The collective responsibility
of all Africans
On August 11, Charles Taylor of Liberia handed over the Presidency of
the Republic to his Vice President, Moses Zeh Blah. Later on the same
day, he travelled out of the country of his birth, going into exile in
Nigeria.
In terms of the Constitution of the Republic
of Liberia, the term of office of the Taylor government, elected in
1997, in elections described
by the UN and ECOWAS as "free, fair, and credible", will end
in October this year. This is the month during which general elections
should have been held. The elected Head of State would then assume his
position in January 2004.
In June this year, in Accra, just before the opening session of the
Liberia peace negotiations, when we met as Heads of State and Government
attending this opening, we agreed with then President Taylor that, since
the scheduled elections could not be held in October, he should, in October,
hand over the reigns of power to the Vice President.
We further agreed that the new President would then work to form an
inclusive Transitional Government of National Unity, also bringing in
the armed opposition groups, LURD and MODEL. This government would lead
Liberia to its next democratic elections. Hopefully, these would be held
in October 2004, the necessary conditions for free and fair elections
having been created by this Transitional Government.
To our surprise, on this very same day, the UN-approved Court in Sierra
Leone issued a warrant of arrest for President Charles Taylor. None of
us could understand why this action was announced precisely on the day
that the Liberian negotiations began. Our concern derived from the fact
that the action of this Court created the possibility for the complete
collapse of the negotiations even before they began.
Nevertheless, we agreed that the Opening Session of the negotiations
and the substantive negotiations would go ahead as planned. In his statement,
President Taylor would state his readiness to relinquish his position
as President, if this contributed to the end of the war in Liberia, setting
her on the road to a stable and permanent democratic peace. Accordingly,
President Taylor made this statement in the presence of all the delegates
to the negotiations conference.
As announced by Ghana's President John Kufuor, and Chairperson of ECOWAS,
at the hand-over ceremony in Monrovia on August 11, the government led
by President Blah will cede power to the Transitional Government that
will be constituted by decision of the Accra Liberian Peace Conference.
Given all these developments, President Kufuor justifiably made bold
to say - the war in Liberia is over! The departure of Charles Taylor
from the country of his birth constituted an important contribution to
the determined effort now being made, to end the carnage that has gripped
Liberia for fourteen years.
The Republic of Liberia was established in 1847 by the American Colonisation
Society. This US non-governmental organisation was established to repatriate
to Africa those Africans who had been freed from slavery in the United
States.
One of the most distinguished 19th century citizens of the new republic
came from the Virgin Islands. This was the early and outstanding African
patriot and Pan-Africanist, Edward Wilmot Blyden. Born in the Virgin
Islands in 1832, he immigrated to Liberia in 1850.
He served in many posts in the new republic, and even contested the
Presidency in 1885. He subsequently immigrated to Sierra Leone, established
in a manner similar to Liberia, and died in this country in 1912, the
year of birth of the ANC.
On February 16, 1890, he delivered a speech at the Fifteenth Street
Presbyterian Church, Washington D.C., USA. Responding to remarks made
shortly before by a US Senator in the US Senate, he said:
"When the orator says that to the Caucasian
race 'humanity is indebted for religion, for literature, for civilization,'
he is speaking with
the inexactness not of the historian, but of the politician. Everybody
knows that the basis of the civilization and literature of present day
was on the Nile and not among the Caucasian race - not on the Ilissus,
the Tiber, the Rhine or the Thames, but on the rivers of Ethiopia. There
were only two steps between Egypt and modern Europe - Greece and Rome.
Greece took not only civilization and literature, but even religion from
Ethiopia. Such were the wonderful developments of civilization and literature
and religion in that country, that the early poets and historians of
Greece, unable to understand such marvelous indigenous growth, attributed
it to the direct interference of the gods, who they affirm went every
year to feast with the Ethiopians."
Edward Blyden must be turning in his grave as he has watched the African
country of his adoption, Liberia, consume its own children in a sustained
orgy of blood-letting and killing, caught in a desperate struggle for
power among various factions of Liberians.
He had hoped that, once more, the gods would feast with the peoples
of Africa, including the former African slaves who, after a long period
of pain and suffering, had taken to ships that sailed east, across the
Atlantic Ocean.
In April 1998, another distinguished African,
the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Ghanaian, Kofi Annan,
submitted a report to
the Security Council, entitled: "The Causes of Conflict and the
Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa."
Among other things, he wrote:
"More than three decades after African countries
gained their independence, there is a growing recognition among Africans
themselves that the continent
must look beyond its colonial past for the causes of current conflicts.
Today more than ever, Africa must look at itself.
