Address by the Chairperson of the Commission, Dr Jean Ping, to the Ministerial Conference on the Global African Diaspora Summit, Pretoria, South Africa 23 May 2012

PRETORIA, South-Africa, May 23, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Address by the Chairperson of the Commission, Dr Jean Ping, to the Ministerial Conference on the Global African Diaspora Summit, Pretoria, South Africa 23 May 2012

Your Excellency, Mr Nassirou Arifari Bako, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Francophone and Beninese Diasporas of the Republic of Benin, and Chairperson of the Executive Council of the African Union

Your Excellency, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, our Host, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa

Your Excellencies, Ministers and Members of the Executive Council of the African Union,

Your Excellencies, Ministers of the Caribbean Community, South and Latin America and of States with African populations,

Your Excellency Ambassador Irwin La Rocque, Executive Secretary of CARICOM,

Esteemed Friends and Partners of the AU,

Distinguished Brothers and Sisters of the African Diaspora,

Distinguished Guests,

Members of the Press and the Fourth Estate, Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. “Africa must unite”. That was the clarion call to action launched over fifty years ago by the late prophetic Kwame Nkrumah who said unequivocally among other things that “We must unite (...), so that our vast resources and capacity for development will bring prosperity for us and additional benefits for the rest of the world (...). Permit me to respectfully echo that declaration by stating that as far as all of us are concerned and attend this momentous and historic occasion, all of us are convinced that the time to unite is now or never!

2. It is with this firm belief and with the deepest sense of responsibility and commitment that I stand before you to to address this third Ministerial Conference that is convening here today to conclude preparations for the first ever African Global Diaspora Summit scheduled to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre on 25 May 2012.

3. I would like to begin by stating that the association of Ministers of the African Union and the African Diaspora have concrete reasons to be proud of their sense of stewardship in the service of mother Africa in this regard. At every turn and instance the Ministers have inspired, led and guided this process through decisions of the Executive Council, report and oversight of the outcomes, recommendations on what needs to be done to facilitate implementation and the development of appropriate roadmaps and follow-up and implementation mechanism. It is significant that this august body has met three times over the last five years to agree on the Draft Declaration that we will put finishing touches to today. I salute your understanding, patience, tolerance and commitment to Africa in this process. I am confident that our leaders when they meet will favour the results of your efforts.

Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

4. It is important to briefly outline the processes invested in the effort and to offer a broad but succinct overview of how we got here for the sake of history and as a guide to future efforts. What we are expecting from this Summit is a framework document, a Declaration that would serve as a basic law for this process. You will agree with me that a basic law has two parts, a letter and the spirit. Both must be in accord for it to operate seamlessly. The letter of law is cold and precise but the spirit is more elaborate, comprising, amongst others, the sociological context that must guide the application of laws with an understanding of the intention of these laws. It is in this spirit that I am offering a process of historical reconstruction to explain why we decided to build the global African family, the purpose of that exercise and the process that we have built to sustain it.

5. The AU's Diaspora Initiative had its roots in the transformation of the continental organization from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU). The OAU was created as an agent for fostering political unity and ensuring political decolonization and independence for all African people within the continent. By the time of the transformation from OAU into AU in 2002, the OAU had done an excellent job and there was need to go beyond the articles of political independence to deliver on its promises of prosperity. The AU was created as a vehicle for accelerating the processes of integration and development to deliver on this promise.

6. The creation of the AU was accompanied by the realization that development emphasis could only be achieved through a process of mass mobilisation. Hence, there was a need for a people-centered orientation designed to harness the will and efforts of all segments of the African society. A logical corollary was that a significant part of the larger African population resided in theDiaspora. Hence, the building of the global African family to support Africa's developmental efforts became a key component of the drive of African renaissance. I should underscore the significant contribution of the Diaspora to Africa's growth and prosperity and the need to nurture this important constituency even for its own sake.

Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

7. In 2005 the AU began the rebuilding project by facilitating a global consultative dialogue between Africa and its Diaspora to create and sustain dialogue among the African people worldwide, solidify commitment to the African cause, formulate appropriate strategies for the developmental process and determine the character of mutual efforts required to support these goals. The objective desire was to turn defeat into victory and use the experience of forceful separation in the era of the slave trade and humiliation in the era of colonialism and beyond as a framework for solidarity and rejuvenation in the contemporary world.

Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

8. When we began this process in 2005, I was a member of the Executive Council of the Union. Our collective expectation was that it was going to culminate in a Global Summit in 2008, yet the Summit had to be postponed for four years. However, under your guidance, we put the four years to good use. The process of Regional Consultative Conference was extended to different regions of the world in which they had not yet taken place. The building of regional networks as interlocutors for the AU continued apace. The Citizens and Diaspora Directorate in my Bureau of the Commission have also been very hard at work, mobilizing the African Diaspora, refining programs and policies, securing funds from within and outside the Union and engaging partners to accelerate these processes.

9. In this regard, we have been rewarded with partnership and support of the Government of South Africa and in particular, the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation under our Host Minister. As a result of the cumulative processes, we have also developed five legacy projects as detailed in the Declaration that will give practical and visible concrete developmental import to the objectives of the program. As I noted earlier, none of these would be possible without the guiding inspiration of the Executive Council of Ministers of Africa and the Diaspora who have met thrice to appraise the efforts and steps, revise proposals and measures, and determine next steps and proper direction. Ultimately this has produced the Draft Declaration that we have before us today.

Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

10. Before I conclude, I need to say a few words about this Declaration. First, it is that this is a credible and important document that is adapted to the letter and spirit of the Diaspora Initiative but it is both a proposed law and working document. A family that has been severely undermined and torn apart by history cannot be reunited in one day. In appraising the sum total of our collective efforts therefore, we must observe that while the Declaration meets our goals, it is not a perfect document and was never intended to be. If we meet here next year, we will still see things we can add and improve upon. The process of rebuilding our family is and would always remain work in progress.

11. In addition, I must emphasize one element of your outcomes at the 2nd Ministerial meeting in New York on September 24, 2011 for your re-affirmation. The Diaspora Initiative would not begin and end with the Summit. The real task begins with the implementation processes after the Summit. This august Assembly must therefore recommit itself to implementing the outcomes of the Summit, towards providing necessary resource to support the implementation mechanism and retaining key interest in its consolidation and advancement.

12. The consolidation and advancement of the Diaspora Initiative as contained in the Draft Declaration must therefore, assign priority to two main elements in the implementation mechanism. First, it must sustain and finalize evolving organizational processes. Emphasis must continue to be placed on the Regional Consultative Processes as framework for mobilization, reflection, refinement and consolidation. In this regard, work must proceed on the building of regional Diaspora networks that would serve as interlocutors for AU goals and objectives. Concomitantly, we must now devote more efforts to establish appropriate structures that would facilitate more effective Diaspora participation in the affairs of the Union. The legal and political framework for this exercise should emphasize rights and duties, privileges and obligations, commitment and responsibilities. Second, we must rigorously ensure the implementation of the flagship or legacy projects to give practical meaning and orientation to our developmental aspirations.

13. Finally, often times in the political arena, we have made pious commitments without appropriate follow-up and dedicated interest. The rebuilding of the global African family is too important to be part of such experience. The Commission of the African Union dedicates itself to ensuring the implementation of the outcomes of this Summit as we are sure that both the Ministers in Council and the Assembly of the Union will also ensure this happens. It is our plea and submission to our leaders that this Initiative will be a living project and the Declaration would be a living document that, generations after us will come to applaud, refine, respect and implement.

14. Let me end by, once again, thanking the Government and people of South Africa for all the efforts made to ensure success of the whole process and this Summit. I request Madam Minister to please convey our gratitude to the South African government.

15. I thank you all.