GUSS marks independence day with seminar on Africa

The Ghana union in Stockholm left the celebration of this year's independence anniversary late but when it did happen, it was worth the effort for the few who attended. Instead of a full blown party of drinking and dancing, the union decided to hold a seminar to mark the day. The topics chosen were among the hottest on the continent: Côte d'Ivoire and Southern Sudan. Mr Firmin Koto, an Ivorian journalist and editor of Stockholm based Cultural magazine, 100% Culture, talked on the situation in his country and Mr James Kur Muorwel spoke on Southern Sudan.

Speaking in Swedish on the topic, Can Ivoirians save their country?, Mr Koto traced the genesis of the problem in his country to the death of its founding president, Felix Houphouët-Boigny, who led the country from independence in 1960 until his death in 1995. Having ruled the country alone for so long, Houphouët-Boigny failed to prepare the country for multi-party democracy. Koto said Laurent Gbagbo, a long time opponent of the founding founder, tried to re-negotiate old contracts with the former colonial overlords, France which didn't quite enjoy giving Côte d'Ivoire economic freedom and armed the rebels in the subsequent conflict. Koto was of the view that it is not the alleged foreign origins of Alhassan Ouattara that is the cause of the problem. He said it was necessary for Africans to take control of their own affairs mentioning Ghana as a good example for Africa in terms of democracy. During question time, he expressed the view that the political situation in his country would be better if all the three major old politicians (Gbagbo, Ouattara and Bedie) leave the scene for the younger ones.

Mr Koto has now been living in Stockholm for the past five years where he runs a cultural magazine published in Swedish and French. He said he did not see the reason why as a journalist in his home, he could not continue in the same profession when he came to Europe. He showed a copy of the glossy magazine, selling at 50 kr, to the audience.

Mr James Kur Muorwel is the Deputy Principal Liaison officer for the government of South Sudan based in Oslo and responsible for the Nordic countries. This office would be turned into a full embassy on the formal independence of South Sudan. He spoke on the topic: South Sudan, the painful birth of a new African nation - background and future prospects.

In a very spirited presentation, he started by stressing the need for Africans to impose what he termed a “true African culture” on the things we do instead of allowing ourselves to be so open to outside intervention. He deplored the fact that we have abandoned our own culture and have become half white, half European, Arab or Christian and was of the view that Africans have enough potential to contribute something to the world.

He traced the history of the Sudan from ancient times – the Kush civilization which existed 3000 years BC till 543 AD. Islam came to the Sudan much later in 651 AD. The Arabs and Europeans collaborated in taking slaves in the area. In the 1946 and 1947 conferences in Cairo on the area, the South was never consulted and did not take part. The first Sudanese constitution, drawn in 1956 when the country attained independence, was Islamic. Mr Muorwel asked if Sudan is really an Islamic state and pointed out that the country has many different ethnic groups and that even though it was a member of the Arab League, the majority of the citizens are not Arabs. In the south, the majority are not even Islamic. Only very few Sudanese can claim Arabic as their mother tongue. The Islamic state was, therefore, an imposition on many especially in the south.

The first civil war broke out in 1955 and went on until an agreement in Addis Ababa in 1972 kept a precarious peace. The then head of state, Numeiri, did away with that agreement in 1983. This began the second civil war which went on until 2005. The fighting then was for a united Sudan. Southern Sudan lost 2.5 million of its citizens in that war. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD – a sub-regional organisation) and donor countries in 2005 ended the second civil war. The agreement also set a timetable by which South Sudan would have a referendum on its independence. The referendum was held this year and the people voted massively for separation. Formal independence is scheduled for July 9th 2011, when Southern Sudan will become the 54th African nation and the 193rd country in the world.

Mr Muorwel then spent the rest of the time in talking about current issues and the challenges ahead of the new nation the greatest of which will be security issues involving the north. Agreements drawn in connection with oil are not favourable to the South. Even though the new nation has a lot of resources, it is still very poor and the challenge of raising the plight of its millions is a great one. There is the need for the infrastructure to be built up, education, and health to be improved. With evident pride in his voice, Mr Muorwel expressed the hope that the new country will prevail. He showed slides of events from the country's history and its resources and viewers could see that South Sudan has resources other than oil – vast agricultural lands, cattle, wildlife, timber and others.

The question time was very interesting as many people asked the two speakers various questions. There was an interesting discussion of the Dinka tradition of giving large herds of cattle for the hand of a girl in marriage. The moderator, Mr Anthony Turkson, had to cut in to stop the flow of questions in order to bring the day to a close.

A representative of the Sports Association of Afro-Scandinavians (SAAS), Mr Joshua Ndip Ako, was at hand to talk about the association and invite the Ghana union to take part in its activities. The association plans a football club in Sweden made up of Africans which would take part at the appropriate level of the Swedish football league. He announced that this year's football tournament will start in July. Visit SAAS' site at www.saas-organization.se / www.ac-cup.se

The gathering also heard from Mr Björn Gävert, a representative of Herbalife, multi-level marketing organisation dealing in nutritional products and about to start operations in Ghana. Mr Gävert showed a PowerPoint presentation of the company's activities and invited the audience to grab the opportunity of earning a few bucks on the side, especially as the company will soon operate in Ghana. See www.herbalife.com for more on the company.

Story and fotos: Kofi Sapathy, April, 2011