Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke
Herald Correspondent
PAN-AFRICAN activist Ms Nathalie Yamb has called for a united, sovereign and economically independent Africa capable of determining its own future without external interference.
Ms Yamb, who is expected to deliver a public lecture tomorrow at the Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK) in Harare as part of organisation’s 10th anniversary celebrations, said Africa must reclaim its narrative and economy to secure its rightful place in an emerging multipolar world.
INSTAK’s 10th anniversary celebrations at the Museum of African Liberation will be held under the theme: “Celebrating a decade of advancing African knowledge, heritage and liberation.”
Speaking at a media engagement in the capital yesterday ahead of the lecture, Ms Yamb said: “My vision is to have a united Africa that makes its own decisions and takes its full place at the table of decisions of the new multipolar world.”
She said Africa remained divided by colonial-era borders drawn without the consent of Africans and called for greater integration among sovereign States.
“We are divided because some people somewhere in Berlin in 1884 decided to take a pen and divide a map without asking us whether we agreed.
“Since then, we have been stuck in those borders – Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa and Lusophone Africa.
“We should exchange more and first build our own sovereignty before integrating as sovereign nations”.
Ms Yamb said she envisioned a future where the Sahel region would transform from a migration corridor into a centre of opportunity for young Africans.
“My vision is that when we are finished with fighting terrorism, the Sahel region will become a place that attracts young people to stay, find jobs, create businesses and fulfill their dreams,” she said.
African countries, Ms Yamb added, should prioritise local participation in strategic sectors such as mining through skills development and national ownership.
“We are reclaiming the mining sector. We are training local people and making them capable of managing enterprises and running the economy in the interest of African people,” she said.
Ms Yamb also called for stronger academic cooperation across the continent through student exchange programmes among African universities.
“Every Zimbabwean student should be able to spend six months in a university in Burkina Faso and every student from other African countries should equally be able to study in Zimbabwe or elsewhere on the continent. That is how we will know each other better,” she said.
African regional organisations were also challenged to collectively resist foreign intervention in the continent’s affairs.
“If something happens in one African country, we need other regional bodies to speak with one voice and say nobody from outside is going to interfere in Africa’s affairs. Africans must resolve African issues,” she said.
On relations between the Institute of Black People and INSTAK, Ms Yamb expressed optimism that the two institutions would formalise cooperation.
“I truly hope so. We have already been exchanging with the CEO and the chairman. I expect that we will have memoranda of understanding and partnerships of different kinds,” she said.
Ms Yamb also invited INSTAK members to attend the launch of the Institute of Black People in October and commemorations marking the anniversary of the assassination of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara.
Political Dialogue and Research director, Mr Richard Mahomva, said the commemorations would begin today at the Museum of African Liberation ahead of the inaugural INSTAK at 10 Public Lecture Series tomorrow.
Mr Mahomva said the lecture would focus on Africa’s shared neo-colonial challenges and the role of Pan-Africanism in advancing the continent’s economic development.
“The ideas carnival, which characterises INSTAK’s 10th anniversary, starts unfolding tomorrow (today) with official celebrations right here at the Museum of African Liberation.”
