AFRICA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD:



AFRICA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD:By JAD“Whereas in the course of human affairs... history has shown that it may be necessary for a people to resolve the political affiliations which have connected them with another people and to assume amongst other nations the separate and equal status, to which they were pledged and entitled. And whereas in such an event, a respect for the opinions of mankind requires them to declare to other nations the causes which impel them to seek full responsibility for their own affairs... We have fought for country and for Empire, we have self-governed since 1923, on a democratic and non racial franchise, we have preserved the impartiality of justice and governed responsibly in order that the welfare of the populace, peace and stability are among the highest aims of governance, we have struck a concord between all and all this is to be shattered on the rocks of expediency... To us has been given the privilege of the first Western nation in the last two decades to have the determination and the fortitude to say, “So far and no further” ... We Rhodesians have rejected the doctrinaire philosophy of surrender and appeasement... The decision which we have taken today is a refusal by Rhodesians to sell their birthright. We may be a small country, our sovereignty threatened by the world but we are a determined people who have been called upon to play a role of worldwide significance. Thus, by not tolerating the injustices which are perpetrated against us, we resolve the passage of the unilateral declaration of independence. We have struck a blow for the preservation of justice, civilisation and Christianity, and in the spirit of this belief we have this day, assumed our rightful sovereign independence! God bless her Majesty and bless you all!The Unilateral Declaration of Independence for Rhodesia by the loyal Empire monarchist and African patriot Sir Ian Douglas Smith, seeker of equilibrium after the British betrayal for the Zimbabwe chaos.“We must practise ubuntu... –a need for understanding but not for vengeance, a need for reparation but not retaliation, a need for ubuntu –not for victimisation...”“Foreign aid is not and cannot be the answer to Africa’s problems. There are many needy countries in this world. And even if all the prosperous were prepared to rectify the impoverished –it would still not suffice. (Interdependence evokes enslavement! Something is not granted for nothing! Aid must be repaid!) Whether it is used to rebuild schools, hospitals, houses, factories etc... it requires repayment. Where shall we get it from? We shall get it from the villages and from agriculture... If we are not careful, we might propagate the real exploitation: of urbanity exploiting rurality –of castrating ourselves by the submission to foreigners.” The Arusha Declaration by the African President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, espouser of the African way of socialism and society, without external ignorance, exploiting and patronising condescendence. “Let it be voiced, heard and acknowledged by the world, for all history to witness.... that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by the form of government founded on injustice and inequity... That our country will never be free or prosperous until all of our people live in brotherhood... that all enjoy equal rights and oppourtunities...That only a democratic state based on the will of the people secure to all: -their birthright; -without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief....And therefore, we the people of South Africa, black and white together –equals, countrymen and brothers adopt this FREEDOM CHARTER. And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing nothing of our course and strength until the democratic changes that have been set out have been won and prevailed...The People Shall Govern!Everyone shall have the right to vote for and stand as a candidate for all bodies which formulate laws. All of the people should be entitled to take part in the administration of this country. The rights of the people shall be the same: regardless of race, colour or sex –as all Africans, as all South Africans... All organs of minority rule; advisory boards and authorities shall be replaced by democratic bodies of self government. All National Groups shall have equal protection and rights to their self identity...There shall be equal status and respect for all languages in the courts and schools... All national groups shall be protected by laws against insults to their race and national pride... All people shall have equal rights to their own language, to develop their own folklore, culture and customs... The preaching and practising of contempt or discrimination on basis of colour, heritage, race and gender shall be made punishable by law...All apartheid laws and practises shall be repealed!The People shall share in the country’s wealth. The national, historical and ecological wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans; shall be returned to the People. The mineral wealth beneath the soil, land and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole... All other industries shall be regulated to serve the well being of the people as a whole... All shall have equal trading rights, the freedom to choose all trades and enter all professions...The land shall be shared among those who work it...Amandla! Ngawethu!The 1955 Freedom Charter as pronounced by President Mandela and decided by the ruling ANC of RSA and the people’s will as the blueprint to be carried out by a nation unbeholden to any other, as the apex of what a successful, sovereign and prospering African state and people can achieve –separately!TABLE OF CONTENTS:Exegesis Page 4The Cultural Odyssey Page 141The Northern Quadrant Page 12Kilwa, Somalia, Djibouti and the Portals to the East Page 148Aegyptus – The Scarab’s Carapace Page 23The Arusha Declaration Page 154The City of Alexandria Page 30Ascending Mount Kilimanjaro Page 162Cairo and the Mediterranean Page 34The Fragmented Legacy: Central Africa 171Dido’s Carthage Page 39The Archipelagos and Madagascar Page 186The Ethiopian Exception to Africa Page 44The Cradle of Humanity Page 195Nubia, Kush and the Sudan Page 53Great Zimbabwe, Mapunguwe, Monomatopa and Angola Page 200The Western Quadrant Page 59The South African Lodestone Page 205Mali/ Timbuktu ;–Africa’s Oxbridge, Africa’s Institutions Page 69A Covenant to All (SA) Page 214Ashanti of the Golden Stool, African Democracy Benin and other West African Empires 80The Rhodesian Frontier Page 222The Ghana Prophets- Nkrumah and Rawlings? Page 90Out of the Okavango: Botswana Page 234Sankara’s Quest and the Liberian Emancipator Page 99The Southern Strata Page 241The Nigerian Colossus Page 107Namibia and Gaia Page 253Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Page 113The Ecological Quintessence Page 258Senegal and its Savant Leopold Senghor 121Concludium Page 264Ujaama and the People Page 125Bibliography/ References Page 270A Medical Requiem Page 133Table of African Leaders Page 280Chronology of Historical Events Page 284Index Page 288BENEDICTIONIn dedication to the Immortal Muses and Elementals of Mount Olympus who blessed and endowed one with the faculty of wonder; the pineal gland of capacity and the source of inspiration. In commemoration to the most misunderstood of continents and one’s sacrosanct hinterland: Africa. In recollection and preservation of those sustaining, ideals and quintessence of the African Renaissance via one’s undergraduate University in Duvrovernum, Britannia Caesarensis and its African Affairs Society, and those within these pages...Copyright:The author Jack Dyer hereby asserts and gives notice of his right under section 77 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the author of the foregoing bookAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission by the publisher, author or copyright holder.EXEGESIS:“EX AFRICA SEMPER ALIQUID NOVAE: -Out of Africa, always something new!Pliny the Elder.“What would happen if Africa –the entire continent were to disappear? ... What if like, fabled Atlantis or Lemuria or Thule, it were to sink into the sea and oblivion? Would it be missed? ...”That question first resonated a year ago, in the Citadel of Elephants: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa... a city one suspects few have even heard of... in a country derided by many... and has remained with me throughout... One also queries just what the world really knows about this continent, or is that merely polarised through the lenses of bias? After all, their grand and lofty pronouncements, how many of them have so much as set foot on this continent, let alone, experienced and lived upon one which is so very different from those outposts of global imperialism elsewhere? To the distant setting of artificial suburbia and terraforming interspersed with the vibrant allure of the African bush encircling the city, lay the nasal droning and blaring of the television set, news attuned to yet another peril that periodically afflicts this poor continent... The Western announcer as emissary of the citadel of patronising, ignorance and arrogant hubris, was criticising yet another continental rift and censuring its inhabitants for causing its own problems. With mild contempt, I watched impassively at the exponent of philanthropic enslavement and vociferous instigator of so much of our continents chaos... –when it struck me! Where was Africa’s defence? For as long as one has been sentient... –even beyond the modern epoch; Africa has been chastised, exploited, castigated, humiliated and browbeaten, dismissed from the annuls and barred from influencing the course of humanity and the world –or even its own internal affairs, as being insignificant, a mere pittance, with nothing to contribute to the world...And then I thought: What was Africa’s contribution to the world? If it did sink... Europeans, Asians, Americans of the South and North... Oceanians... wouldn’t probably even notice... They wouldn’t care one whit! This sobering thought haunts me still! An entire continent dismissed? Alarmed, I flew to the Carnegie Wing of the Library seeking reassurance. Surely, somewhere... here in the heart of Africa, there would be something covering even a fraction of Africa’s legacy? ... As I scanned the myriad shelves... I discovered my answer: Histories of colonialism and crises, biographies, travel guides, geography... sports... check! But for even the mere glimmer or glimpse of our continent’s bequeathment to the history of the planet and the survival or advancement of our species –apart from a few Egyptian fragments –not even one... Nothing! The glaring void of even the slightest and remote thing relevant quavered through one’s pores, resonating throughout the oblivious surroundings. I dashed to the bookshops, the museums, the archives, the municipal Publicity House... It was the same there, in the rest of South Africa, in other parts of Africa... If this was the situation in the intellectual spoke of Sub-Saharan Africa, than what of the rest of the world? And yet, there was again, zero in Asia and Europe – yet considered more “enlightened” than here... So, then it assailed me! I would have to rectify this glaring deficit in planetary scholarship. For the sake of my much unjustly maligned and debased hinterland, I would have to grant it, its rightful place in history under the patronage not only of Chronus and Magistra Clio but to illuminate the other continents of mortals. I would assign a purpose to commemorate the contributions of all, whom became one with the quintessence of Africa! This treatise was inspired for that purpose- to chronicle the annuals of a burnished history –whose devotion by those of all races, creeds, genders and so forth, without distinction worked for the betterment of not only its own state, of not only its own community but in the ideals of Julius Nyerere, the whole of our mortal species. With the pioneering of ecological literacy, it can even be extended to the souls of other races... It serves to prove to those sceptical, hostile or apathetic: that we can, as Africans... solve our own problems ... that we do not need the interference of China or Russia or the US or the European Confederacy. Furthermore, in the spirit of endeavour, one attests their immeasurable and invaluable role, offerings and discoveries, that these beloved savannahs, mountains, tropical rainforests and deserts of this realm, has contrived, with the desire for enhanced synergy, wisdom and understanding of this continent. We can always learn from others and from history and may this work, help efface such a possibility from the inhabitants of outside Africa... My first inkling was the discovery of the Mali manuscripts, encountered in the harbour of Durban. I had heard of Timbuktu; but until then I had dismissed erroneously, as nothing comparable to outside... How wrong I was!Upon further perusal, one discovered the trove of potential encased within those gnarled words and that far from primitive, they were sophisticated enough to influence those from the empire of Mansa Musa to Aegyptus and Arabia, considered worthy enough for trade, as was those of Kilwa and the Eastern Coast, with those fabled empires bordering the Indian Ocean, centuries before the supposedly more advanced Mediterranean was graced with such. The farther one’s historical travels transported one; -from the Cradle of Humanity in the South, to the Nile Delta in the North, to the plateaus of the vast empires of Monomatopa and the plains of Namibia, I was entranced as to how much, Africa had actually triumphed with and forged. From the metallurgy of the Stone Age to the sophisticated optics, astronomy and philosophy of Alexandria to the pioneering economy, mining, health and weaponry of the pivotal South Africa, they bequeathed to the world. And still, they remain so; -to the present era, they still retain the capacity to illuminate and inform, to assist and to advise, but also: to warn; with this to astound us, in the African Renaissance... This volume attempts to do, just that: trace systematically the historical roots of this claim and to validate this hypothesis, contrary to the expectations of the world, one aims to prolong and refortify this spectrum of Enlightenment... for so long denied to a whole continent. By defining the very notion of African Renaissance, one can conceptualise its properties and account for the variances, geomorphology and environment produced its own forms of creativity, versatility and part of that which has passed through the aeons. It illustrates that role, not only internally but externally with its stimulating –or less stimulating, relationships with the most powerful empires and states of history. By challenging preconceptions, one can envision just how brilliant Africa really was and remains! It is spectacularly foolish to brazenly assume that a single continent should be so different from the rest of the planet Terra. How can academics, politicians, those of commerce, the media corps, diplomats, civil servants –the average citizen themselves –whether connected with Africa or not, be so quick to judge and ostracise this inheritance that they have proffered, with insufficient attention or awareness? It is even more foolish to arrogantly presume, that this same realm has presented others with nothing, invented nothing, found nothing, produced anything... –but wait what was this? If those same sceptics bring up the vaunted Egyptians or mere singular entries, while callously and impetuously dismissing most of these findings as corpulent fabrications or over-exaggeration, why that virtually exhibits their ignorance and prejudice towards the denizens of this terrain. The evidence scrutinised and pursued throughout will belay such rejections of Sub-Saharan Africa. On the contrary, despite obsfustication and interference, those of Africa have often formulated their own solutions –which are then vanquished by the agents of colonialism and now, global imperialism and despite routine condemnation as being inferior, -enslaving it fiscally and psychologically, censuring its aspirations and humiliating it to dehumanise and demoralise its corroding spirit... it has succeeded remarkably, against the odds. One only has to consider the material advances in education; healthcare and public infrastructure; that so many African nations and their leaders advanced after independence...Of course, it has always remained simple to denounce a perspective, to which one does not subscribe, regardless of a lack of experience, contact or consciousness. After all, it refutes their suspicious and assumed indoctrination of a strife riddled Dark Continent, which needs them! Perhaps the reasons for this ostracism include not just propaganda but the inexperience alluded to above. After all, how much do they actually know about Africa and how much is founded on the hearsay of others. Even those that live there have became so denuded with outside criticism; that quite a number unfairly waver in their allegiance to the hinterland. And yet, there are beacons of hope that they do not fathom about the place they reside... One confesses to pervading hesitation from these superstitions and only gradually, did they disappear. In this era, where that of the individual is subsumed into society and the state for the collective organisation, perhaps we need to recall the past, before it is too late to recover the quintessence of our identity... No one freely acclaims their cupidity or their mortal limitations, do they? Perhaps; that is why it has remained opaque for so long, as a topic! As one stumbled upon with great startlement, this is a hitherto neglected abode of scholarship, thus compounding the difficulties in commissioning a defence of Africa, it’s states, ideas and history...“A man’s success is measured by his investment in his fatherland...”Mandinka saying...Therefore, if there are any core weaknesses in this treatise, they stem from the lack of references and panegyrics of the past and present and one apologises sincerely for such. If there are any valid points for embellishing or refuting this hypothesis –for many are aware of the external contributions of other states; then one relishes any objections. As for the topic itself, it flows amid a modern background of tragedy, which is all many unfortunately ever say about this portion of Terra –but it is also one of hope! By focussing on its irrefutable strides forward, perhaps one can discard prejudices for a more impartial perspective. One cannot always deny the afflictions affecting many parts here but they do not undermine such a definitive influence exerted by this continent. It merely serves to assert its remarkable tenacity of endurance from the first pyramids and defiant Carthage to the progress of individuals such as Sir Seretse Khama, Nelson Mandela and Leopold Senghor. It has produced this, in spite of geographical obstacles, sardonic chastisement and shame –radiating from its own people.