The nature of political power in many African States, together with
the real and perceived consequences
of capturing and maintaining power, is a key source of conflict across
the continent. It is frequently the case that political victory assumes
a "winner-takes-all" form with respect to wealth and resources,
patronage, and the prestige and prerogatives of office. A communal sense
of advantage or disadvantage is often closely linked to this phenomenon,
which is heightened in many cases by reliance on centralized and highly
personalized forms of governance. Where there is insufficient accountability
of leaders, lack of transparency in regimes, inadequate checks and balances,
non-adherence to the rule of law, absence of peaceful means to change
or replace leadership, or lack of respect for human rights, political
control becomes excessively important, and the stakes become dangerously
high. This situation is exacerbated when, as is often the case in Africa,
the State is the major provider of employment and political parties are
largely either regionally or ethnically based. In such circumstances,
the multi-ethnic character of most African States makes conflict even
more likely, leading to an often violent politicisation of ethnicity.
In extreme cases, rival communities may perceive that their security,
perhaps their very survival, can be ensured only through control of State
power. Conflict in such cases becomes virtually inevitable."
He then went on to say: "During the cold
war, external efforts to bolster or undermine African Governments were
a familiar feature of
super-power competition. With the end of the cold war, external intervention
has diminished but has not disappeared. In the competition for oil and
other precious resources in Africa, interests external to Africa continue
to play a large and sometimes decisive role, both in suppressing conflict
and in sustaining it. Foreign interventions are not limited, however,
to sources beyond Africa. Neighbouring States, inevitably affected by
conflicts taking place within other States, may also have other significant
interests, not all of them necessarily benign. While African peacekeeping
and mediation efforts have become more prominent in recent years, the
role that African Governments play in supporting, sometimes even instigating,
conflicts in neighbouring countries must be candidly acknowledged."
Much of what UNSG Kofi Annan said relates to
Liberia, among others of our countries. In this context, the Liberian,
Tiawan Saye Gongloe, addressed
a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this month, under the title: "Liberia:
A Nation Still Struggling to Live up to its Meaning".
Among other things, he said:
"The dream that inspired the proclamation
of a colony for freed slaves and free-born a sovereign state, was contained
in the Declaration
of Independence of Liberia. In that declaration, the founders of Liberia,
(freed slaves), bemoaned their denial of all rights accorded other citizens
of the United States of America as citizens and the lack of avenues of
redress of grievances. Therefore, the promise of Liberia was the hope
and opportunity to establish an asylum from oppression for the victims
of such abuses, according to the Declaration of Independence. Liberia
was meant to be a country where the protection of human rights would
be given the highest national consideration. The desire for the enjoyment
of all rights accorded a free person was the motivation for establishing
Liberia. It is called Liberia, the land of liberty, because it was meant
to be a country of freedom from abuse. The motto of Liberia is 'The Love
of Liberty Brought us Here'.
"Liberia was intended to be a human rights
paradise in Africa. For over a century the relationship between the
founding fathers of Liberia
and the natives was one that could be easily described as black apartheid.
It was only as late as 1948 that natives were allowed to vote in Liberia.
However, the right to vote was in reality only restricted to the right
to cast a ballot, not a right to contest for office and be voted for.
Attempts by President William R. Tolbert to change the situation and
allow equal participation in government was seriously resisted by the
oligarchy of the descendants of the founders of Liberia. It was against
this background that a group of native soldiers of the Armed Forces of
Liberia overthrew the Government of President Tolbert by assassinating
him on April 12, 1980."
However, the military government led by Samuel Doe failed to address
the interests of the Liberian people, regardless of the promises it made.
Charles Taylor led an armed rebellion in 1989 to overthrow the military
regime of Samuel Doe. He was elected President of Liberia in 1997, following
a seven-year period of peace-keeping and enforcement, and mediation by
ECOWAS, led by Nigeria.
But soon enough, the war resumed, conducted by the armed groups LURD
and MODEL. Both these military conflicts, before and after 1997, have
resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Liberians, with even
larger numbers displaced and driven into exile as refugees.
Of the greatest importance also, is the fact that the conflict in Liberia
has resulted in this country serving as a major source of conflict and
instability in West Africa as a whole. This has affected such neighbours
of Liberia as Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Cote d'Ivoire, and led to
the emergence of a large group of African mercenaries, available for
hire by whoever has money.
In his speech in Atlanta, the Liberian lawyer, Tiawan Saye Gongloe,
said:
"A long-term solution to the Liberian problem
will require addressing the root causes of the conflict. The Liberia
conflict is rooted in a
legacy of repression and social injustice due to exclusionist governance,
that has lasted for over a century and a half of Liberia's existence.
Therefore, the long-term solution for resolving the conflict in Liberia
is to put in place a governing process that will guarantee popular participation
in governance and respect for the rights of all Liberians without regard
to origin, tribe, family background, belief, sex or other identities.
