them like predators.’To remain true to the purposes of the Declaration on the granting of independence, and to the heroic struggles which gave birth to that Declaration, they (African leaders) have the responsibility to fulfil their mission to give meaning to the emancipation of the African masses, and never to betray it,’ he urged.The two-day international conference, being held in the Algerian capital, is part of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the UN Resolution 1514 on the Declaration on the granting of independence to colonised countries and their peoples. The conference is attended by government delegates from many of the countries that emerged from the yoke of colonialism over the past 50 years, as well as representatives of various civil society organisations, UN representatives, leaders of the Arab States League and the leadership of the African Union (AU) Commission.The gathering has specifically been focussing on the contributions made by the UN Resolution 1514 towards the process of international emancipation, or the liberation of the colonised countries and nations of the world over the years since its adoption by the UN. The conference ended yesterday.- Nampa