“Today the same thing is happening in Africa, and the most striking thing of all the impressions that I have formed since I left London a month ago is the strength of this African national consciousness. African nationalism is unstoppable! In different places it takes different forms, but it is happening everywhere. The Wind of Change is blowing everywhere through this continent, and, whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact and our national policies must take account of it...”British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan addressing the South African Parliament, the Winds of Change Speech, Cape Town, February 1960.Africans –of all genders, creeds, races and artificial divisions, be proud of what your Motherland has forged. Among many of the phenomenal discoveries, there are the inventories of accumulated debts that they owe us! While they were bickering around in caves, we were erecting stone palaces and temples and domed huts in the Saharan sands, which differed only in size, not complexity to the dome of St Peter in Rome by Michelangelo. The transfusion of Stone Age agrarian and metallurgy derives from Africa outwards not the other way round. While they were isolated from the world in medieval period squalor, from Sofala and Kilwa with its advanced plumbing, masonry and jewellery, we traded with the advanced worlds of Persia, India and China! Indeed, who exerted a greater influence on the world than the Egyptian Claudius Ptolemais with his geocentric theory, though disprovable and disproved? While they have their own problems and conflicts, those in South Africa averted a civil war with a negotiated settlement and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, exporting their diplomacy to Burundi, the Congo –and to establishing the ceasefire amid the English and the IRA in Northern Ireland amid others equally unnoticed. The Pax Africana is not a colonial legacy but one that is only and is becoming true, only to the actions and selfless spirits that guide it, from here, not from globalisation! Economically, while the world endures the capricious whims that Hermes and Hera consign plutocratic materialism which is anathema to ecological literacy, to Hellenic theosophy and to the ideals and ethics of the gods and their neophytes. Africa is developing its own advancement, defying the cyclical decade occurring abyss with its own novel alternatives and approaches. These stand in audacious contrast to the perpetuation of anarchy, strife and chaos, which are the results of supposedly more benign and sagacious global imperialistic leadership –of other continents!“The highest function of ecology... is the understanding of consequences.”Imperial Planetologist Pardot Kymes.Perhaps this is the greatest exemplar of the African Renaissance. Aside, from its role, intellectually, ethically, technocratically, fiscally, politically, socially, culturally, economically and psychologically; this is yet another fascinating area, one in which Africa –surpasses the blustering and hypocrisy of the “First World,” not necessarily in the above, but from the Tuareg and Bedouin to the San to the role of those passionate conservationists dominant in Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and others... who are far more environmentally aware than the consumerist plebeians and their puppetmasters appear to forever be! From the historic setting up of Kruger Park in 1890 to the ecotourism of the Serengeti and Okavango Delta to Namibia –the first environmentally conscious and enshrined world constitution (of 1990). Evaluating each continent, we have our place here –not exploiting but in conserving. From communities to individuals to formations of conservancies to historical empires of the Songhoy and Monomatopa, whom refused to exploit Gaia and respected her boundaries and restraints; all such kin of Gaia, have a far better relationship. Despite the sensory numbing onslaught of alienating technomancy, more still remain attached to their heart and the conscious of the anthromorphic Gaia. Apparently; outsiders may preach it but: we of Africa, breathe, practice, salivate and live it! Naturally, this may prompt retaliation but where did exploitation beckon from, if not from the precedent of the past and present set by outsiders? Though not all problems can be dismissed as colonialist –many are internally inflicted; this has become more than a mere precedent, it has become enshrined in the very anti Nature ideology propounded and extrapolated by those of the ruling planetary caste. Why else do they utter such noble and lofty intentions, such admirable sentiments, but when it comes to the point of activity –of even setting a personal example, for not just the problems of our planet, affecting all; but all of those of the human race –especially the ones that they directed.... they do nothing? Many so called heralds of state, science, the private sector, enslaving philanthropic entities, leading dignitaries, so called celebrities etc are duplicitous and hypocritical –advocating solutions, yet working or being influenced by the corporations and their agents, the media.. . Ulterior motives, incompetence, cupidity, cynicism, opportunism and apathy are their guidelines. We of Africa are being encroached upon, in our differing sovereignties but let us never forget and never sacrifice, this one thing, the value of planet above all else... of our Oath of Allegiance: for the phantasmagoria that is the modern world and its hostile attempts to obliterate our liberty, our history, our individuality and our spirit! After all, we have devised answers pragmatically... not allowing ourselves to be seduced by mere evasion, independently of other continents! We have not waited to the Twilight of Terra, to act but have stricken now. For, no other part has been so devoted and what greater corroboration can there be, than this: Can one think of a greater ecological literacy, decimated for epochs in the “Old World, anywhere else?”As for any postcolonial tendencies, well... how are we best served to follow the rapacious examples of globalisation, with no redeeming features, distorting our collective memories to be anti-Africa and pro-their parts? In the epoch of the African Renaissance, the inhabitants and state may be less “civilised” and “less cultured” in propaganda and atrocities, without the justification that the “Old World” power and wealth have, but at least where it counts socially, and environmentally, we are pioneers... As Pardot Kymes reflected, this homogenous world community (which excludes most of Africa), discard this submission to nature and to the gods or Genii; that they certainly need... Mercilessly, they pillage that which sustains them, without thought for the future or that this is the sole source of life; that we know of, isolating themselves from Gaia and zealously terraforming their world into a bleak mire. There still remains the innate fallacy of such humanity, to assume that this species is superior to all others and may do what they like, without concern that it might affect every other soul of every other species, not only themselves! Now that we may inaugurate our own downfall, so much for this omniscience! So may this volume, commission the African response over the centuries and help to disperse the concept that ecology, agriculture and geography are insignificant, along with our history and our very philosophy! There by, focussing on this synergy –with nature –with the community, we as Africans are and remain far more enlightened...Not all environments are adaptable, though the futile efforts of a dictatorial humanity to enact such tenacious obstinacy, bespeaks otherwise... Which speaks of greater wisdom –acting contrary to the furore of the elements, for the end of all? Or learning to assimilate to our planet, living in concord with one’s fellow soul? From the Masai of the savannah to those of the Sahara, Cape Verde or the Kalahari, those endemic and those whom have embraced this necessity, often dwell here... Thus, these new ideals of the African Renaissance lie in Gaia... and in the Africanist humanism (ubuntu) approach: that there is no way to peace –peace is the way! Perhaps, in these troubled times, we need to contemplate on the priorities that really matter –that it is all souls of life that matter –not technomancy, not abstract things, not plunder... and maybe, we should heed this wisdom, annotated more within the following pages. To reverse desertification and other problems, instead of bickering in the rarefied symposia of academic tenure or in the hollow void of a superfluous foreign summit, we need answers, we require action! We need to draw upon wisdom –even if shockingly, it comes from the most misunderstood of all beings and continents... In such a perilous turning point, can we really afford to ostracise a territory?Is late survival, a greater indicator of a more propitious environment, than an early start, as cited by Felipe Fernandez Arnesto? From an ecological and social perspective, let us assess the positions of both sides... The historical claims of Asia, the Islamic World and the West have “progressed” but from where did they and many of their basic inventions, often originate from? Besides, just because they became more “advanced” technologically does not make them more erudite and proficient –especially in dealing with the reality of residing amid Terra! Just because they developed more proficient means of exploitation, of virtue corroding and of annihilation, does not equate to being more “progressive” than us! They have regressed with their own cascade of quandaries and blights and they have the effrontery to censure Africa! They wield little viable testimony, to deny the fact that they are slowly strangling the planet to death. This volume does not seek to repel Africa’s own violations, merely to show that we possess greater ecological literacy and community than the West and East. Africa pioneered in agriculture too. In particular, the Nile Delta serves as an example of modern cupidity –for epochs it seasonally showered Egypt with fertility... Yet the influence of the outside with the Aswan High Dam halted the natural flow, with consequently erosion, loss of historical heritage and depletion. All this embellishes the fact that, most of the world have and are becoming increasingly insulated from the harsh realities yet true source of illumination: our planet, with the Immortal Elementals. This echoes in those whom learn such respect, from the Dawada of the Sahara to the Sokola of the River Nigeria.“Pro futuro aedificanus Africanus!”Thus, by defining African Renaissance as the revival of elucidation, scholarship, the Pax Gaia and the Pax Africana –in all spheres: medicinal, astronomical, political, art, architecture, optics etc; we charter this odyssey. One should conclude to find this spectacular and inspiring Aside from mere raw materials; we embark upon so much more... from the Stone Age and metallurgy to Carthage, to Zanzibar ambergris and Sofala filigree... from the Pyramids to the Benin bronzes. Potentially, as the Mali manuscripts detail there is a treasure of such innovation, merely highlighting the substantial ingenuity of our new Age. We continue to exert our impact from Anglo American and other indigenous companies to US ordering of weaponry from SA’s Denel plant to Sasol’s oil substituting programme to earlier in history when the Chinese Admirals Zhu Di and Zheng He established far greater relations and trade with ourselves over Renaissance Europe. Individuals from Hypatia to St Augustine to Khaldum of Tunis to Rhodes then to certain ministers such as Trevor Manuel and Maria Ramos all have their place in the history of the vision of Africa. Yes, we may thank the West for what it did provide, but ponder the fact that it is not all biased to them... that we can devise our own solutions to our own problems. Can they?From the social derivation one links the overall strengthening of family and social bonds, not only in communities such as the San but also in rural and urban ones as indicative of Africa, overriding the current desire by the global hegemony to destroy the family, to destroy true society, for technological supremacy over all souls! The social engineering of locals into the alien ideologies and alien structures such as festering aid which enslaves us. Yet we Africans; do not need seditious philanthropy meant to humiliate us! We must never forget: that we have our own African Renaissance! We are an independent conclave of nations converging to peace and economic, cultural and ecological power. Nyerere advocated this in the Arusha Declaration, with the perspective of direct democracy not abstruse political structures and parties established to divide souls from making an influence, with the humane objective of all governance. Sir Ian Smith; has been callously and hostilely depicted as a racial colonial relic but Rhodesia triumphed in governance, where Zimbabwe remains a festering mire for economic and human exploitation. Yet the true African patriot, devout to her Majesty, seized sovereignty from the perfidious British enslavement and great betrayal. He pioneered harmonious relations between all races –apart from a few extreme UK/ Moscow trained nationalists, was the first of the so called “white supremacists” to first permit, all black opposition MP’s and then voluntarily hand over power to a non white Bishop Abel Muzorewa. Through Great Indabas, he authenticated support for his actions of UDI and remaining policies unlike our venerable leaders whom do not consult us, after the farce of elections once every few years. He also championed the process of political education and economic empowerment as the surest foundations for a real democracy.“We have to take a voyage of discovery into our own antecedents; our own past, as Africans... And when archaeology presents early evidence of an African primacy within the historical contribution to the evolution of the species described in science as Homo sapiens, how can we be but confident that we are capable of achieving Africa’s rebirth? When the world of fine arts speaks to us of the creativity of the Nubians of the Sudan and its decisive and revered and everlasting impact of the land of the African pharaohs –how can we be, but confident that we will succeed to be the midwives of our continent’s rebirth?13 August 1998, African Renaissance, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.Therefore, we as Africans; can –and will, solve our problems alone! The social ideals of this Aureal Epoch can be outlined in botanical wisdom and healing. Although the North may be superior when it comes to treating epidemics such as HIV Aids, the African sangomas like the shaman of Tibet and the Amazon: have proportionately higher illumination when it comes to understand many ailments as psychologically based or in lacking balance and nutrition. After all –the Manichean philosophy, the Arian creed, Islamic scholarship or that of the Alexandrines, devised spiritual and mental sustenance of the community, originating from here. We also created the first welfare state –before the British, in Madagascar. Liberia, Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia; along with Dahomey, Benin and pre colonial Madagascar denounce claims of individual country triumphs. The largest hampering by the exogenous world; has been in its persistent refusal to embrace our past, heritage, present and future... So, what is the Renaissance? Defining it from a human and individual perspective, surely it partakes of that which gives life meaning, which connects us all, the reawakening of our past and ourselves, in awareness and response to more than the mere automatic submission of existence; that conventional biological indoctrination dictates to its apprentices? In hindsight, the impact of the African Renaissance; has been diluted and delayed with isolation, severing Aegyptus, Carthage and Ethiopia from the remainder, failing to appreciate this. In examining this erroneous fallacy, it is simple to prove that the world needed, and still needs: Africa –more so than ever it thought. After all, the basic foundations of what really matters, did not originate from the non-African hemisphere... So, whom influenced whom? Rather than the historically determined and traditionally pitiful amount we are supposed to have provided, on the contrariwise, we have offered far more numerous and beneficial contributions to them, than they have ever, to us! Without discussing colonial polemics, we do not require them and their patronising, unjustified hubris!Their haughty cynicism belays their “honourable intentions” –especially to castigate and censor a continent, with blatant propaganda fabrications. Alas, we all dwell on this one planet... I do not seek autarchy, merely a fairer and constructive reassessment of the absurdly confounded ignorance and prejudice towards this ostracised domain. In solitary contrast, to all that has been invoked and penned to disparage Africa, I bequeath this to true patriots and the idle reader alike... so that those of all creeds can be reassured by what we have accomplished. First and foremost, may this rekindle hope in our radiant past, to ignite our eternal legacy and to address the present, to exalt this terrain and its memory to human consciousness. If there is nothing else to be proud of; apart from our sense of humanity and the environment; apart from the achievement of democracy in over 40 countries; of economic growth and fiscal leadership that surpasses the degenerate mediocrities that plunged the world into a recession while Africa grew; there is the fact that we are the first continent to commit ourselves to world peace by... rejecting nuclear proliferation of Asia, the Americas and Europe. The archipelagos and Mozambique of Eastern Africa have enshrined this nuclear free zone of an Indian Ocean Peace. The Congo chose only to use it for civilian purposes. South Africa chose diplomacy and mediation over confrontation and remains unique in the last 65 years of atomic weapons; to voluntarily surrender and demobilise its nuclear arsenal. Which other country would even dream of doing so? From the Nile Delta to Timbuktu to the great citadels of Great Zimbabwe and Mapunguwe, let the monuments stand to atone physically, what words alone cannot! Although, the impact was tarnished by colonialism let this mark, from grass roots participation to individuals whom centred the world: the awakening of this own indigenous Enlightenment! Above all, may African scholarship flourish and may we finally receive credit and blessings, amid the turbulence...“I have chosen to speak to you upon this historic occasion upon: “The Regeneration of Africa!” I am an African and take pride in my race and in my country, against a hostile public opinion... The true African recognises his anomalous position and desires a change. This brighter day is rising over Africa. Already; I seem to see her chains dissolved; her desert plains red with harvest, her Abyssinia and her Liberia, the seats of science and religion reflecting the glory of the riding sun the gleaming spires of her churches and universities illuminating the world... Her Congo and her Gambia whitewashed with commerce... Yes, the regeneration of Africa belongs to this new and powerful period. By this term: regeneration, I wish it to be understood and mean the entire initiation of a new life with the diverse phases; of a new, higher existence...”1905 Pixley Isaka Seme –one of the first pan Africanists and South African funder of the ANC 1912THE NORTHERN QUADRANT: (Roman Africa, Bornu, Chad, Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Western Sahara and Eritrea.Massawa and his heir King Jurgurtha, (who signed a treaty as mutual allies with Rome in 112 BCE), of the Kingdom of Numidia (with at least 100000 citizens) constantly defied even the Roman masters of the Mare Mediterranean until they were eventually vanquished under King Juba. After the Roman Empire, the kingdom of the Rushanids in the geographical proximity of modern Algeria, lasted over 150 years (759- 910 AD) against the Arabs before being inundated by the Fatimids of Egypt. The revolt of Tacfarinas of Musakami occupied the Romans between the year 17 and 23 and to defeat him; the Roman army was compelled to learn new guerrilla tactics.