By Bongiwe Tutu
Celebrations on May 25th, crowned as Africa Day, recite the annual commemorations of Africa’s independence, freedom and liberation strife from colonial imperialists. The reinforcement of this liberation was the first union of African countries on African soil; the foundation of the regional integration body; the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963, which 38 years later, evolved into the African Union (AU).
Today, the continental organisation celebrates 57 years
of determined efforts for unity among the African people, and socioeconomic
freedom from foreign dominion and exploitation. These are the top 10
things to know about Africa Day.
Inspired by Ghana’s
Independence
The end of World War II saw exceeding efforts from
Africans over the process of decolonisation of the African continent for more
political rights and independence from colonial rule; thus, between 1945 and
1965, a significant number of African countries gained independence from European
colonial powers, with Ghana becoming the first African country in the South of
the Sahara gaining its independence on March 6, 1957, under the leadership of
Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana’s independence, therein, served as an inspiration to other
African countries fighting against colonial rule, and Ghana played a central
role in this objective.
A year after its independence, Ghana convened the first
Conference of Independent African States on April 15, 1958. African countries
in attendance included Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan, Liberia, Egypt, Tunisia, and
Morocco amongst others, with representatives of the National Liberation Front
of Algeria and the Union of Cameroonian Peoples. The conference was a
collective platform of the explicit assertion of Africa’s rejection of colonial
and imperialist domination of the continent, becoming the first Pan-African
liberation conference to be held on the continent, bringing together various
African countries. Further, at the meeting, the first African Freedom Day
was celebrated, which was later recognised as Africa Day.
“May This Convention of
Union Last 1000 Years”
Five years later on May 25, 1963, following the
sentiments of the conference held in Ghana, the Organisation of African Unity
(OAU) was formed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hosted by Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile
Selassie. The OAU was formed in a meeting seating over thirty African
nations with the aim to influence the decolonization of African countries
including Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, and Southern Rhodesia. The
organisation covenanted to support freedom fighters and remove military access
to colonial nations, and a charter was established to improve the livelihood of
member states across Africa, where Selassie pledged, “May this convention of
union last 1,000 years.”
Common African Unity and
Identity
The first Conference of Independent African States
convened on April 15, 1958, in Ghana and further encouraged and stamped a
common African identity of unity and fighting against colonialism. The
conference further called for the observance of African Freedom Day once a year
to mark, “The onward progress of the liberation movement, and to
symbolise the determination of the People of Africa to free themselves from
foreign domination and exploitation.”
April 15th was therein enacted as African Freedom Day or
Africa Liberation Day, and countries all over the continent celebrate and mark
the commemoration each year, with South Africa celebrating its Freedom Day on
April 27th of each year. At the formation of the OAU (Organisation of
African Unity) on May 25, 1963, this marked the beginning of what would later
be known as Africa Day.
Succeeding to the April conference, the All Africa
People’s Conference (AAPC) was held on December 8th through 13th, 1958, in
Accra, Ghana. The AAPC was attended by both independent and the then
non-independent countries, including representatives of liberation movements.
South Africa’s Join African Union
From South Africa, the liberation party against Apartheid
Rule, the African National Congress (ANC) could not formally attend the first
Conference of Independent African States in Ghana as it was prevented by the
ruling apartheid government. However, a memorandum was sent to the
conference. On behalf of the party, was a member of the ANC in the
Transvaal and a 1956 Treason Trialist, Alfred Hutchinson, who left the country
after his acquittal, and attended the AAPC (All African People’s Conference),
which was held a few months later.
South Africa only became part of the Organisation of the African
Union (OAU) in 1994 following the end of Apartheid rule, where 21 more member
states had joined the OAU since its foundation in 1963. Thirty-eight
years after its formation, the OAU evolved into the African Union (AU) on May
25, 2001, although the
organisation of the AU remains headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, its
legislative arm, the Pan-African Parliament, is situated in Midrand, South
Africa.
The Developments of the
African Union
At the African Union’s 50th Anniversary celebrated in
2013, AU Commission launch Agenda 2063, a long-term vision of where Africa should be in 50 years, great
developments were seen. Themes are often set for each year’s Africa Day
commemoration, with the most notable theme being 2015’s being the “Year
of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063″.
This theme was to hoist and inspire the role of women in
the leadership and policy-making of the African Union and in their work on
Africa Day. At an event in New York City, Deputy Secretary-General of the
United Nations, Jan Eliasson, delivered a message from Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, stating, “Let us…intensify our efforts to provide Africa’s
women with better access to education, work and healthcare and, by doing so,
accelerate Africa’s transformation.”