In order for peace to prevail in Liberia and for conflicts to be avoided,
governance in Liberia must be reflective of the name Liberia, the land
of Liberty."
He ended with the following words:
"Africa has become a collective shame: we
must work collectively to make it a collective pride. We are in this
boat together. Let us build
upon the integrity of A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and other African patriots to restore dignity
to the peoples of Africa. This challenge may seem too difficult to meet,
but with God and determination, all things are possible. May God rescue
Africa."
On August 11, we were in Monrovia, Liberia, a country with just over
3 million resident citizens, because it is our collective responsibility
as Africans, to rescue Africa and her children. When we are done, and
as Edward Blyden foresaw, the gods will return to feast with us.
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HIV/AIDS
The cabinet decision last Friday to adopt measures to enhance government's
HIV/AIDS programme, which includes the provision of antiretroviral drugs
in public health facilities, reaffirms its commitment to respond in a
comprehensive and sustainable manner to the epidemic.
The decision, which follows an extensive and wide-ranging process of
investigation, is consistent with the approach taken since the ANC took
office in 1994. The ANC has always maintained that the fight against
HIV/AIDS must be taken up across a broad range of fronts and addressed
in a comprehensive, guided by the best available scientific information
and within the resources available to the country.
The decision follows the consideration of a report of a joint Health
and Treasury Task Team on treatment options to enhance comprehensive
care for HIV/AIDS in the public sector. Cabinet decided the Department
of Health should urgently proceed to develop a detailed operational plan
on an antiretroviral treatment programme. This work should be completed
by the end of September.
This enhanced response has been made possible now by a decrease in drug
prices, availability of budgetary resources, and the growing body of
knowledge on this issue.
The cabinet meeting reiterated "government's principled approach
that antiretroviral drugs do help improve the quality of life of those
at a certain stage of the development of AIDS, if administered properly".
In a statement released after the meeting, government
said a primary challenge in South Africa was to ensure that the 40
million people not
infected with HIV do not become infected, "and that those who are
infected but have not as yet progressed to an advanced stage of AIDS
lead a normal life through proper nutrition, healthy lifestyles and treatment
of opportunistic infections."
"In other words, not everyone who is infected with HIV would need
antiretroviral treatment," it said.
These measures to enhance government's programme to tackle HIV/AIDS
build on a range of measures already in place to prevent the spread of
HIV infection, maintain health after HIV infection, treat opportunistic
infections, provide home and community-based care, and tackle discrimination
and stigmatisation. The task team said prevention remains and must always
remain the cornerstone of all efforts to deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The core elements of a comprehensive health sector prevention programme
are already in place. These include promoting abstinence, faithfulness
and safer sex; free condom distribution; effective management of sexually
transmitted infections; prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission;
expanded access to voluntary counselling and testing; and measures to
reduce the risk of infection among survivors of sexual assault.
Once people have been diagnosed as HIV positive, there are a number
of measures in place to maintain their health, including nutritional
advice and support and treatment of opportunistic infections.
"The tuberculosis control programme treats a very large number
of HIV-infected individuals. Community and home-based care and step-down
care have been developed and strengthened at growing number of sites
across the country, to provide an effective platform for the delivery
of basic treatment and care to people with AIDS," the task team's
summary report said.
An antiretroviral programme could extend the life and reduce mortality
among HIV positive people whose immune system had deteriorated to such
an extent that nutrition, complementary treatments and antibiotics were
no longer sufficient to deal with major opportunistic infections, the
report said.
However, for such a programme to be successfully
implemented, the task team said, a number of "guiding principles" would
need to be observed. These include the commitment of significant resources
in the
short, medium and long term because antiretroviral treatment continues
for life. It should not divert resources from other essential public
health programmes, nor from HIV prevention activities.
It will also require a significant investment in human resource development
and a well-resourced adherence plan targeting patients, their families,
communities and health care providers.
Government said it shared the impatience of many
South Africans on the need to strengthen the nation's armoury in the
fight against AIDS. "Cabinet
will therefore ensure that the remaining challenges are addressed with
urgency; and that the final product guarantees a programme that is effective
and sustainable," it said.
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UDF
Series II
The United
Democratic Front was notable, among other things, for its
ability to bring together a range of sectors and formations behind a
common struggle for democratic change. In addition to the hundreds of
community and civic organisations which were affiliated to the UDF, the
front also brought together national worker, women, youth, professional
and student organisations, providing a focus and impetus for common action.
The involvement of workers' organisations in the UDF was important for
the development of a multi-class alliance against national oppression,
and for asserting the interests and primacy of the working class in this
struggle.
In an interview with the journal Work in Progress, then General Secretary
of the General and Allied Workers Union (GAWU), Sydney Mufamadi, said
there was nothing in the UDF declaration which negated the interests
of the working class. Instead, he said, the national democratic struggle
placed special emphasis on the leadership role of the working class.