“I am a man and nothing human is alien to me...”TerenceIn Roman Africa; 600 towns and cities prospered in a region that shares not that eminence at present. The Berber former slave and playwright Terence of the 6th century AUC, the poet Florus and the head of the Roman legal academy, the preceptor Salvianus Julianus (born at Hadrumieum and proconsul of Africa in 168) along with the tutor of Marcus Aurelius and the Emperor Antonius Pius; Marcus Cornelius Fronto of claimed descent from Libyan nomads, all originated from this continent. The last non emperor to enjoy the prerogative of a triumph procession of victory; did so under Augustus. L Cornelius Balbus did so for his campaign against the Garamantes. Apuleius of the fabled romance, the Golden Ass, deviser of toothpaste powder, dissector of fish and experimenter in optics amid other things and an initiate of Isis, arose from Madouros in 878AUC. Lollius Urbicius –constructor of the Antonine Wall in Caledonia and annexer of the northern Empire frontier and the Berber Lucius Quietus –proconsul of Mauretania and celebrator of a triumph for Trajan’s Dacia campaign who rose to be an equestrian under the Emperor Domitian and led Roman troops under Trajan as well as being awarded with the governorship of the rebellious Palestine. The noted Imperial biographer and secretary of correspondence for the Emperor Hadrian: Suetonius Tranquillius came from Hippo Regis.L Alfenus Senecio arose from Cuico to become governor of Britannia. M Petronius Mamertinus –the Guard Prefect under Antonius Pius; was another who advanced to the greatest of ranks. P Septimus Aper became the earliest of the North Africans and Leptis Magna to complete the cursus honourium and the curatorship of Italian roads before his elevation to consul in 160. The Carthaginian grammarian Sulpicius Africanus taught the Emperor Pertinax. Septimus Severus, Alexander Severus. Gordianus I and Gordianus II and the former Praetorian Praefectus all provided influential Roman Emperors with distinctive African associations. The first African to be ennobled in the Senate came from Ceuta (Constantine Algeria) under the Emperor Vespasian. By the year 170, the Senate of Rome in appreciation of our continent’s talent, had 100 African members. One African patriot of Sicca Venae (El Kef) sponsored stipends to support 200 girls and 300 boys. The Romans valued Africa as an integral part of their empire and it reciprocated in contribution. The emperors of the Severan dynasty, since the birth of the Emperor Septimus Severus who ruled between (193 -211 AD) and died in Eboracum (York), Britannia became known for their contributions to their native Africa; within the context of the Roman Empire; as the first not born or raised in Italy and Rome itself, from Leptis Magna, the autonomous city state within the Empire. Septimus Severus was born 11 April 145 in the city; later serving as a Syria legate of IV Scythia and proconsul of Pannonia before defeating three emperor rivals simultaneously and acceding the throne; restoring martial vigour at the expense of all other imperatives. He honouring of his native soil became noticeable in sponsoring many public projects in the city of Leptis Magna with its 160 metre long basilica, its notable public works such as the Severan Forum, Basilica, Temple, Hadrian Baths and Hippodrome. This was a Roman; who never forgot his African origins and made it a policy to include Africans of great probity and merit in his administration; who reciprocated him with loyalty including Papinian and Plautinus as Guard prefects, Alfenus as Governor of Syria and Britannia along with Numidians Canidus and Claudius.“We must act only by words, fight only with arguments and prevail only by the force of reason...”St Augustine of HippoOne of the 4 Fathers of the Galilean Church, writer of the “Confessions” and “City of God”, - St Augustine of Hippo, the son of municipal curiales; was educated and taught in Carthage. “Give opportunity to a wise man and he will become wiser...”St Augustine“The inhabitants of Kanem cover their heads with a veil in modesty. The king does not show himself except at the times of the two religious festivals, in the mornings and in the afternoon; the rest of the year he is not seen and those who talk to him; do so before a screen. The principal food of these people is rice but they also consume cheese, melons, figs, pumpkins and fresh dates. They are the seat of the Imam. They are particular in enforcing justice and extremely severe as regards religion. In the year 640 AH, they built in the city of Cairo, a college for people of Kanem, known as the college of Ibn Rashid. It is in this college; that those of this nation reside; if they come to Cairo. Al Maquriki On the shores of Lake Chad, the Kanen Empire was founded 1500 years ago by Saif Dhu Yadzu. Its heir Bornu had emissaries and consulates in Tripoli and Cairo by 1571 and chainmail cavalry of 100000, infantry of 120000 along with acquiring firearms for defence. It had a prompt taxation system, astute diplomatic relations with Tunis, Tripoli, Europe and Asia, bureaucracy and scholarship with hostels in Cairo for Kanen students –all characteristics of equivalent Renaissance and more modern states. The outskirts were noted for tree houses. Wool, silk and brocade textiles were exported and a brisk book trade was conducted. The Sefazo dynasty continued to rule unimpeded by other rival dynasties from the ninth century to 1846 –one of the continued; uninterrupted dynastic rules in history. Democracy was safeguarded by the Queen Mother such as Mogira who prevented despotism by imprisoning the Caliph Biri Omar (1140-1166) and the basis of a federal system of governance. Mai Hume in the 11th century was the first ruler to complete a hajj to Mecca. Duanana Dibbalemi from 1221, completed the pilgrimage at least three times in devoted piety. Caliph Dibolami Dena Mai set up royal horse farms in North Africa. The wars of Caliph Aloma (1569 -1600AD) acquired territory along with expeditions launched to charter the south of Lake Chad and the general Lake circumference. The sultans even entered into relations and imported firearms from the Turks and the Hafsid dynasty of Tunis. Ahmed Furtowo’s 1576 Bornu chronicle chronicles the degree of hospitality, wealth and patronage of scholarship that yet another African kingdom participated in under Mai Idris and Mai Ali (1476 -1507) –who built a new capital Birni with a 1.75 mile radius known for its palaces, schools and mosques. The fragmentation of Bornu was saved as late as 1806; by the scholar and commander Mohammad El –Kanemi who retook the old capital Ngazargarmu and averted collapse until as late as 1846. “In all Africa, as far as the extents of the Moorish lands are concerned, Sinnar –the capital of the Funj Sultanate is close to being the greatest, most magnificent city, south of Cairo... Caravans are continuously arriving with Cairo, Dongola, Mali, from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, from Nubia, Ethiopia, Fezzan and other kingdoms... This is a free city and humans of any nationality or faith may settle here without a single hindrance. After Cairo, it is one of the most populous cities. Every day a public market with caravan trade from all these places; is hosted on the central square in front of the sultan’s palace.” Theodore Krump, travelling missionary 1701.In modern Chad, the heroism of a native female journalist alerted her country and the world to the perils and horrors of female genital mutilation. Another journalist –Souleymane Guengueng, aimed to indict his imprisoner –the Chadian former head of state: Hissene Habre, in the Senegalese Supreme Court. Francois Tombalbaye, first President of Chad and cofounder of the PPT (born June 15 1918 in a poverty stricken village of Bessda before becoming an assistant teacher and Chad nationalist) -acquired sovereignty on 11 August 1960, aimed to unify north and south with the Sara initiation cult as a counterweight cultural revival to the French and to Galilean and Islamic –non African foreign imports. In 1952, Francois Tombalbaye became a ward councillor for Ubangi Shari and in 1957; he represented Chad for French Equatorial Africa in the French National Assembly and formed a fusion with the FNA opposition. His government also created 32000 kilometres of road along with pilot schools and hospitals. As with so many from Mugabe to President Mobutu of Zaire –he adopted an indigenous name policy towards places and people –renaming himself Ngarta. When it came to peace; his successor General Felix Malloum –also sought to negotiate a ceasefire –but the Islamists were less interested in the unity of Chad. He also declared amnesties for political prisoners in 1971. Hissene Habre continued to 1990. Idris Debry conceded a free press in 1990 and democratic elections were held in 1993 and 1997 and every four years after. Idris Debry consented to democracy in Chad and was rewarded with the popular presidential mandate. Despite secessionist movements in the south which might justify its retention, Chad reduced its national army by a half, to prioritise other things. It was thus, able to dedicate 70% of its budget to education, health, social welfare and public works. The Chad –Cameroon Pipeline, on the Chad side had a National Assembly resolution passed in 1998, to instigate a Future Generations Fund, in which 10% would be for investment and maintenance, 5% for diversifying the economy away from oil and 80% for social projects which would be advantageous to present and future populations. The pipeline would also have the novel twist endorsed by Chad and Cameroon themselves, that any farmer that suffered from the loss of trees or crops, would be compensated generously.Ever since 1664, where the loyalty of 40 students, concealing themselves as presents in a chest and in doing so, overthrew a Jewish usurper and ruled for a few weeks before restoring power to the Sultan, the rulers of Fez, Morocco have permitted the University Students to elect their own Sultan for three weeks each year. This right to be the Sultan of Scribes is auctioned off to the highest bidder –the most intelligent, wealthiest, charismatic or popular, amid the students. The one who wins it remains immune from taxation for life and on the seventh day of his reign has the right to petition the Sultan for a favour, which is traditionally granted. Often it involves the amnesty and release of a prisoner. The student has full reign to conduct reforms of the university and city –spending the first week habitually purging the university. Agents of the students can then levy fines on shop keepers, entertainment venues, academics, police, landlords, bureaucrats and others who have no respect for youth, on hilarious charges. The proceeds of this, then are splurged on an indulgent banquet and free entertainment extravagance for all students. Would that all other universities would follow this North African precedent of empowering their students...In Fez, Morocco founded by the Idrisses over 1200 years ago; university scholarship has been glorified since 1613 AUC with numerous female and male scholars. Kano also believed in female education. Its bazaars and souks with their silver, jewellery, carpets, spices and dyed leather have flourished for over a thousand years. Its Rouma stables housed over 12000 horses. Rabat has been continuously settled for over 2300 years. Moulay Abderran was powerful enough to repel the Spanish from most African/ Moroccan terrain –with the exception of the insignificant rocky outcrop of Ceuta which they still hold. The Alaoute dynasty such as Moulay Ismail (1672 -1727) repelled the Turks, Spanish and Portuguese in the 16th and 17th Galilean centuries. Moulay Hassan I extended Morocco as far as the Senegal River before the French annexed the territory into an empire ruled by non Africans. As early as 1500, the population of the Moroccan kingdom ranged from 3000000 -4000000. Its capital city had an estimated peak of 80000 and the empire was guarded by both firearms and camel mounted artillery. 2500 marksmen armed with rifles and 9000 camel artillery travelled over 1500 miles and 135 days to the heart of the empire of Mali and conquered it in 1557 under Sultan Mohammad al –Sharikh. .Morocco gained freedom from France in 1956. Hassan II voluntarily chose a constitutional monarchy, even permitting socialism, communism and regicide parties –the Socialism Liberation Party. Over 300000 hectares of land were reclaimed up to 1977. Rural Modernisation and irrigation schemes were launched in the attempt for food self-sufficiency along with a National Agricultural Credit Fund and a National Institute of Agronomy Research was founded to assist farmers in this aim. A national programme utilising the unemployed was employed for public works –involving over 20000 in 1975 alone. Over 66000 kilometres of roads were upgraded or constructed, over 550000 hectares of afforestation, and 12 major dams were constructed between 1961- 1975 along with the Draa River hydroelectric project. Industrial and agricultural modernisation was achieved –despite (or because of) the lack of foreign investment. He also managed the impressive coordination of 350000 unarmed citizens, who peacefully marched into Spanish Western Sahara 6 November 1975. King Mohammed VI commissioned a royal Berber Institute to revive, protect and improve culture.Ibn Khaldum of Tunis (1332-1406) served as a justiciar, high official, general and preceptor as well as a renowned traveller. Ibn Battuta born in 1304 went on a Mecca pilgrimage at 21, and then travelled to Persia, Asia Minor, Kazan and Constantinople as well as Africa. In 1344, he reached China.“This is the moment of African independence. All the paths towards independence are valuable –whether they are through political stages or by armed conflict. Personally, I favour the pacifist ways but as an African patriot... I cannot refrain from helping Algeria in its justified war for liberty...”President Habib Bourguiba, All African People’s Conference, Tunisia January 1960... The industrialisation of Tunisia since its independence under President Habib Bourguiba in 1956–second to the SA lodestone, was made possible by generations of technocrats under the auspices of the esteemed Central Bank Governor from 1956 -1970: Hedi Nouira and the forethought of its government who developed the conditions for autonomy in producing engineering, tractors, textiles, building supplies and petroleum refineries along with phosphate by-products. From 1958, trade unions such as UNAT, ULTT and UTIC and other bodies formed cooperation in the National Planning Council. Industry grew far more than under colonialism – where fewer than 2% of Tunisians were in manufacturing or the industrial economic sector by independence in 1956. From 1973 -1977, with an average 5.6% annual growth under Nouira, it concentrated on providing subsidies to import substitution industries and offered foreign investment concessions in those areas which did not compete with the Tunisian economy. Tunisian products were able to compete with others in the world fairly until in 1977, the EEC set up agricultural and industrial tariffs to protect its own uncompetitive industries.Political stability occurred for over 15 years. Socially, he achieved the political, educational, legal, cultural and economic equality and emancipation of women with independence in the 1950’s –singular in a primarily Islamic country. On 14th July 1971, the Council of the Revolution nationalised the property of absentee landlords, enacted the enclosure of herds and the sustainable production of forestry and alfalfa. Devoting 25% of the budget to education then made both it and healthcare free –as the US has not. By 1980, Tunisia had obtained self sufficiency in food via land reclamation through agriculture, afforestation, livestock improvement, Agricultural Bank loans and new agricultural settlements with free housing. Its IT commitment enabled it to host the 2005 World IT Summit. Economically, both it and the Ivory Coast were chosen for their prominence and meritocracy as the headquarters of the African Development Bank. Culturally, annual theatre festivals were sponsored, many theatres were constructed and culture received abundant subsidies. From 1966, north Tunisia had television under RTT and this was extended to the entire country by 1971. Imported televisions were even subsidised to allow popular consumption.Politically, Tunisia abolished the ineffectual Bey of Tunis in 1957 and the National Assembly voluntarily extended the presidential prerogatives. President Bourguiba achieved the UN recognition of French illegal usurpation of the Bizerta military base and violator of Tunisian sovereignty –which was restored to Tunisia 26 August 1961, which an embarrassed France had to 30 June 1962. He also sought a moderate compromise and resolving of the Israel /Palestine conflict recognising both as equals. In 1982, unique to countries not only were parties legalised but also the Tunisian Communist Party –something still banned and discriminated in the “democratic” USA since Senator McCarthy’s anti –Communist lynching’s of the 1950’s. Socially, Tunisia worked for the emancipation of women via the revolutionary Personal Status code in the 1950’s, defying Islamist traditional restrictions so that over 50% of university students were female and they received equality of legal status, property rights, marriage and divorce which the colonial French had long denied them. UNFT introduced in 1956 sought to educate women publically about their new emancipation politically, academically, legally and socially –especially seeking to raise female literacy dramatically in rural areas. Polygamy was outlawed and interfaith marriages legalised. In addition to the historic Zaitana mosque university, the University of Tunis provided a secular alternative from 1961 –mark of many African states was to endow one, granting Africans a chance often reserved only for their feudal overlords. The Neo Dustuur Party of President Habib Bourguiba was devoted to reducing fertility rates and advancing education. 