A press briefing on preparations for the 9th Pan-African Congress in Lomé on the theme « Renewal of Pan-Africanism and Africa’s role in the reform of multilateral institutions: mobilizing resources and reinventing itself to act » was held on July 23, 2024, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and Togolese Abroad.
The press briefing was led by Mrs. Afognon Kouakou SEDAMINOU, Diaspora desk coordinator, Focal point responsible for preparing the 9th Congress, and Essohanam PETCHEZI, director of African integration, both senior officials of the ministry.
The objective of the second press conference is to take stock of the various activities that have taken place since the first press conference of March 11, 2024, in particular the holding of the six (6) preparatory conferences in six (6) regions, before the apotheosis in Lomé, as decided by the High Committee in charge of the Decade set up by the Heads of State and Government and chaired by Togo.
Indeed since 2001, the African Union has considered the African diaspora as the 6th region of Africa, « consisting of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union ».
To date, the five (5) conferences planned in Africa have been organized.
The first, the Southern Africa regional preparatory conference was held on December 3 and 4, 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa, on the theme « Pan-Africanism, Science, knowledge and technology ».
In Pretoria, the universal importance of the bond of sharing that unites all humanity, as adopted in the Ubuntu philosophy, and the contribution of this approach as a beacon of hope and in the conduct of Pan-Africanism as the foundation of the upcoming 9th Pan-African Congress in 2024 was discussed.
The Southern Africa Declaration recommends among others to welcome the African Scientists Directory to contribute to the African Professionals Database, which will serve as an all-inclusive platform aimed at linking the expertise of African professionals based in Africa with their counterparts in the diaspora.
The second, the Western Africa regional preparatory conference was held on March 14 and 15, 2024 in Mali under the theme « Diaspora, Afrodescendants and Development ».
The conference emphasized on the challenges faced by diasporas and Afrodescendants communities, such as systemic discrimination, social injustice, inequitable access to economic opportunities, limited education and other barriers that hinder their full potential and on the importance of bringing a profound change in the narrative and negative image of Africans, African diasporas and Afrodescendants, conveyed by imperialist propaganda tools for hostile agendas.
The Declaration of Bamako recommends for example the centrality of security, an essential condition for the sustainable development of African countries and the creation of digital platforms that connect members of African diasporas and Afrodescendants, local businesses and government agencies.
The third, the Northem Africa regional preparatory conference was organized online by the Kingdom of Morocco on April 18, 2024, on the theme « Pan-Africanism and migration ».
The meeting highlighted the important role of the African Union for orderly and coordinated management of migration by establishing several mechanisms including the Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA) and its 2018-2030 Action Plan. Furthermore, African embassies around the world are encouraged to hold an Africa Year in their country of residence.
Rabat Declaration recommends among others the need for the Continent to equip itself with reliable and verifiable data on migratory flows and trends in Africa, by calling on the African Migration Observatory (OAM) to strengthen the capacities of Member States in the collection of reliable data and statistics relating to African migration. It calls to ensure that bilateral and multilateral agreements with partners are consistent with human values and African objectives in terms of migration management and governance.
The fourth, the Central Africa regional preparatory conference was organized online by the Republic of Congo on May 24, 2024, under the theme « Economic Pan-Africanism and African Emergence ».
It called for the need to eliminate tariff barriers, promote intra-African trade, diversify the economy in Africa and strengthen regional and continental integration, by accelerating the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The Declaration of Brazzaville recommends the operationalization of the financial institutions of the African Union, namely the African Central Bank (ACB), the African Monetary Fund (AMF) and the African Investment Bank (AIB), with a view to accelerate regional integration and socio-economic development of the continent through resource mobilization and financial sector management and to finance integration infrastructure projects, as well as industrial and agricultural investments, in order to develop intracontinental trade.
The fifth one, the Eastern Africa regional preparatory conference was also organized online by the United Republic of Tanzania on July 6, 2024, under the theme « Africanophonie, Cultures, Education and Pan-African identity ».
The meeting recalls that people of Africa are essentially Africanophone due to the preponderance of African languages in their daily interactions and the need to decolonize minds and imaginations on the continent through the training of elites and executives whose profiles and skills are in line with the current and future needs of Africa.
Dar-es-Salam Declaration recommends, among other things, the strengthening of the use of Kiswahili in the African Union and in all its institutions and the introduction of the most representative cross-border African languages as working languages within regional economic communities.
To date, all the five pre-congresses as a prelude to the 9th Pan-African Congress decided to be held on the African continent have been organized. They were all sanctioned by Declarations.
A common point of the respective adopted Declarations is that they recommend the participation of African Member States, at the highest level, in the 9th Pan-African Congress in Lomé and the approval of the conclusions of the 9th Congress by the African Union.
The 6th and final preparatory conference, that of the Diaspora region, will be held in Bahia, Brazil, from 29 to 31 August 2024, on the theme « Memories, restitutions, reparations and reconstruction ».
Thus, as part of the preparations for the Bahia preparatory conference, H.E.M. MAURO VIEIRA, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federative Republic of Brazil, paid a visit to Lomé on 18 July 2024.
Bahia preparatory conference will also be sanctioned by a Declaration.
Bahia will close the preparatory conferences, which constitute a specificity of the 9th Pan-African Congress, namely its itinerancy, the objective of which is inclusiveness.
To conclude, Mr. Sedaminou reassured the commitment of the Togolese Government, in accordance with the vision of the President of the Republic H.E. Mr. Faure Essozimna GNASSINGBE, to make the 9th Pan-African Congress in Lomé a success.
A question-and-answer session with the journalists ended the press briefing.