"We feel that we as a trade union have got room in the UDF as much
as any other progressive form of organisation, be it operating in the
community, at a student level or in the women's front," he said.
Sisa Njikelana, from the South African Allied
Workers Union (SAAWU), also speaking in an interview with Work in Progress,
said the people
must continually be encouraged to play their part in the struggle for
national liberation. "With this firmly in mind it becomes all the
more important that the black working class, as the most determined and
consistent force in the struggle for national liberation, must lead the
way forward," he said.
Others differed. David Lewis, then General Secretary
of the General Workers Union (GWU), explained to Work in Progress that
while supportive
of the work of the UDF, GWU could not see its way clear to affiliate
for two broad reasons: "The first concerns the structure of many
of the organisations that are affiliated to the UDF, relative to the
structure of a trade union. These structures are very distinct and critically
different. Our second major area of difficulty relates to the essentially
single-class nature, the working class nature, of trade unions, relative
to the multi-class nature of the UDF and many organisations affiliated
to it."
Trade unions nevertheless became a major constituency within the UDF.
Following the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU) in November 1985, this involvement was strengthened.
In an editorial in Sechaba in January 1986, welcoming
the launch of COSATU, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu)
underlined
the importance of trade union participation in national struggles: "This
[the formation of COSATU] also means that a powerful new voice has been
added to the politics of South Africa. This new extension of trade union
cooperation is a new source of strength, not only to the new worker body,
but to the democratic trade union and working class movement in South
Africa in general."
COSATU'S Central Executive Committee agreed in
1986 to build the call for united mass action and national unity against
the apartheid regime
in the short term, but that long-term unity must continued to be discussed
in COSATU and with other organisations. "Our organisations have
the power in our hands to unite millions who want what we want," it
said.
Student and youth struggles were a critical feature of the UDF period.
The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) at school level, and the
Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO) and the National Union of South
African Students (NUSAS) at tertiary level, had formed a non-racial student
alliance from early in the 1980s, and formed the student wing of the
UDF.
The 1980 school boycotts, led by COSAS, were an early skirmish in what
was to be an intensifying struggle in the schools, with demands that
included an end to Bantu education, the right to elect Student Representative
Councils, and an end to corporal punishment and sexual harassment in
the schools.
Writing in the latest edition of the ANC's political discussion journal
Umrabulo, former NUSAS presidents Kate Philip and Brendan Barry, said
COSAS in particular provided impetus and inspiration to broader struggles.
"Throughout the country, COSAS generated a leadership cadre characterised
by its political maturity and insight and above all its courage. Together
with other township youth formations, it provided a militant backbone
to the entire democratic movement, not only through its own struggles
but through its former students as they reached tertiary education institutions,
joined trade unions, community organisations and Umkhonto we Sizwe," they
said.
The relationship between the struggles of tertiary students in AZASO
(subsequently SANSCO) and NUSAS and broader community struggles led tertiary
students to challenge the role of universities and other higher education
institutions in society.
It also provided an opportunity to involve white
students: "For
NUSAS, the decision to be part of UDF enabled us to link white students
with these [broader] struggles in ways that were meaningful and material;
that allowed these students to be participants in South Africa's democratic
movement, side by side with the many constituencies within UDF, and in
support of their struggles."
Along with students, and particularly COSAS, youth organisations were
particularly active in the UDF. This is borne out, among other things,
by the disproportionate targeting of youth by the apartheid state for
detention, harassment and violence. By 1987, about 80 percent of the
30,000 state of emergency detainees were youth.
When youth activists came together in 1987 to form the South African
Youth Congress (SAYCO), it had to be done in the utmost secrecy.
A report on the launch in State of the Nation,
a publication of the SA Students' Press Union, observed: "The
launch proved that attempts to crush the militancy, determination and
organisations of the youth
are failing. They have advanced to meet the challenge of the state of
emergency and advanced despite the most repressive conditions in years."
Describing the composition of this new organisation,
it said: "There
were those that symbolised the newly forged layers of youth leadership.
Others are tried and tested youth leaders, former political prisoners
and a few more who were at the COSAS Congress some eight years ago when
the youth organisation idea first surfaced. Some had only recently been
released from detention."
With an estimated membership of over half a million and active support
of over two million South African youth, SAYCO was the UDF's largest
affiliate, it said.
"It has committed itself to forging principled working relationships
with COSATU and progressive workers, women, community and student organisations
which share its principles. Alliances will also be build with progressive
sports, cultural and religious bodies," the report said.
Philip and Barry summed up the significance of
the broad front approach to struggle: "Not only did UDF provide
a common platform for the voice of grassroots structures, but also
a vehicle through which apparently
isolated struggles were able to build a cumulative and decisive impact."
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