25 -30 % of the total budget was set for building and equipping new schools. Tunisia set up a national music conservatory as early as 1935 and a Museum of local Modern Art in the capital Tunis in 1977. The national orchestra was commissioned to perform the works of local composers. These would be publically played at the annual Tester festival. In 1958, free education was enacted. By the 1970’s Tunisia exceeded health requirements of the World Health Organisation and compared favourably to others in the African and Arabian spheres –the infant mortality rate had halved, a doctor exceeded the target ratio of 1 for every 3700 population and life expectancy had risen from 46 to 60. Abortion had been legalised and many preventative diseases removed via a campaign of education. From 1964, in addition to birth control and contraception legalising; family planning was launched to stabilise the population.In 1987, President Ben Ali democratically took over from Habib Bourguiba who gracefully retired from public office until his death April 6th 2006 –The 1989 elections alone had five secular parties. He sought to promote Islamic reconciliation with a hajj to Mecca, efforts to legalise Islam as the state religion while allowing Islamists freedom to broadcast calls to prayer on the media. He resisted the Iraq invasion of Kuwait with the interference of the biased European/ US oil prospecting invasion force and persistently reiterated that African or Arab problems require African or Arab solutions. His freedom from censure is no more obvious than the appointment of the Tunisian League of Human Rights, -set up in 1977 to investigate both Islamic and government infringements of rights, director Dr Sabad al-Din Zmenli to the Ministry of Health. The statues, monuments and other tributes to the first president were dismantled as ostentatious fripperies. President Abdelaiz Bouteflika, former Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister and an African President of the United Nations National Assembly, recognised the surge of Islamic faith growing in Algeria and reached a civil concord agreement in 1991 – (rather than promulgating recruits from martyrdom –like the US ;) cooperating with the opposition Islamic Salvation Front with a 2005 amnesty for both Islamists and the military. His was yet another example of Northern Africa and Southern Africa commitment to technocrats –also politically astute. A 1992 national Solidarity Fund was mainly made up of private patriotic investment. A thousand shadow zones of the most deprived and impoverished areas were tracked and received first attention in education, health, electricity, housing and water. It succeeded so that Tunisia had the lowest poverty levels of a non-oil-based economy in the Arab and African world. Algeria’s current economy is thriving with debt reduction, low and stable inflation, reserve accumulation and budget surpluses with over 5% growth in the 1990’s and a 7 % export growth. Population demographics have stabilised at 1.1% growth and life expectancy on average is 73 years.Apart from 1000 miles of Saharan hydraulic irrigation networks in the Fezzan tapping the underground water table, the Garamantes continuously threatened the Romans and the Byzantines establishing a peace treaty and adopting Galileanism in 1312 AUC, when not trading barley, wheat and other agricultural products until the Muslim invasion in 669 AD. They were strong enough to survive the Augustan prefect of Aegyptus Cornelius Balbus and his conquest of 14 cities. Valuing the power of the written word, the Tuareg of the Sahara, have their own alphabet from the fourth century of Rome, protected and transmitted by literate females not males who relay oral communications and narratives. Only action and plunder from warfare is treasured. Their hospitality to passers by and their remarkable survival characteristics.King Idris el Senessi -the noted war hero who defied the Italian occupation became independent 24th December 1951, reigned from (1951-1969) enjoined the disparate territories of Cyrenaica, Fezzan and Tripolitania into Libya; pursuing a policy of decentralisation and federalism for the regions; preserving a constitutional monarchy and Parliament. Under his Prime Minister Dr Mohieddin Fekini in 1963, he closed Libyan harbours to South African and Portuguese shipping over their policies. In foreign affairs it balanced amiable support to African liberation with membership of the Arab League from March 1953, to a cooperative defence agreement with Great Britain and later ones with France, the USA and Italy.Later, the proof that Africa supports and is loyal to her own: arises with the foreign policy of Colonel Gaddafi. From his oil budget surplus for decades, he assisted Rawlings of Ghana, Nyerere of Tanzania, Uganda and Kaunda of Zambia. Politically, he aided causes and factions in the Middle East including the democratic and historically / legally justified Palestinians who had lived there for over 2000 years, and the Philippine Islamic Moro National Liberation Front. He supported liberation movements in Ireland, Peru, Spain and the Red Brigades in Italy. Domestically, he extended it to the Western Sahara’s POLISARIO, Portuguese Guinea and the misguided gifts to ZANU PF insurgents in Rhodesia, along with Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Chad, Eritrea, Algeria, Somalia, Mauritania, Tunisia and Ethiopia. His laudatory defiance along with Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Vladimir Putin of Russia against G7 and First World attempts to dictate economic and foreign policy of the Second and Third Worlds in addition to his stance against United States of American terrorism into his sovereign territory and that of others makes him another of those illustrious African statesmen of the Renaissance, in addition to those of South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia, Nigeria, Uganda, Liberia and others... His influence secured African breaking of diplomatic relations with Israel during the 1973 OPEC crisis and along with other pro African leaders and defenders of PalestineGaddafi worked for Arab unity –as well as African; with the 1969 Tripoli Charter –uniting him with Numayri in the Sudan and Nasser in Egypt. The 1971 Benghazi Treaty reaffirmed Libya and Egypt with Syria. Algeria was added with the 1973 Hassi Messouad Accords. A year later; Tunisia joined this solidarity with the Djerba Treaty. He also supported and sheltered leaders of the Palestinian cause Domestically –he propagated his own ideology variation: the Green Book –like so many independence and post independence African leaders; which advanced the intriguing notion: that Western parliamentary democracy was a facade insulated from the people –whose leaders only appeared to consult, be accountable to and serve the people –when requiring their votes –the arcane ways of Parliament insulated Western people from power and influence. Although censured often for his defiance of the Northern Hemisphere founded on his economic independence from serfdom; he –like South Africa; -and unlike so many other non African countries, renounced nuclear weapons; supporting Mozambique’s renouncement and nuclear disarmament proposals. This was ironic given the deployment of cruise missiles by the us government of Ronald Reagan to attack his compound in 1986Gaddafi was born in 1942 near Sirte. He trained to be a junior officer at Libya’s Royal Military Academy and helped remove King Idris I from his throne. He survived for four decades –including the US state terrorist sponsored bombing of his home in Libya, escaping Libya successfully. Unlike those tin pot generals of banana republic’s; throughout his life he was content to remain with his earned rank of Colonel. Indeed, all ranks above that; were abolished. He also relinquished the post of prime minister in 1979. He was known for his female bodyguard –believing in their efficacy as a counterpoint to the male dominated armed forces elsewhere in Africa that traditionally overthrew heads of state. He also constructed a $20 billion dollar artificial river to irrigate the Libyan Desert. Economically; it was the African Colonel Gaddafi aided by the Algerian Minister of Energy Belad Abdosim, Nigeria and Angola, who galvanised the oil cartel of OPEC to have real power as a potent oligopoly internationally, four decades later after its foundation. Instead of using Libyan oil surpluses to enrich himself, he used it not only internationally but to assist Libyan citizens domestically. Currently; the Libyan people, with the Arab Spring in North Africa -2764 AUC/ 2011 AD are again celebrating the quintessence of the African Renaissance –to counter globalisation and to counter those whose authoritarianism fails to serve the popular will anymore... He triggered a food revolution –realising the imperative of agrarian sufficiency: Green Revolution of 1963- 1969 and autarchy with 4.5% average annual agricultural growth, offering agricultural incentives and credit. Socially, his regime constructed myriad, housing, hospitals, and schools along with conducting a cholera inoculation campaign. Democracy was imposed from above to below via the Jamerhiywa. Libya agreed to make reparations after the Lockerbie Scotland bombings allegedly came from Africa (The implications of a mere African country being able to sol easily penetrate British airspace and territory is illuminating...) It was the intervention of President Mandela himself’ to avoid war between Libya and the US/ UK in the 1990’s.Algiers is venerable historically, since its foundation by the Phoenicians 447 years prior to the inauguration of Rome. Tunis was the former Headquarters before Cairo of the Arab league. Between 1870 -2003, it provided the base of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. It also has the Flame of Peace monument which symbolises the ceremonial burning of over 3000 weapons after the really recent Tuareg rebellion of 1996. Marrakech too is as historic as its European and Asian peers, founded as capital of the Almoravid Morocco dynasty in 1062 AD under Yusuf Ibn Tashent.“If I had discovered an Algerian nation, I would be a nationalist and I would not blush for it as though it were a crime. Men who die for a patriotic ideal are daily honoured and regarded. My life is worth no more than theirs.”Ferhat Abbas 1936.Algeria in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has a fine tradition of resistance –in the first instance of over 50 years and in the FLN war of liberation between 1954 -1962 under Ben Bella and Ferhat Abbas. The early Algerian nationalist Ferhat Abbas born in 1899, encountered ingrained racism in the French colonial army, which galvanised him to study both French and Islamic history as well as indigenous Algerian; in order to understand their perspectives. He stated the above, when studying pharmacology at the University of Algiers. He resigned his civilian representative role in the National Assembly realising that the French would never surrender after their humiliating defeat in 1954 Indochina. While the French split between their willing collaboration with President Petain and the Vichy administration and those under De Gaulle; he was rebelling in Algeria with a constitution seeking manifesto requiring recognition of both French and Arabic. The FLN as a movement received African support from Colonel Nasser’s Egypt and bases in Tunisia and Morocco. On November 1st 1954, the FLN injected their guerrilla campaign against the French occupiers of Algeria with an initial 9000 against 500 000 of the French’s most elite troops. 1000000 Algerians and 20000 French died because the French were too stubborn to negotiate a peaceful withdrawal from the African soil of Algeria between 1954 -1962. Abroad, they appealed to the UN and on 18th September 1958, they were internationally recognised as the Algerian government in exile. For four years, they whittled away the French until; the French were compelled to yield into a ceasefire on 18 March 1962 and independence on 1st July under Ben Bella. He was replaced for verbiage rather than action in 1965 by Boumedienne.“They know in Paris that I am honest, that I only work for a return to peace. Today, I can do nothing inside my own country or in France. I have knocked on all of the doors. I have spoken to all of the politicians able to understand me, to understand us... Those who have really understood; can do nothing. I cannot continue to stand bail for a situation of which I entirely disapprove. My departure will at last show to my fellow citizens that I have withdrawn from ineffectual politics... I am simply joining the organisation FLN which struggles for the liberation of Algeria by war because there is no other way...Ferhat AbbasUnder the FLN, who advocated a moral purification campaign and Boumedienne, the Algerian economy supported its people with subsidised food, free healthcare and education for over 15 years. Industrialisation with gas liquefaction facilities, oil refineries and an Annaba yearly 500000 ton phosphate fertilizer plants increased, employment and foreign investment flourished. Agriculture aspired at food autarchy with irrigation projects such as Greater Kabiyie and agricultural equipment self sufficiency. Those bureaucrats and managers of ability were chosen, developing a thriving economic sector. Politically, People’s Communal Assemblies replaced the Parliamentary forum of 1965, in 1967 and 1969 department elections, for democracy. In 1969, Algeria instigated the first Pan African Cultural Festival. Boumedienne defended the African nationalist patriarch and statesman President Felix Boigny of the Ivory Coast, by strategically turning off access to electricity, when none other than Fidel Castro criticised him as a Western puppet publically at a Non Aligned Summit in Algiers, in African support against other Third World territories, as well as the First. The National Liberation Front of Chad, the Eritrean Liberation Front and others Sub Saharan, received funding and training from the Algerian government along with firm recognition of Palestine. He also rejected impudent French claims of compensation before nationalisation, realising what the French did and do not –that only a basis of apparent mutual cooperation, trust and treatment of respectful equity! Measures promoting Arabic were passed. Over 200000 hectares of land received irrigation by 1979. School children increased from 8000 in 1962 to over 2000000 by 1972 and education received 25% of the Algerian budget.Although Algeria’s President Chadli Benjedid of the FLN –the next prime minister in 1978, was prepared to accept the democratically elected yet Islamic FIS, the army sought to conserve its secular status by choosing Mohammed Boudiaf –a FLN founder and living in Morocco was chosen to resist Islam, modernise Algeria and disperse sleaze before being assassinated for his convictions. He expanded public housing while reducing personal income tax. Since 1961 when there are only 30000 primary school children, education expanded with 11% of the national Gross Domestic Product, –a year later it rose to 778636. He also gave a political amnesty to Ahmed Ben Bella in recognition of his role in Algerian independence. Eventually, he resigned of his own volition in 1992. Lioumiou Zedouf won another democratic election during 1992 -1997, and sought to ban religiously motivated parties while retaining Islam as the official religion as a compromise. In 1993, over complaints of Iran supporting the Islamic counter insurgents who rejected the electoral process in a secular African democracy and chose war (as did the ZANU and ZAPU ones who rejected Ian Smith’s offer to let them go and participate in the electoral process, if they renounced violence in Rhodesia), Algeria dared to break off diplomatic relations. In 1999, Abdelaiz Bouteflika became Prime Minister. In January 2000, he offered yet another amnesty to the Islamic movement: the AIS to 300 people. The Keepers of Ghinghurtii in Mauritania are an Islamic monastic sect devoted to the propagation and promulgation of lore and are willing to exchange knowledge to all, in return for reciprocal knowledge –an admirable reflection of the purified academic ideals of the Great Bibliothecae of Alexandria and the Universities of Carthage, Cairo, Tunisia, Sankore and Timbuktu. The local people of Nouakchott Mauritania; control the scarce commodity of water via community boards, which is able to reduce the price of water, lower than the private sector cartel. They value water so –as opposed to the extravagant profligacy of most mortals to the gift of Gaia and Poseidon; that it ranks amid the highest honours of gifts. It pioneered window grill ventilation in adaption to the desert at Ksar el Barrle. Mauritania gained control over all affairs from 28 November 1960 under President Ould Daddah, who again promulgated economic growth in his country during the first decade. It joined the Arab League as well as the OAU, turned down membership of the franc zone and spurned French agreements to blockade its path. In 1975, even the opposition parties endorsed Ould Daddah’s novel proposals for an Islamic socialist democracy. Unlike other countries which are afraid to embrace their linguistic; cultural and historical purpose/ reputation; Mauritania has not. Since independence it has actively adopted an indigenous approach – making Arabic compulsory since 1976 and French/ Massiniya as official languages. In 1978’ Moustapha Ould Salek took over as chair, signing a peace treaty with Polisario and securing relations with Morocco in 1979. He resigned for Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Louly; replaced by Mohammad Haldaluk a year later. In 1980; Mauritania made world news when it formally abolished the slavery preserved under the Spanish. “I confess my boundless pleasure at being able to join you as a free sovereign nation at this table... The OAU has failed to deal with its brave pronouncements on human rights in Africa... Africa remains a marginalised continent subject to the stigma of world ostracism, pity, derision and contempt... unwilling or unable to face its glorious future and translucent potential... scorned by its partners; whose citizens cannot walk with their heads held high... All that must change! We have sought membership in this organisation; not because we have been impressed by its achievements; but as a local proverb goes; under a sense of familial obligations to try and make it prevail... because what we keenly feel; is ours... –is ours; and it is us –as Africans; -not as foreigners; that will make it work...”We do not find membership in this organisation under the present circumstances; spiritually gratifying or politically challenging...You cannot have a society of angels; outside of Elysium...”Inaugural Address to the OAU, 2747 AUCEritrea and Ethiopia achieved the successful Federation between 1953 and 1962 –when the Eritrea Assembly curiously distinguished itself by voting itself out of existence to join Haille Selassie’s Ethiopia. Eritrea on the Horn of Africa under the youthful Isias Afwerki who banned ethnic discrimination and persecution –president of Africa’s newest state in 1993 sardonically sought to revive the gentrocrati/c administration of the OAU as exemplary proof that we as Africans are capable of being our own censors (as Kaunda, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson and Sir Seretse Khama serve/ served. Eritrea ended its conflict with Ethiopia without externally supervised moderation or arbitration; has achieved decent economic growth, recovered and reconstructed splendidly after a thirty year war of liberation and shown devotion to democratic principles since its inception in 1993. The EPLF; as a liberation movement –excelled –even amid many formidable competitors in Asia and Latin America (Castro); as while as our African homeland (from the ANC to PAIGC, the MPLA and FRELIMO); constructing the longest hospital in the world at Orata; to cater for both civilians and guerrillas –with 3000 beds; its own power generating plant and pharmaceutical factory. Underground; it built reception antechambers; theatres; technical institutes and parking garages; guarded by hidden trenches and minefields. They avoided formal ranks and military leadership; yet preserved fighting discipline whilst adhering to strict celibacy in the Movement. Unwanted pregnancies were ostracised –instead of been showered with benefits and made –not only socially desirable/ wonderful (as in the USA and UK thanks to the glamorising by Hollywood and overgenerous set of Child Benefits/ housing allowances, free education, health etc...). Then; they marshalled the people; to volunteer on fixing the Massawa to Asmara railway rather than wasting scarce resources on foreign technical “experts” that understand nothing. The opening of a free trade zone at Massawa three years ago demonstrated the commitment to enterprise and mercantile priorities.