Women Empowerment in the
African Union
The African Union strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s
Empowerment (GEWE) 2018-2028 which was launched during the AU Summit February
2019 is based on an inclusive and multisectoral approach and builds on the
lessons learned from the 2009 gender policy. It is transformational in that its
outcomes aim to mitigate, if not eliminate the major constraints hindering
gender equality and women’s empowerment, so that women and girls may participate
fully in economic activities, political affairs and social endeavours.
The GEWE Strategy is a framework document to strengthen
women’s agency in Africa and ensure that women’s voices are amplified and their
concerns are fully addressed through, among others, effective implementation of
legislation and proper financing of gender equality work. It is a guiding
document on the implementation of the AU’s GEWE commitments and is to be used
to design transformational programmes that bring results for African women and
girls on the continent and in the diaspora.
Continent-wide Disease
Control and Prevention
January of 2017 marked the launch of Africa’s
continent-wide public health agency, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (Africa CDC), which was established to help African member states of
the African Union to respond to public health emergencies. The African Union
Assembly of Heads of State authorised an annual contribution from the overall
African Union operating budget for 2016 to safeguard Africa’s health, seeing
the importance of public as an impactful element on national, social and economic
development.
The need for an Africa CDC is to safeguard the required
support to African countries in their monitoring and response methodologies to
public health threats as was recognised by the African Union in 2013 and
formalised in 2015. President Alpha Conde of Guinea, one of the
Ebola-affected states between 2013 and 2015, attended the launch ceremony
in his capacity as the Chairperson of the African Union, accompanied by the
Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, along
with other senior officials of the Commission. As an African-owned institution,
the Africa CDC is distinctively positioned to help protect the health of the
continent.
This follows the meeting of the African Union Ministers
of Health in Malabo, where the Statute of the Africa CDC was adopted in July
2015 and urged for its fast implementation. Five Regional
Collaborating Centres that will work with the African CDC Coordinating Center
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have been selected. An Emergency Operations Center
has also been set up at the Addis Ababa Headquarters, where 10 highly qualified
epidemiologists are ready to monitor for disease threats across the continent.
The epidemiologists will be responsible for disease surveillance, analysis,
investigations, and reporting trends and anomalies from the continent, and all
information on the surveyed public health threats will be shared with
international networks.
Africa Day as a Public
Holiday
Africa Day continues to be celebrated both in Africa and
around the world, mostly on May 25th since the sitting of the first conference
in 1963. Some parts of the continent and throughout the world enjoy
longer periods of celebrations stretched over a number of days or weeks,
depending on the programme at hand.
For Africans on the continent and part of the diaspora,
Africa Day is a day when many different cultures of people from all African
backgrounds come together to celebrate the diversity of Africa, the
organisation of the African Union in its objectives for a decolonised African
state. Although it looks to celebrate how far Africa has come, it is also
a day to reflect on how far Africa still has to go in building a unified and
decolonised continent.
African countries including Ghana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho,
Zambia, Mali, and Zambia recognise Africa Day as a public holiday. Other
countries have celebrations to mark the historical day, while international
cities, such as New York, Dublin, Melbourne, London, and Washington engage in
academic gatherings and cultural showcases to mark the day.
Africa Day Celebrations
The theme for 2020 Africa Day commemoration is “ SilencingTheGuns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development
and Intensifying the Fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Given the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, most celebrations
for Africa Day will be virtual owing to social distancing measures and national
lockdowns which have been enforced in numerous African countries.
Perhaps one of the biggest events set to take place is
the Africa Day Benefit Concert
At Home, which will be hosted by Idris Elba. The concert, which
will feature artists such as Angelique Kidjo, Sauti Sol, Burna Boy, AKA and
many others, is set to be streamed on MTV Base platforms with the aim of
raising funds to help in the continued fight against COVID-19 in Africa.
Member states across the continent emphasized the
founding objectives to the formation of the African Union, and remembering the
efforts of the member states in their lived fight for freedom and unity.
Each year, a number of different initiatives, celebrations and
commemorations are being enacted all over Africa and the rest of the world,
marking the relevance of Africa Day in our lives today.
Silencing The Guns– Africa Day Theme 2020
Africa Day in May 25th 2020 will be celebrated across the
continent. The month is an opportunity to promote African unity, deeper
regional integration and recommit Africa to a common destiny.
Planned activities over the month will culminate with Africa Day celebrations
on 25 May 2019. The annual commemoration of Africa Day marks the founding of
the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963.
This year’s celebrations will happen virtually and online due to the massive impact of COVID-19 on the continent and the world under the theme: SilencingTheGuns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development and Intensifying the Fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic.