“One of the key problems of the past... has been Africa’s wholesale imitation of the West... This has further been compounded by lop sided attempts to impose external solutions: to Africa’s internal problems... Africa cannot be spoon fed –or survive for long on an intensive care basis. Its policies and programmes will only have lasting effects, if and only if; they are homegrown; when all the stakeholders participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes, which concern them. Africa will not be able to articulate and periodically refine the vision, sense of purpose or ambition, which is vital for success, unless it first cultivates ownership of them...President Afwerki POLISARIO has united the 100000 people of the Western Sahara; in a bold struggle for independence; with the convictions of germinating independence and not submitting to Morocco or external forces who still refuse to officially recognise them as a country or movement. Since 1973, it has been their desire for change –against the wishes of superpowers, that demarcates them as fitting lictors for the African liberation struggle and participation in African History... They have been recognised by 60 countries including even East Timor one of the newest of independent nations since 2002. Their cause has been eloquently advocated by their Sahara Press network and in mobilising the over 100000 citizens who support their cause along with 100 prisoners on hunger strike in 2002 and the intelligentsia domestically and in Moroccan universities, and that of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/ Western Sahara. It is a movement which since the 1990’s has favoured the moderate path of religious and political freedom along with property rights and a mixed economy, cultural and media freedom.THE SCARAB’S CARAPEC (Aegyptus):Egypt’s over 5000 years of historical contribution to the African Renaissance and the planet Earth, commenced as one of the major repositories of human civilisation –along with Mesopotamia/ Indus Valley and China. Its form morphed with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer of the First Dynasty 5211 years ago, when he won the Red and White Crowns. It was he who established the monarchy with its traditional Crook as shepherd and Flail as defender –of the people. The Old Kingdom of aristocracy stone mastaba tombs, royal pyramids and common graves lasted from 2686 to 2181 of the pre-Galilean era. The Middle Kingdom lasted to 1635 of the pre - Galilean era. Egypt survived the civil wars of the anarchic First Intermediate Period and became reunified under Mentuhotep II and annulled the Hykosis invaders of the Second Intermediate Period in 1720 to prosper under the New Kingdom during 1565-1085 of that age. Although there are many things that the Egyptians are reputed for and their copious, myriad abilities are sumptuously elaborated in many texts; this sector outlines but some of the discoveries and influences that the African civilisation of Aegyptus brought to the world aided by a stable theocratic government with survived 2000 illustrious years without internal collapse and strife. The Egyptians are renowned for their Pyramids, their pioneering work in embalming, the Coffin texts, Book of the Dead and the more contemporary Nasser Dam. Yet they also had the first bakeries complete with honey/ garlic bread, beer filtered from its yeast with pottery sifting strainers and sweets. They composed the oboe and the tambourine –with the accompanying harp. For recreation and pleasure they came up with the board game senet; a form of a water polo tournament –but with reed boats and children’s toys including ivory animals with moving jaws/ other parts. Pipes and harps entertained Egyptians musically. The detail of their clay manikins and models of everything from triremes to livestock to chariots and houses, defies dismissals as crude or primitive. They also had pets from sacred crocodiles and hyenas to more conventional dogs and cats –who were worshipped along with the dung beetle, promoting animal welfare, whose kennels have also been found in Tel el Amarna. Even sacred falcons were so highly thought of; that they received the mortal honour of tombs at Athribis.From 3000 BC, they united two kingdoms and used gold currency. From 2000 BC, they came up with crocodile dung contraceptives, the original locks with a large bolt, wine and flushing toilets. Their architecture included plumbing, glass and columns. They invented the shaduf (single cantilevered water system) by the New Kingdom and the sagio (ox driven waterwheel). They came up with lateen rigged feluccas over 50 metres long, maritime going vessels, cargo ships, reed pleasure boats and perfected barques for funerals. They came up with kohl eyeliner and perfumes. Umbrellas were used throughout Africa as a prominent social symbol as in Mali and Dahomey, and date back to the Egyptians 1200 BCE. King Zer of the First Dynasty is known for achieving the first contact with the Nubians; his triumph over them chiselled into stone. The Pharaoh Senefru took 7000 of them captive for use as servants along with 200000 cattle. ‘Man fears time as Chronus, yet time and Chronus fear the Pyramids!”Arab proverb The first pyramid by Imhotep at Saqqara 4660 years ago not only represents a pivotal use of stone, semi columns and the pyramid itself but would symbolise Egyptian mortuary ingenuity to outside. The electrum capped, originally gleaming, white limestone exterior, of the Pyramids directed under the Grand Vizier Hernon still continue to baffle mortals as the only one of the Seven Ancient Wonders to survive and enduring for over 4500 years, the tallest structure on Terra for 4000. Many intricate and elaborate purposes have been suggested for this colossal mausoleum and its construction is equally enigmatic, without modern cranes, pulleys, the wheel or scaffolding. With 2.3 million blocks of stone covering 12.7 acres and over 5,000,000 tonnes in weight, a square base deviating only 8 inches per side taking over 20 years to complete, it still could not be replicated in accuracy with over 30 other examples by current mortals and current technology/ knowledge, without devolving a significant percentage of the world economy. Astronomically, it aligns itself to the four quadrants, Orion’s belt and the northern pole stars and it has the ratio of the Golden Mean in its proportions. Modern Technomancy is still unable to account for the Egyptian recognition of the preserving energy of pyramids –even small ones have reputably preserved food to remain fresher. The 73.5 metre long and 22 metre high guardian Sphinx –the Father of Terror, has lost its original beard and cobra coif, but still evokes inspiration, as the Pharaoh Khafre still watches over as omniscient celestial sentinel. The 33 metre high Great Mortuary Temple of Abu Simbel, hewn out of the rocks, is even more impressive, when one considers it remains the largest example of something moved. Over 80,000,000 US dollars was spent to move it from inundation by the new path of the Nasser Dam, to preserve it. The Mortuary Temple complex of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir al Bonri, is equally distinctive. The main distinctions that separated the New Kingdom from its predecessors were in the formation of more secret and secure catacombs in the Valley of the Kings –where Lord Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamen’s Tomb in 1922 and the Valley of the Queens. Egyptians were wealthy and sophisticated enough to have houses with bathrooms and toilets –even the middle class, with their own arboreal courtyards and gardens with vine trellises and weather vanes on the roofs. It can have enamelled tiles and bricks along with floral murals and curtains. A 70 room villa of 200 feet long and 150 feet wide with bakeries, kitchens and storehouses of its own, provides an example at El Fayoum. Furnishings were well renowned in Egypt from X frame folding stools with tortoiseshell inlays to ebony and gold beds to ivory pedestals –even exported to the Great Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. They were built to last –in contrast to the shoddy mass production lines of Asia in the present, still extant and visible 4000 years later. Amenhotep III became known for his majestic examples of piety with Temples to Amun at the traditional religious sanctuary capitals of Karnak and Thebes. As buildings were not an integral component for the open observatories of the Aten, thin bricks were used in its token walls as novel to the new faith –easily transferrable by hand: 20 inches long and 10 inches wide. Ramses III commissioned the Mortuary Temple of Medinet Habu. Seti I came up with his own tomb in the Valley of King’s a Hypostyle Hall and a funeral temple complex with flood shafts; false burial chambers and other traps. Egypt invented obelisks as further memorials from the oldest extant by Senusret 3761 years ago in Heliopolis to Cleopatra’s Needle on the Embankment stolen by the English and that of Tuthmosis III stolen by the Emperor Constantius for Rome. Sunken bas reliefs provided an interior twist of scope. Workers in Ancient Egypt received free food and beer from the pharaoh; who would often provide them with housing –along with the priests; perhaps the first public sponsored housing with bestowed property rights in history.Further architectural innovations include a tradition of biodegradable materials dating back 6000 years. Pharaoh Mentuhotep (2040 -2010 of Galilean BC) conceptualised the assimilation of architecture into the environment with the construct of an artificial hill as his mausoleum. Both Imhotep (4610 years ago) and Amenhotep (3400 years ago) are preserved as 2 of history’s first recorded monumental architects. Thebes –the city of 100 Gates, the complexes at Luxor, Karnak and Memphis, the tombs of the Valleys of Pharaohs and of Queens remain with us as etched effigies of their architectural accomplishments, millennia ago. Compare that to the transient and intransigent modern successors, who will succumb swiftly to Gaia, despite their provocative terraforming thrust of concrete, granite and glass, loaming over half a mile high, skewering the very firmament of aesthetic sensitivity and pragmatic, enduring sensibility... Over 4500 years old, the preserved city of Tel el Amarna –capital of Akhenaton has stone baths, bronze mirrors dating that far, latrines with stone seats and simple locks. Simple toys have also been found. It houses had shutters, screen windows and courtyard gardens adorned with elegant porticos and natural art. Both Tanais of the Delta and Seostris II (later abandoned with Tel el Amarna) in the Fayoum oasis were further examples of this urban planning with planted avenues and parks, a marked innovation in contrast to the sprawling metropolises of Thebes and Memphis. One has to ask the question: Why is Africa still not considered to be sufficiently advanced; when compare it to the sparse scarcity of equivalent places in Europa, Oceania and North America. Aware that death is eternal while life is transitory... they prepared for it and after it; more than most societies and civilisations; from physical tombs, mastabas and pyramids to preserving brains and internal organs via natron in Canopic jars and in embalming corpses, so that they might be preserved for centuries... even millennia... The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony after 70 days of embalming ritual preparation and the funeral ceremony itself was the last stage to rekindle the sensory stimuli such as respiration and digestion. It was not just humans that were considered worthy of immortality, worshipped and believed to have rights, but falcons, crocodiles, cats, ibis and dung beetles. They concocted remedies for thinning and greying hair, braided wigs to counter baldness, used kohl eyeshadow, devised tattoos, and thought up perfumes, fragrances and deodorant from frankincense, desert date seeds and myrrh to deter perspiration and natron to bleach/ cleanse their well spun linen. They blotted out wrinkles with fenugreek ointment and cured toothache. They came up with the water clock and the 365 day calendar. The Greeks copied Egyptian temple columns, unable to devise these architectural essentials alone. Scholars developed one of the earliest writing systems (hieroglyphics), papyrus to write upon and artist’s ivory palettes for paint along with malachite eye paint. Art mastered perspective and ornate artefacts of faience, terracotta, stone, glazed quartz and steatite with glassware. Alabaster statues of cats, leopard rail and hippo carved gold and ebony beds and fine bas reliefs reiterate this artistic discernment during the Dynasties.They came up with the plumb line and calibrated balance, copper and bronze ware, weights and measures plus razors, pins and tweezers. Polished mirrors, ivory, metal jewellery and statuary, saws – and the lead sulphide as a disinfectant were all Egyptian prototypes, while in the 18th Dynasty, hinged lids appeared. 5000 years ago, the first dice materialised. The Egyptian historian Manetho ranks among Herodotus as 2 of history’s noted recorders and archivists. Egyptian priests were the first to deduce that the aquatic element had covered Terra –from their own discoveries of marine seashells –even in the loftiest and most arid of mountainous domains (as verified by Sir Charles Lyell –the noted geologist in 1850 –and Herodotus –the Father of History... centuries ago. They also knew of the three stars of the Sirius solar constellation and other advanced astronomical data only recurrent in later centuries. The astronomical calendar dates back 2811 years ago with a series of star catalogues –even records diagnosing the sidereal, helicoidal ascent of Sirius. The Rind Mathematical Papyrus included class exercises and problems in mensuration; geometry; volume, area and measurement including the hin or half litre and the bushel. Time was calibrated by shadow and water clocks –or cleopstyla. “It is true that one may become rich through practising evil, but the power of Truth and Justice is such that they endure... and that a man can say of them, “They are a legacy from my father...”Fifth Egyptian Dynasty Calendar, The Wisdom of Ptahhotep... Literacy was aided by the script of hieroglyphs dating back to 2750. Egyptian literary narratives include the: “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant,” “the Blinding of Truth by Falsehood,” “the Story of Cheops and the Magician” and the “Tale of the Two Brothers,” which along with the Solar paens of Akhenaton, the Book of the Dead, King Petubashi’s era, maudlin 23rd Dynasty historical romances and the Histories of Manetho –the classical third century historian and High Priest of Heliopolis in the reign of Ptolemy II –and the introducer of the cult of Serapis –(which would extend throughout the Roman Empire as far north as York) and its famous temple/ library –the Serapeum in Alexandria, not to mention the scholarship of Thebes, Memphis and later Alexandria. Others include the pensive Meditations of Khakheperresemet; the Admonitions of Ipuwer, the soliloquy of one contemplating suicide, predating Hamlet by two thousand years: the Dialogue of a Pessimist with his Soul and the travel accounts: Adventures of Wenamm. All manner of legal and commercial records and contracts survive including exchange and transaction accounts with surrender, cessation and surrender clauses, along with personal letters; some of the oldest extant examples of each are Dynastic Egyptian. They also possessed considerable foresight as noted with the Rosetta Stone with demotic Greek as well as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and a total of three languages, so that knowledge of the one could be used to translate the others along with pictorial motifs attached to hieroglyphics. Lacking a modern equivalent –dictionaries require only two at most –commonly in the same Western script, makes the job of future archaeologists far more complex and arduous... The Egyptian dynastic tradition and the founding of the kingdom (as previously noted) started with its unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Narmer 5100 years ago. His son Menes (Hor Aha) reigned for a reputed 62 years and founded the capital city of Memphis, which would exist for over 2000 years. Djoser extended Egyptian territory as far as its modern border, just south of Aswan and his tomb by the genius Treasurer, Great Palace Administrator, carver of stone vases, astronomer, mathematician, architect and High Priest of Heliopolis: Imhotep; or the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, is the first of the most notorious and famous symbol still extant as the ultimate image and symbol of Egypt. The venerable and hallowed jubilee “hab sed” ritual held every thirty years as a kingdom wide celebration of survival, continuance and commitment dates from the very first Dynasty and could be historically the longest and oldest continued observance of a public holiday, ceremony and festival worshipped for over 2000 years. Pharaoh Hani of the Third Dynasty was the first to build a pyramid with a square floor plan. Senefru I (2613 -2589 BCE) constructed the famous Bent Pyramid and was the first to construct two pyramids as mausoleums. His promiscuous and voluptuous ways are evoked in literature and in temple art as been nefarious: -containing the oldest, first noted usage of fish net stockings and their sensual stimulating connotations. His wife Heptephes –mother of Khufu (who is himself known for the most majestic and colossal of the Great Pyramids of Giza). Was known for her equally lavish ways such as her gold manicure set and twenty silver dragonfly bracelets –silver been far rarer and more precious than gold in Ancient Egypt.Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, need no further introduction, then their commissioning of the oldest 7 Ancient Wonders of the World: the Great Pyramids of Giza. Khufu is also known for his forty three metre long Royal Barge and the wealth of both his dynasty and their descendents, reflects the potency of Aegyptus at that time. A Prince Nekare –not even the crown prince, passed on fourteen towns in his will. Pharaoh Neferikore was the first to add a second cartouche –one with the birth name and one with the royal name sequence. The nobleman Weni led an army against the Bedouin, served as Governor of the South, commissioned stone mastabas and designed navigational channels through the cataracts, which aided transportation of stone for the Pyramids. Chancellor Meketre under Mentuhotep I, was known for the exquisite, lifelike and accurate models in his tomb, of miniature cattle and fishing skiffs, a butchery, bakery, carpenter and villa replica complete with granaries and gardens for the Afterlife; to remind himself of the existing world. Both examples, represent the degrees of versatile talent in the officials appointed with great probity by the pharaohs of Egypt, who long knew that the recruitment of gifted administrators which can be trusted and given great lassitude, far from being a threat, minimises one’s own toil. “Very heavy with marvels, all goodly and fragrant wonders of the world; of myrrh and myrrh trees, of ebony and ivory; of green gold; cinnamon wood, incense and eye cosmetics; with apes and monkeys, with peacocks, opals and dogs, with skins of the southern panther...Cargo Manifest, return from Voyage to Punt, under Pharaoh Hatshepsut 1460 BC...The Pharaoh Ramses II –one of the longest reigning monarchs in Terrestrial history... –and father f over 200 children (fertile even at 76 + years) indulged his monumental temple legacy, culminating in(The Great) at Abu Simbel! He is also responsible for the first historically ascertained peace treaty –the Battle of Quadesh, with the Hittite Hattusilus III –with mutual military defence and the prohibition of providing sanctuary to political rivals of each other –in either’s territory. He defended Egypt against the Hykosis and the Sea People. At the zenith, the Egyptian Empire extended from Nubia and the Cataracts of the Nile to Syria and Mittani. Ramses III defeated the maritime invasion of the Sea People while Tuthmosis III overwhelmed Nubia and Palestine (1425 -1458 BC). They traded Sinai turquoise, Nubian gold and Punt incense, importing silver, copper, ivory and African fauna while agriculture grew through a network of irrigated canals. The 6th Dynasty Pharaoh Neferkare or Pepi II reigned for 94 years from aged 6, 4292 years ago.Nubia since Senusret I was governed by a series of stone and mud brick12th Dynasty citadels adorning the borders and the series of Cataracts as among the earliest examples of fortifications defending a newly conquered province of an empire. The assemblage of bastions, ramparts, ditches, watch towers, drawbridges and enclosures, would scarcely change in its conception for the next three thousand years of warfare –including the French Maginot Line between the two world wars. Egypt too had its own military awards of distinction –the most notable being the Golden Fly of Valour. The Pharaoh Uskernaf as early as 2650 BC established trading excursions to Punt, for electrum, ivory and ebony, continued by later sovereigns such as Seostratis. Architecturally, he added causeways, funeral barques and solar temples –a thousand years and more before Akhenaton. The explorer Harkuf in the 6th Dynasty travelled to Punt, Arabia, the Land of Yam with ebony, ivory and incense, and even Central Africa, from whence he imported pygmies. Pharaoh Seti I devised and executed the first Suez Canal to aid navigation in the 13th century pre Galilean. In the 6th Galilean century BC, the Pharaoh Necho commissioned a circumnavigation of Africa; akin to the Phoenicians –predating both Admiral Zheng He and Bartholomew Dias. He also repelled the Assyrians from Egypt. Pepi I chartered further parts of Nubia and Youland –pygmies, ebony, ivory and textiles, incorporating local armies into his own and sent Governor Harkum to Darfur. The Pharaoh Pepi II commissioned a Somalia costal exploration expedition. The fifth century cultivated contact with Central Africa and the Congo under the Treasurer Buroud. The Pharaoh Ammetais vanquished Persian invaders. The Oasis of Zeus Ammon at Siwan forms a monumental apex of history: the Apotheosis of Alexander the great; the inspiring base for the founding of the city of Alexandria ideal –and Alexander’s great expedition of conquest through Persia, past the Euphrates –to India. All of these discoveries advanced trade, cartography and progress and were commissioned by the efforts of one of the earliest examples of African ingenuity, navigating the world –without outsiders.Akhenaton or Amenhotep IV, was a dreamer, a reformer and one of the first visionary patron of the arts. Introducer of monotheism against the old gods of Aegyptus: of Osiris, Horus, Isis, Anubis and Thoth, with the Aten in Egypt, it remains one of the first attempts to replace historical polytheism, especially with singular solar worship epitomised in his expressive, solar paens and roofless temples, with solar observatories. These, combined with rituals in the open air were meant to convene with the ethereal radiance of the aether in contrast to traditional Egyptian attempts hidden within the subterranean depths of Karnak or in enclosed temples. His new name and other efforts symbolised a new awakening. In art, he pioneered the naturalised style with ornithology, flora and fauna before the attempts of the Greeks under Apelles, rather than stylised and stilted images. Intimate scenes involving his love with Nefertiti and with his children contrasted with the graven images of pomp and solemnity that his predecessors preferred as equal to their royal and divine status. Common scenes from ordinary Egyptians and their lives –from the billowing wheat in the wind to ploughing fields to avians in flight. The attempt to build a new capital: Tel el Amarna with over 30000 citizens, away from Memphis and Thebes; is emblematic of his desire for change to prevent a stagnant Egypt. It represented one of the first historical attempts at urban town planning, with spacious tree laden avenues, clearly defined, noble, artisan, commercial merchant, priest and court quarters along with the great temple complex of the Aten and the Royal Palace with the Northern Palace for his second wife. Stone grain silos and storage bays hosted the efforts of trade from the replica crystal grapes to the ornate lotus chalices and glass fish model containers.Akhenaton’s death which brought Tutankhamen, the boy Pharaoh who reigned for 10 years until his death aged nineteen, to the throne, received one of the first coordinated attempts to obliterate him from consciousness –that mirrored later by the Church and Hypatia out of revenge for his apostasy. Tutankhamen and his general / later pharaoh Horenheb, reversed the steps of the revolution, moving back to Thebes, restoring Egyptian polytheism and traditional art/ values. The royal mummies were removed to the Valley of Kings, from the newly abandoned city in the desert. The sophistication of the burial mask, sarcophagus and other mortuary remains such as gilded wooden chairs, gold burial mask and sarcophagus; wooden food boxes with ink lists of contents; a cow with arched tail shaped bed and a hippo shaped bed of the Boy Pharaoh Tutankhamen shows the capacity of Egypt at its zenith, with the power of dynasties capable of surviving even the tumult of the most radical of monarchs... as its 30 dynasties and 3000 years provided a sense of continuity that anyone could admire...Ammenhet I started the tradition of diluting power in order to train a responsible heir, via a co –regency with his son Senusret I and founded a new capital city, which has yet to be found after all these aeons. Ammenhet II was more interested in conquest and trade; launching excursions to Byblos, Punt and the Levant. Egyptian lapis lazuli cups dating to his reign have been found as far as Mesopotamia and cylinder seals in Babylon. Senusret III built the prototype canal at Aswan, around 2400 years ago and led campaigns into Syria and Nubia, realising that active campaigning impresses the domestic populace in propaganda, provides a basis of exerting energy for unemployed youths which would only create urban looting and riots domestically and prevents the military from stagnation, inertia and decay. Under Ammenhet III, the turquoise mines opened in the Sinai peninsula; adding to the state coffers. Tuthmosis III in all of his active empire expansion believed in setting a personal example in the risk of warfare –exposing himself in person at the head of his troops rather than retreating from danger; in a secure underground bunker like the major leaders of the most powerful and influential nations of this and the previous century. He also cleared Senusret’s canal, built two obelisks and temples in Egypt and Nubia. Pssametichus I (664 BCE -610 BCE) saved Egypt from its first Assyrian conquest. Even under the Ptolemies –women advanced to the highest levels –such as the various Cleopatra’s and Hatshepsut The female Hatshepsut advanced to the apex of supreme female monarchal, political and religious power without killing Tuthmosis III –disguised as a male and continued to impose her will. She changed perception of what females could achieve and even traditions –celebrating the heb sed jubilee every fifteen not thirty years; while the Alexandrine yet African patriot Cleopatra... manipulated Marcus Antonius, Julius Caesar and Octavian –three of the most formidable, influential and potent Roman commanders and patricians of their day; to preserve the autonomy of Aegyptus during her lifetime... Akhenaton’s wife Nefertiti has been historically renowned for her beauty and her governing of the empire during his reign after he elevated her to the ranks of the immortal deities via Apotheosis. His mother: Queen Tiye, also was prominent in decisions of state. Other female pharaohs were the 6th Dynasty Nitocris and the 19th Dynasty Twoseret. Females had equal historic inheritance, property and legal rights, marriage and divorce could be initiated by either party –several thousand years before the suffragette movement. In fact; the right for females to ascend the Egyptian Pharaohnic throne; dates back as early as the Second Dynasty under Pharaoh Binothares. So; therefore the legacy of several thousand years of Egyptian contribution –from the geocentric and heliocentric theories of Earth to the pyramids to optic surgery and the circulation of the blood to pyramids; obelisks and the first planned cities to female emancipation; cosmetics; writing and naturalistic Egypt; during the Pharaohs and the ancient city of Alexandria: let us and the world never forget: that it was Africa who was responsible for inventing; discovering, creating and precipitating all of these –and not another planet. THE AFRICAN CITY OF ALEXANDRIA:The largest commercial, industrial, academic, residential inhabited city of the Ancient World; not an ancient capital such as Rome or Byzantium; the capital of Egypt for nearly a 1000 years from its foundation by Alexander the Great in 322 BC/ 431 AUC, moulded by the architect Dinocrates: Alexandria served as the epicentre of the third African Renaissance (after pre history, Thebes and Memphis of the Old and Middle Kingdoms) and the most influential of all; until its purging and obliteration by the Arabs in 638 AD/ 960 AUC. Surpassing Pergamum, Carthage, Athens, Antioch and others in India and China; up until past the Fatimid dynasty, Alexandria advanced the world –as an African city –the evocative and undisputed metropolis of the Ancient World. In the first century of the Galilean era alone, the census recorded 100000 citizens and up to 1000000 people –with Rome and Byzantium, the largest urban population concentration on Earth until Victorian London. And yet, like Rome; a number of Alexandrians were known for their high life expectancy aided by the many parks and the finest medical facilities of the ancient world...In the words of Strabo...“The region known as the Palaces encompasses perhaps a quarter or even a third of the entire circumference of the acropolis... For each of the Ptolemies has added some adornment to the public dedications in addition to private residential blocks. Within this area lies the Museion which has a stoa, gardens, an exedra and academician quadrangles along with the Great Refectory. This body is headed by the Most High Academe –appointed by the Pharaohs before –and now by the Caesars. The Sema Monument or enclosure containing the royal dynastic necropolis and the mausoleum of Alexander.As you enter the Great Harbour, you have the towering beacon of the Pharos illuminating the way, on the other are the Choriades and the Lochias promontory upon which lies a palace. On the left, are the Inner Palaces; below is the artificial Royal harbour. The High Amphitheatre overlooks the island. Next is the Poseidion projecting from the Empyrean, with a sanctuary of Poseidon. Antony extended this into the centre and constructed the Timoneion pavilion. Next are the Caesareum, the Empyrean and the Apostaseis (or warehouses), and after them the dockyards which continue up to the Heptastadion. “The Harbour of Eunostos comes next and above this, another artificial harbour (the Box) Kibotos. Further in, a canal connects to Lake Mareotis. Beyond the canal, comes the Necropolis suburb, in which there are many tombs and gardens suitable for the mummification of corpses. Near the city side of the canal, lies the Serapeum, the amphitheatre and stadion where the Quinquartria are celebrated. The city is full of dedications and shrines, finest of all, is the gymnasium with colonnades more than a stadia in length, with the Basilicas and groves. There is also the Paneion –an artificial fir cone shape .mound, with which to survey the city below... to the Canopic Gate and the Hippodrome and beyond...” The Great Bibliothecae or Library comprised 700 000 scrolls along with a classifying and categorisation section, which was enriched by Ptolemy Eugertes who was so dedicated to scholarship that he issued a decree requisitioning all books found when unloading or works entering the city to be seized and copied. The originals would be retained and the accurate copies returned to the owners. The Royal Bibliothecae comprised over 490 000 scrolls. High Librarians include Hypatia, Zenodotus, Aristarchus –of the heliocentric discovery, Apollonaris and Eratosthenes. Euclid and his Elements of geometry and Plotinus found sanctuary and contributed here, among others. Its modern incarnation, houses 7 levels with over 8000000 volumes, as still amid the world’s largest. All of these exceeded those of Europe for centuries –the king’s of medieval England had a grand total of 9. Its very existence owes itself to the inception of Demetrius of Phaleron who persuaded Ptolemy II Philadelphus to formulate the greatest of ancient libraries, in rival to Antioch, Rome and Pergamum. 72 of the most eminent of ancient academics were invited to enlighten and enrich the Bibliothecae; the nexus of the first true university in the history of the world... Alexandria’s third great Bibliothecae existed in the Temple of Serapis –or Serapeum before it was destroyed by Galilean monotheist zealots in 391 CE.The Museion –under the Overseer of Muses, provided academic sanctuary, lodgings, meals, laboratories, facilities to work, stipends and the first museum to academics in return for scholarship, lectures and research such as in practical engineering with rotating axles, hydraulics and the usage of steam power and agriculture. As outlined in the Medical Requiem; the city of Alexandria was the prominent medical capital of the ancient world throughout its being. They even came up with smelling salts at its prestigious faculty and were aided by a state policy which released prisoners and cadavers so that criminals could be of some us –even if only for anatomy; medical testing and dissection as opposed to the idiot savants and universities of Europe with their primitive theories of the four humours and process by induction not experience and observation. They were also aware of epidemics, a balanced nutritious diet, hygiene; exercise and the abstinence from corrosive substances contaminating the body; which 3000 years later is still touted as the most pungent prescription to assured health. After 2000 years, the towering achievement of the world’s first, tallest and most significant lighthouse: The Pharos; has not been surpassed. The 124 metre high, spiralling ramp turret was so esteemed that it enclosed an observatory, barracks, its own water supply and a garrison to defend it. From its lofty spire, Zeus traced the trajectory of Helios. Its flame and signalling heliograph illuminated up to 56 kilometres or 300 stadia away... Archimedes devised a bronze mirror which magnified the flame so that the Ptolemies could wage war on those –such as the Roman invasion of Syracuse. The name for the study of lighthouses –Pharology was prompted by its memory. The trade nexus of the Mediterranean exported grain, papyrus, perfume, aureal and silver art, bronze sculptures, apple green Ptolemaic and dark blue pre- Alexandrine Pharaohnic faience, tapestries, textiles and ceramics to Delos, Rhodes, the Bosporus, Palestine, Carthage and Tarentum. It traded the aromatic gums of Somalia, the scents of Arabia, the cedars of Lebanon and vegetable oil from Syria, citrus and cypresses from Cyrene. Alexandria was known for its paper mills, its industry, its flax, textiles, gold craftsmanship and cosmetics. This was aided by its two excellent public harbours –that of Eunostos in the west was known as the Harbour of Good or Prosperous Returns) and royal/ military private harbour along with the Pharos –the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Ancient World.The savant Hypatia –an extremely brilliant sage, Neo-Platonic philosopher, a mathematician, the Last Most High Academe of the Museion of Alexandria along with the Great Custodian and Librarian Academic of the Great Library –and a pagan intellectual stood as a paragon of all her gender, faith, intellect and moral fibre could accomplish under this most exquisite and saturnine of continents, in one of its principle cities of scholarship -Alexandria... could contribute. But of course the chauvinistic and dogmatic zealots of the early Church could not stomach such a fiery and free soul... and lynched her. In the words of the timeless and immemorial Gibbon, her fate was as follows: “She was torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church on the command of St Cyril the Patriarch of Alexandria after defending her faith, and inhumanely butchered by the hands of Peter the Reader and a troop of savage and merciless fanatics: her flesh was scraped from her bones with sharp oyster shells and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames as she stoically bore her fate.” As an intellectual, as a classical mythologist and as a female individual from Africa, she represented the myriad values of her professed creed including fides –loyalty and good faith to her sacred cause and to her fellow initiates, to her friends and too all. She prayed for intellectual, moral and physical synergy, where not only those from the right privileged background could fashion their circumstances but all could, strive for that which was most important...1700 years ago, Hiero of Alexandria came up with history’s first steam engines and the disapora (equivalent to a surveyor’s theodolite) which measures height and distance. Other invented devices from steam applications included an altar with a deity offering a libation, when a fire is lit on an altar (steam pressure from heated water directs some to the deity formation). Another connected a fire ignited on the altar via a counterweight bucket and water pulley system to open the temple doors. There was a solar powered fountain, a steam boiler causing a singing mechanical bird, mechanical doves, tear shedding statues and other steam pneumatic artifices outlined in his manuscript (Spiritalia seu Pneumatica -603 AUC). Other pragmatic steam applications included processional vehicles, water fountains with moving statues; musical organs and liquid fire hoses along with temple doors that opened with the insertion of a five drachma piece.The geocentric perspective of the world which influenced all; until Copernicus, - came from the renowned Alexandrine geographer Ptolemy in Cosmographica. His other cartographic techniques and charts were used for millennia. His Astronomical Almagest provided a standard astronomy textbook for centuries as did his Geographica published in 150 AD with its carts of Britannia; Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Nile and the Ruwenzori range or Mountains of the Moon –in use by the world until the 15th century... Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the world as 25000 miles or 40225 kilometres using lengths of the solar shadow and sticks at Alexandria and Assaum. Its accuracy is resoundly close at 24902 miles or 40077 kilometres –an error margin of only 148 kilometres/ 98 miles. He improved land surveying methods and served as a cartographer to accurate charter all off the discoveries of the Greeks thus known so far. Hydro powered clocks and solar sundials measured time more accurately. Athenaeus of Naucratis became known for his gastronomic dialogues. The Alexandrines were a pragmatic populace and their city was the most technically sophisticated in the Ancient World. Heron even devised mechanical means for excavating tunnels.“There is elsewhere no precinct like this; the Sebasteum or Caesareum –the Temple to Augustus Caesar on shipboard, situated on eminence, facing on harbours famed for their excellent moorage and conspicuous; fitted on a scale not found elsewhere with dedicated offerings; around it a girdle of paintings and statues, in silver and gold’ forming a precinct of vast breadth, embellished porticos, libraries, chambers, groves and open courts and everything, which lavish expectations could produce to beautify it –the emblem of a hope of safety to the voyager with the harbour...”Philo’s Alexandria. Alexandria was governed by its own Demos and Prytaneis along with a Boule Council suppressed by Augustus but reinstated by the African Emperor of Rome: Septimus Severus; who extended this chance at democratic and civic participation to several places in Egypt: i.e. the Nome capitals of Antinoupolis, Ptolemais and Naucratis. The architect Timochares commissioned the Arsionoem, sanctuary of the deified Arsinoe, with magnetic metal which caused the image to float. The Caesareum or Temple of Augustus acted as the Orthodox Cathedral until it was destroyed. Its streets expanded as wide as 50 yards and paved in the finest marble. The 5.5 kilometre Canopic Way with its west Gate of Selene and its east Gate of Helios lined with the many shrines and temples and the 1.5 kilometre Street of the Soma as the city’s prime boulevards, lit by oil street lights; were especially majestic. The city was divided into five districts –of which the royal Ptolemaic palace, park and zoological gardens (Brucheion) and the academic Great Library/ Museum occupied one. The Rhakokotis District housed the Caesareum and the 600 foot colonnaded facade of the Gymnasium under the Gymnasiarch as the most prestigious sporting and leisure facility with a pankration and palestra (wrestling and athletics training schools attached) with lecture halls for the city’s youth. The Heptastadion or artificial causeway connecting the promontory with the mainland was so named as it transverse the length of seven racetracks. According to the 4th century census; Alexandria held 2478 temples and shrines, 845 theatres/ entertainment venues; 456 porticos and 24396 housing complexes. By the year 375, it had 12 churches of the newly surging Galilean faith bolstered by the training institute and leading Galilean apologist scholars Clement and Origen of Alexandria, St Augustine of Hippo and Athanasius –Patriarch and Bishop for 45 years in Alexandria known for the Spiritual Life of St Anthony, (which has inspired stylites, hermits and ascetics throughout the ages), and the Egyptian Coptic martyr Menas. Its splendour was still resplendent at the time of its obliteration by the Arabs under General al Amir ibn in 641; who reported Alexandria as still having 12000 vegetable sellers, 400 theatres/ entertainment venues; 4000 palaces and mansions; marble pavements; aqueducts and cisterns. The Temple of Isis at Philae –the African religious cult that spread from Egypt across the frontiers of the Roman Empire; survived where most other non Galilean places did not until the bigoted Emperor Justinian suppressed it in the 6th century.Two obelisks erected by the first Roman emperor Augustus lasted as late as 1301 –again an African cultural influence. The Delta Quarter hosted the influential Jewish community known for its scholarship, trade, the influential Philo (guide and historian to his native city in the first century of Roman occupation) and the greatest of synagogues outside of the destroyed one at Jerusalem. They congregated in the Jewish monastery –Therapeutae. The city was also known for its several agoras, its Hippodrome and its two peaks –one of which hosted the Park of Pan –Paneion. Many suburbs held irrigated farmland and extensive estates/ countryside villas whose decor –art and architraves was inspired by places in Libya and Asia. Copious magnitudes of tourists were attracted by the Mausoleum and remains of Alexander the Great. Alexandria extended free tolerance to all in the greatest of cities outside Rome and later Constantinople –unchallenged for over 900 years, in a model which could serve for all... In scholarship, medicine, industry, trade; culture; and all else; this city founded by Alexander the Great, continued by the Ptolemies –especially the academic Ptolemy II Philadelphus (commissioner of the Great Library and sponsor of the Pentahurch –the accumulated corpus of wisdom and works of the Jewish community along with the Egyptian histories of Manetho); became a part of Africa; always influenced the world decisively until its pillaging by the Arab invaders in 641 C.E, who single handedly eradicated the Museion and the Pharos –as “superfluous” “pagan” symbols. CAIRO AND THE MEDITERANEANThe Athanasian creed originated in Aegyptus. The stylite/ monastic movement was developed by the African saint Anthony –withdrawing as an anchorite to a hermitage/ pillar in the desert for 20 years. Cairo since its inception by the Fatimids; has provided the land nexus of African, European and Asian trade in the region to the Mediterranean and is now with over 8000000 people, the largest of metropolises in Africa and the Middle East... the role formerly occupied by the old capitals of Thebes, Memphis and Alexandria... Coptic Egypt was also known for exporting its linen and textiles along with more mundane things such as bottles and agricultural implement e.g. winnowing shovels.Caravanserais acted as hostels for pilgrims and as modern inns in Fatimid Egypt. The oldest still existent and functioning university in the world is not a part of Asia or of Europe –it is in Africa. The most venerable and hallowed, auspicious sanctuary of Islamic scholarship –is not in Medina, Jerusalem, Mecca or other parts of North Africa and the Middle East –it is again, the Al Azhar University in Cairo.The Al Azhar Islamic University adjoined the Al Azhar Mosque and madrasa and provided free board to scholars with courses in Arabic, Islamic theosophy and law amid others. Under Nasser, it first permitted women in 1962. It is the world’s most prestigious centre of Islamic scholarship, host to professors such as Muhammad Abdurne, the former Mufti of Egypt, who modernised Koranic interpretations permitting usury, free will and the superiority of religious ethics over mere dogmatic faith and ritual. His Sudanese counterpart academic Muhammad Mahoud Taha audaciously tried to do this in the Sudan but was executed on erroneous allegations of heresy and blasphemy; dying for his faith, convictions and commitment to scholarship as the African and Alexandrine patriot Hypatia did for classical paganism. Cairo offered 11 racecourses; 23 international trade markets with 50 domestic souks and everything from gold to perfumes to spices; from the products of the Orient Tang; Sung; Yuan and Ming Dynasties to Byzantium to Kilwa and Sofala. The Karmi or Egyptian merchants and bankers; though excluded by the Ottomans and Fatimids from political office; nevertheless contributed to mercantile success as one of the greatest commercial emporia of the medieval world trading between the Persian Gulf, West Europe, India and China. They opened up commercial agencies in south China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nubia, Ethiopia and Senegal.The central government in Egypt from independence until the overthrow of King Farouk observed an unprecedented archetype of devolving power to regional and municipal level in Upper Egypt, contrary to the centralising proclivities of most states. On the first day of the old solar year, each town / settlement for several days was free from the constraints of national government, electing their own mock king and deposing the actual one temporarily. They would then set up a popular tribunal and issue their own decrees and reforms, which would then be publically celebrated. The mock king was then deposed by ceremoniously being burnt in effigy along with decisions made in a fantastic bonfire.Egypt regained independence in 1922 as one of the four independent African nations. Since 1898, it had managed to assert partial African governance over the African territory of the Sudan in the Condominium. In 1917 nationalists such as Zagulad Pasha Said sought to petition for full Egyptian independence but were rejected by the Foreign office from even defending themselves. Under King Farouk, Egypt revoked the 1936 Treaty with Britain in 1951, in which Britain stationed military troops and intervened economically along with foreign affairs. When the British attacked the police barracks at Ismailia killing over 50 on 25th January 1952 in response to the Egyptian government supporting its own people’s efforts –concerning students, the Muslim Brotherhood and ordinary patriots, the mob in its incandescent fury targeted British outposts from Barclay’s Bank and its pillaging of Egyptian wealth to the frontiers of the protruding Canal Zone to Shepherd’s Hotel and Thomas Cook –as symbols of patronising, condescending foreign tourists. Frustrated with their leadership, they also targeted favourite haunts of the royal court. This revolt spirit crystallises our refusal to tolerate failure and betrayal. In retaliation to Egyptian assertion over its own fortune, the British occupied the Suez Canal Zone with colonial forces – over 80000 troops and 9000 square kilometres of territory, thus promulgating the dissension and the Suez Crisis under Nasser in 1956. Nasser secured their removal by 1956 –historic of no troops since 1882 and full power since Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII. He also sought an Arab African peace treaty rather than a British formulated pact. To modernise his army in defence against 1955 Israel border attacks, when NATO members turned him down, he approached the Soviet UnionThe Voice of Cairo Radio was established to provide broadcast support to the liberation struggle revolutions across Africa and the Middle East, in contrast to the US propaganda Voice of America and Soviet Radio Moscow equivalents. Not only has Cairo and Egypt contributed to the cause of Africa as North Africa has aided Sub Saharan Africa; it has also worked for pan Arab solidarity, peace and unity. The Headquarters of the Arab League, formerly in Tunis, Tunisia –are now based in Cairo. The Academy of the Arab Language is also based there, mirroring the distinguished South African National Academy of the English Language. Another unique component of Cairo is the extent of its Necropolis –City of the Dead, with an estimated 500000 living inhabitants amid the mausoleums, tombs and crypts.I: “The liquidation of colonialism and the Egyptian traitors who support it...”II: “The liquidation of feudalism!”III: “An end to the domination of power by capital!”IV: “The formation of a powerful popular army!”V: “The need to establish social equity!”VI: “The need for a healthy domestic life...”The 6 Principles of Nasser as created by Sadat.King Farouk was overthrown in Egypt for failing to deal with this British provocation against Africa in 1952 by the Society of Free Officers –less than 100 organised into rebel cells. Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser contructed the $1 billion Nasser Dam – who’s Lake Nasser stretched over 300 miles between Egypt and Sudan and was completed in 1970, irrigating food for over 1000000 people and supporting fishing. The three mile long Aswan High Dam irrigated over 1000000 acres. He dissipated feudalism in Egypt from King Farouk and the British, granter of independence to the Sudan and liberator of the Suez Canal in 1956... : supported by the US and the USSR who jointly condemned British and French neo-colonialist collusion when they defied the UN General Assembly resolution calling for their withdrawal; after invading sovereign territory November 5th 1956. In refusal of the British and French seizing the canal, Port Said and Ismailia; the Egyptian government entrusted and armed patriotic civilians. Colonel Nasser assured full compensation for nationalisation to the British but they sought dissent as usual, provoking the incident. In exchange for their refusal of his moderate ways, he confiscated French and English assets, resting Egyptian control of their economy. Traffic in the Suez Canal even experienced a modest surge afterwards. He even achieved a United Arab Republic which joined Syria and Egypt from 1958-1961. His revolution initiated modest land reform preventing wealthy domination. In an Arab and Galilean world sphere, he chose religious tolerance through a secular state and secular law as opposed to the Sharia pressures. After the 1967 war failure, he sought to resign but the masses; propelled him back. As with so many African leaders; he restored a sense of self respect; of national identity; and of purpose; seeking to modernise his country and uplift his people... “We condemn unequivocally and unabashedly the brazen and hypocritical efforts of the West to return Egypt to financial bondage –imperialism without soldiers... Egypt will remain free... Right now some of your Egyptian brethren... are taking over the Canal Company this very moment...”26th July 1956, Nasser addressing 250000 people, Alexandria’s Liberation Square... Internationally; he managed to defy –at Suez 1956 and the 1958 Baghdad Pact, the two great historic colonial powers of France and England, outlasting Anthony Eden’s belligerent deployment of troops while refusing to surrender to the Israeli militants (who use the Holocaust to justify aggression in the Middle East –and to dominate the Western World –especially its US satellite). It backfired spectacularly, securing popularity for Nasser, causing major exchange crises and fuel rationing. Thanks to his efforts, the majority of Africa condemned the separationist and apartheid policies of Israel against Palestine –still echoed by the majority of African Nations, remaining remarkably consistent. Radio Cairo served as a voice broadcasting liberation in the Arab and African spheres while Egypt was remarkably tolerant of diverse political opinions –as long as they were not religious based. He secured the independence of the Sudan in 1956 by forfeiting Egyptian government claims, which exerted pressure on the British to also consent. In contrast to the decadence of Farouk, he lived modestly in a suburb of Heliopolis with his family, refusing a $3000000 bribe from the often bungling CIA.“The liberation movement should get quickly rid of Farouk as quickly as possible in order to deal with what is more important –namely the need to purge the country of the corruption that Farouk will leave behind him. We must pave the way towards a new era. In which the people will enjoy their sovereign rights and live in dignity. Justice is one of our objectives. We cannot execute Farouk and risk making him a martyr, or without a trial. Neither can we afford to keep him in jail and preoccupy ourselves with the rights and wrongs of his case at the risk of neglecting the other purposes of the revolution. Let us spare Farouk and send him into exile. History will sentence him to death.”Gamal Abdel NasserPersonally; he was satiated with modest requirements in food, accommodation and entertainment; managing to fulfil the fifth and sixth principles personally. He electrified Africa and the Arab world –not merely by hydropower and the vaunted Nasser Dam completed in 1964, but as a prominent founder of the Non Aligned Movement alongside those such as Tito’s Yugoslavia and Prince Sihanouk’s Cambodia. He aided liberation movements, utilised the Egyptian Air Force to aid the Nigerian government against the Biafra secession (1967-1970), updated the armed forces, constructed a steel/ iron sector at Helwan and achieved a thriving economy. Nasser achieved distinction in the 1948 Palestine – Israel formation dispute as a war hero. It was his magnanimous clemency along with Negoub that secured the exile of Farouk rather than death and realised that execution only breeds martyrs, a mistake the US still do not understand breeding their own Islamic martyrs but those from the ANC to FRELIMO to Mugabe’s ZANU PF with the Rhodesian Front/ (Conservative Alliance Zimbabwe until 1987). His stance against corruption was evident by the appointment of a tribunal to convict the guilty members of the court, armed forces and bureaucracy –African parallels from Nigeria to Sergeant Doe in Liberia to Rawlings in Ghana and Sankara in Burkina Faso. He was certainly modest enough, along with Colonel Gaddafi, Flight Lieutenant Rawlings and others to be personally satiated with retaining the martial title acquired by merit rather than appointing himself to one of the empty military titles of South American or European juntas. Anwar Sadat was born 25th December 1918 in the village of Mif Abal in Upper Egypt. Educated at Fuad I Secondary School, he became one of the few non aristocratic officers, rising solely on merit from a poor background. In 1939, he founded the Free Officer’s Movement based on revolutionary cells –which would total no more than 100 members, to overthrow Farouk. In 1953, he was a member of the corruption tribunal. He influenced the 1954 Evacuation Agreement of British troops, served as secretary of the Islamic Congress and countered the Baghdad Pact with African –Arab alliance of non alignment and neutrality. He then became Deputy Speaker and Speaker of the National Assembly and provided the 6 Principles and guiding revolutionary doctrine of the Free Officers, as previously outlined. He edited the influential Al Gurmhiya gazette and wrote the pro Nasser panegyric Revolt on the Nile. Anwar Sadat tolerated no weaknesses for nepotism –even trying his brother Ismail. His wife Jihan Sadat was that rare individual: an ardent Islamic feminist, founder of the Red Crescent –who believed in granting women equality but without sacrificing traditional Islamic dress or sacrificing religious principles. She personally sponsored the legislation legalising contraception.“Freedom is the most holy, precious and beautiful fruit of our culture; an individual should not be made to feel that he or she is at the mercy of force or coercion; and that his or her will is subject to that of others...”Anwar SadatAnwar Sadat, Nasser’s replacement since his death 28 September 1970 –another African Nobel Peace Prize laureate who legalised the orthodox and zealous Muslim Brotherhood in exchange for renouncing violence; favoured an open economy and peace with Israel. He favoured a regional Common market uniting North Africa with the Middle East. He regained the Sinai Peninsula from Israel on 18 January 1974, after Egypt achieved an impressive military stalemate in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, restoring peace 11th November 1973 in exchange for Israeli withdrawal of its blockade; wars and Gaza occupation, against the formidable wrath of the expansionist Israel –the first world country to do so. It was his policy to negotiate with Israel and compel it to submit to the decision of United Nations Resolution 242 which called for the evacuation by Israel of occupied Arab territory which it had illegally occupied since 1948 by 1977. 34 years later; it has yet to be implemented. In contrast to most African and Arab nations who favoured conflict –or non support to the apartheid and concentration camp policies of the Israeli regime –especially leading politicians, academics and civil society of South Africa; he tried to negotiate with Israel, aided militarily in a position as equals (after Nasser’s modernisation of the army after the 1956 Suez crisis debacle and the 1967 6 Days War. The canal was soon cleared of the war detritus of 750000 land mines; 123 submerged wrecks and 42000 live explosives by Egypt, who reopened it in 1975 to all, except the Israeli’s At least Egypt and many African countries have unanimously had the courage to continuously attack the racist policies of Israel (who uses the pretext of the Holocaust to justify the world into acquiescence), throughout postcolonial history. His first moves were in favour of liberalism and democracy, burning secret tapes of confessions, reforming the secret police; holding Assembly and local elections in 1976 based on non religious, racial or regional grounds, where 40 independents were returned, reducing the defence budget and prohibiting phone tapping. In 1974, a political amnesty was granted to former conspirators General Muhammad Fawzi, Air Vice Marshall Sidka Mahoud and former deputy Prime Minister Abbas. He granted ever greater powers to the Assembly to take the initiative in reform , launched enquires into the confiscation of private property, provided investment guarantees and concessions and fiscal reforms including higher tax exemptions. He proposed the Tripoli Charter uniting Libya, the Sudan and Egypt in foreign policy, defence and commercially. A 15 year friendship and peace treaty was signed with the Soviet Union while the 1974 Open Door Policy reassured foreign Western investment. Anwar Sadat’s popularity was such that a referendum of the Egyptian populace in 1982; extended his term.“We are capable of defending our waterway and the area of canal which we are reconstructing and which we will continue to construct. The reopening of the canal will be carried out for the benefit of the world. We do not wish the people of the world to think that those of Egypt will punish them for an aggression they did not perpetrate... yet the canal will not be opened to Israel until it has fulfilled all of its obligations including the fulfilling of UN Resolution 242.”President Anwar Sadat 1975President Hosni Mubarak exerted strenuous efforts to preserve Egypt’s secular status enshrined by Nasser. His commitment to peace via initiating Middle East peace negotiations in the 2740’s. In 2754 AUC, for the Galilean millennium, his government renewed its commitment to broadcasting and the press for the Arab and African world, by initiating a free media zone. This consists of inviting foreign press access to state communication facilities and giving them fiscal inducements. Education is free for twelve years. In February 2764 AUC/ 2011 AD, he resigned to popular protests in the Arab Spring of popular democracy that surfaced in North Africa –especially in Libya and Egypt, as a continued sign that the people of Africa are prepared to conceptualise their own reforms, -without outsiders and their collaboration in propping up dictators and those who have long failed their citizens. Perhaps that is truly the sign of the emergent African Renaissance; a refusal to accept the flaws of our leadership and a willingness to mobilise through the new technological mediums of the 2rst century, which conduct a new African –Arabian approach to democracy –to rule by civil society –and not the politicians who have so evidently failed us...DIDO’S CARTHAGE:Spanning the Mediterranean trade nexus, defying Rome, founded by a female –Dido –who was told by the local Libyan chieftain that she could have as much land as could be covered by a single ox hide. She then cut it into very thin strips to cover the perimeter of several miles. She self immolated on a funeral pyre rather than submit to marrying a Libyan nomad. The pioneers of mercantile and maritime endeavour, as the heir of Tyre and Phoenicia.... Carthage remains to dissipate the myth; that only Europe, India and China can be said to have played significant roles in the formation of traditionally chronicled history... from 814 BC –it may have started as a colony of Tyre; but this Punic civilisation soon became its own distinctive African one... In 128 AUC, Carthage devastated its Phoenician mother’s Corsica colony. At its zenith, it incorporated over 300 settlements stretching as far as the Black Sea with 700000 residents at the time of the Third Punic Wars and destruction by Rome as Strabo noted. 15 years later, it expelled the Spartan prince Dorieus from Tripolitania and captured Ibiza and the Canaries as outposts (confirmed by King Juba II’s Canary Isle expedition where they located Phoenician ruins), by the end of the following century. It had colonies at Leptis, Hadrumetum in Byzacium and Tipassus in Algeria. Carthage at its zenith expanded to North Africa, Spain, Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily, independently of its Phoenician motherland whilst retaining trading links with Tyre.A rare example of a mercantile thlassocracy, its political system was based on a system which prevented kings based on the apolitical Court of 400 and the two annually elected Suffices with an open voting franchise to all classes of citizens in this African example of democracy. The post of General was unusually separated from the suffects –in difference to the consuls of Rome. It thus avoided military dictatorship in an elaborate system of balances. The African written constitution was well formed in a set of mixed elements –democracy; monarchy and aristocracy and was widely praised –it being the only non Greek example to be included in the summaries of Aristotle; who approved of it. Membership of the aristocracy was elective based on political, martial, commercial or academic stature and reputation. Virtually unique in the ancient world; Carthage relied on its excellent navy and mercenaries to defend it –in contrast to elsewhere in the Aegean, Rome and Asia; there was no compulsory obligation of citizens to conduct military service. Mediocre and incompetent generals paid for their blunders by death, exile or humiliation and asset confiscation. All generals were required to submit themselves for evaluation and report directly to the people and their assembly after each war; accountable for their actions. The restrictions imposed on commanders and armed forces to civilians helped earn Carthage; political stability for over 600 years.“The harbours had communication with each other and a common entrance from the sea, 70 foot wide, which could be closed with iron chains. The first port was for merchants and here was collected all types of trade. Within the second, was an island, whilst great quays were set at intervals around the harbour and this island. These embankments were full of shipyards which had capacity for 220 of the greatest sea fearing warships afloat...” Carthage had two artificial harbours –the circular one of which; was for its navy and the rectangular outer harbour stretching 1600 feet by 1000 feet for its mercantile fleet! It had covered berths, described by Polybius to protect and store its vessels along the island’s circumference, with the central rotunda Admiralty. It devised the bireme prototype with 2 masts travelling up to a range of 184 nautical miles in 24 hours, could reach 11.5 nautical knots and naval tactics defended by classiari and archers, –if enemy navies pursued one vessel; they could agilely move 360 degrees to flexibly ram the enemy beams –as they did to Rome. Each vessel in distress would be reinforced by other vessels coming to their aid. On the western shores lay the Tophet enshrining the sacred berth of Dido’s arriving galley and the place where she sacrificed herself for Carthage –enclosed by a labyrinth for only the dedicated faithful could see it, Tanit and Sanctuary of Baal. It was known for its myriad whitewashed houses; its pink concrete and marble avenues and its colonnaded galleries of warehouses supporting an estimated 400000 people at its peak. The city was defended by a Punic fort and the Citadel of Byrsa, along with two moats, a palisade and rampart walls enclosing an arsenal, naval workshops and armament foundries with casements for 20000 infantry, 4000 cavalry and 300 elephants. Its arsenal of 2000 workers could churn 23000 shields, 9000 swords, 15000 lances and 30000 catapult darts monthly. Bronze and iron metallurgy provided the base. They extended for a 37 kilometre circumference with the Punic Ditch Defences which were never breached by the Romans or any other invader by land –only by sea.Pragmatically, the Punics favoured monogamy and a life orientation approach in education. They had razors, oil lamps and public baths –plus other signs of civilisation. At the Pythagorean school, prestigious academics such as Leocritus, Anthon and Miltiades added to scholarship. Bronze sculptures found at Epirus were conceived by the renowned Carthaginian sculptor Bethus; son of Apollodorus. The Punics often preferred peace to war and excelled in diplomacy, when they persuaded Phillip V of Macedonia and Syracuse to join Hannibal against Rome. He also divided Italians from Romans; astutely releasing the former as purported Allies; seeking to divide Italy from Rome. Yet, when they chose war; whether against the Roman fleet or against Dionysius of Syracuse; they prevailed.In architecture, it favoured adorning mortuary tombs, akin to the Egyptians with Egyptian inspired obelisks as monuments of immortality rather than fleeting mortality. Like Ostia, it had tower based several storey apartment insulae. However, to the Romans it coined cement and waterproof pitch to protect roofs. Its temples had monumental forecourts, open courtyards enabling direct convocation with Gaia and the gods around us along with small side shrines to pay private homage. It had its own intricate system of sewers, cisterns and plumbing as many houses had bathrooms and objects d’ art. Punic paving of marble and cement, was adopted and imitated by the Romans –imported in the time of Cato the Elder. It favoured marbles and naturalised friezes in decoration with winged victories. These were lit by innovative closed oil lamps and braziers.“The Carthage ships –faster than that of the Romans, owing to their superior construction and the skill of their rowers; and their position was favourable as they had drawn their line in the open sea. If any found that they were threatened; they could have used their superior navigation and speed to retreat to open water and then swiftly turned to overtake them in the rear or in the front. In such a situation, the Romans had great difficulties because of their weight and poor oarmanship of their rowers, were repeatedly rammed and many were surrounded. Again, the Carthaginian ships could easily sail to the assistance of each other in the open water, ashore of the line. By contrast, no Roman ship could aid each other as they were too close to the land, and those were hard pressed either ran aground in the stern or made for the shore.To sail through the Carthaginian line and take in the rear; enemy ships were already engaged (one of the most effective manoeuvres of naval warfare) was impossible owing to the weight of Roman vessels and their inexperience. They could not give each other help as they were so hemmed in to the shore... Such was the difficult position of the Romans in this battle; some of the ships grounded in the shallow water and others run ashore. The consul saw what was happening and slipped out the coast with about 30 ships...”Polybius, HistoriesHannibal swore an eternal oath of vengeance! His brilliance identified the growth of the universal Roman Republics morphing into a world empire and he resolved to stop them military and politically by persuading the Italians to form a Confederation independent of Rome. In 532 AUC (221 BC), he became commander of Hispania –capturing it with Hasrubdral. In 534 AUC, he captured Sargenteum and made the epic Alpine expedition, a year later. In 536 AUC, he thrashed Rome at the Battle of Lake Trasseme. Two years later, he trounced the great Roman power decisively at Cannae. Numidian cavalry –lightly armed, mobile and with javelins, were used by both Rome and Carthage as an efficacious African martial innovation. His use of elephants as a psychological intimidation tactic also worked often. The final Battle of Zama; he was not supported by Numidians or elephants and lost. At Lilybaeum –the main Sicily base; the Carthaginian navy showed itself as a true marine power (as detailed in the excerpt by Polybius) where 93 ships were captured. It was the Carthaginians who taught the greatest of ancient empires; about maritime power. Hanno the great Carthaginian explorer circumnavigated the continent with 30 000 people and planting settlements, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through The Straits of Heracles on a three year expedition. His expedition travelled to the mouth of the Senegal River and was the first to note the Mountains of the Cameroons, as immortalised in Carthage’s Temple of Chronus. He was the first to note gorillas or “hairy women,” and his voyage is commemorated in Southern African cave paintings of white males. The Atlantic expedition of Himilco chartered the Atlantic Gulf, Hispania and the Bay of Biscay before moving to the Atlantic coast of Gaul, the Archipelago of Albion and Hibernia up to Cape Finistre in Armorica and a place where he was prevented by the seaweed encumbering the Sargasso Sea. The Carthaginians were able to solve linguistic barriers to trade in West Africa in exchange for the basic element of trust –which was reciprocated by the native populace. They would unload goods in piles and use smoke signals from their ships, (to which they would retreat). The locals would respond to the signals and place gold equivalent to their estimated worth. Carthaginian merchants would then come and assess it, after the prospective purchasers left once more. If enough, they would leave the goods and take the gold. If not; they would leave both –or else take the goods and leave the gold as a clear sign of disapproval. This required faith and candour on both parties, otherwise trade relations would not occur.Although there was no compulsory martial service, the Carthaginian nobility considered a point of honour and patriotism to serve in the army and to seek election as generals. The pan African Carthaginian armies conventionally composed itself of the nobility, Numidian cavalry, Libyan infantry; Carthaginian elephants and artillery; Balearic Island slingers and Hispania auxiliaries. Hamilcar Barca fought to acquire Hispania in 525 AUC founding Cartagena. He became supreme commander in 237 BCE. The Court of 400 executed inept, blundering or failing strategoi / commanders and only the most proficient such as Hannibal were able to gain a modicum of internal autonomy. Thus, they avoided military coups. It was Romans not the Carthaginians who broke the peace treaty; invading Sargenteum –thus triggering the Second Punic War. “Carthage and its fertile plains were divided into market gardens and orchards with all sorts of fruit trees, with myriad channels of flowing water, irrigating every part. There were country houses everywhere... lavishly built and covered with stucco and stone, which testified to the wealth of their owners. The barns alone were satiated with all that was necessary to perpetuate a luxurious quality of life as the residents had been able to store up an abundance of everything in a long period of peace. Part of the land was covered with vines, part with olives and part with other, productive trees. Beyond that; cattle and sheep were pasteurised on the plains and there were meadows filled with grazing horses. Such were the signs of the prosperity of life in Carthage...”Diodorus SiculusMago –the great agronomer pioneered numerous discoveries that Roman patrician estate owners such as Cicero immortalised his works in praise. He recommended privileges to senior slaves e.g. the right to marry, have a family and save up for manumission and the removal of brutality would augment productivity. He proposed planting vineyards on north slopes, plants in trenches with stone lined bottoms for insulation and root protection before filling them up and introduced viticulture to Africa, after its post Egyptian interlude along with using grape pressings and dung as compost and fertiliser. Another agronomer –Hamilcar –not Columnella; invented the plough and threshing machine –as a sledge with small toothed wheels. The agrarian poems of Ugarit praising the vital necessity of food and expressing gratitude demonstrate the poetic capabilities of Carthage to appreciate this essential commodity. Carthage grew all manner of produce from honey and almonds to Punic beeswax, cereals, figs, pomegranates and olives plus olive oil. In addition, there existed an agricultural veneration and the appreciation –even by aristocrats: of tilling the soil.In trade, Carthaginians were audacious entrepreneurs, prepared to scour the shores of the unfathomable Mare Nostrum, Mare Atlanticus and the Oceanus Indian. Inheriting the trade of the mother city Tyre; traded Imperial purple murex dye, red Moroccan leather, mass produced pottery in elliptical kilns, tin from Britannia and timber from Lebanon. From Garamantes in the Sahara; it traded emeralds, carbuncles and chalcedony. It exported glass to Gaul and ivory/ bone and geometrical terracotta objects everywhere. Trading colonies monopolised everything from the tin trade of Cornwall to the gold of Rio de Ouro in West Africa. It had its own lead and silver mines in Hispania. Merchants dabbled in everything from Athenian pottery to Egyptian faience in exchange for the ivory jewellery of central and West Africa. It was founded on the admirable principles of mercantilism and granted free access to all merchants –even those at war; to her harbour. It even survived the greatest of ancient superpowers for over 2000 years –the Romans in both the First and Second Punic Wars. Although, Scipio Africanus the Younger may have destroyed it in the Third Punic Wars in 607 AUC, even Gaius Julius Caesar, was compelled to recognise its necessity by refounding it; as a centre of commercial, cultural, ecclesiastical and academic adept proficiency until its ruin in 697 AD. Carthage introduced vines, olives and wheat farms to the Sahel. It exported paper, robes and wine along with more mundane items such as nuts, textiles, shoe straps, figs to Rome and pipes and controlled the West African gold trade. It traded Corinthian pottery, Etruscan vases and medicine –the herb silphium at Charax.In scholarship, its noted University and academies of the second Galilean century, held 3 of the most noted Galilean contributors and apologists –St Augustine, St Cyprian and Tertullian. It had fine libraries, noted by the Romans, during the destruction Apart from Mago; another influential academic: Hasrubdral –renamed Clitomachus came from Carthage. A pupil of the venerable Carneades; in 129 BCE, he succeeded him; so that an African was elevated to Most High Academe of the Academy of Athens –the highest post of distinction that any academic could aspire to in the ancient world –even greater than that of High Librarian or Overseer of the Muses at the Great Bibliothecae of Alexandria –the next most distinguished academic offices –often held by noted African academics. For entertainment they favoured devotional paens and music with the dulcimer and zither.The city itself was considered so indispensible that after the Romans humiliated by one of Africa’s finest ever historic generals; pulverised it; it was refounded by them. The heroine Sophonisba pleaded with Rome’s ally Numidia to spare her and her fellow womenfolk from the invading Roman legions of Scipio Africanus. Finally; the noted scarcity of sources on Carthage makes this African civilisation of the ancient world; one of the most enigmatic. However; as this source has shown; whether as the supreme naval power of its age; the prime trading, navigation and exploring power of its epoch; one of the few admired examples of a mixed political thlassocracy with universal adult male suffrage and no military service; whether in agriculture, religion; art or architecture; as a progenitor of the African Renaissance; Carthage’s legacy is unquestionable; as this concise summation has shown; one noted for creating Africa’s finest generals –Hamilcar, Hasrubdral and Hannibal Barca and military victories until Shaka the Great, the Anglo –Boer War (1899 -1902), the Battle of Isandhlwana and the 1896 Battle of Adowa under Emperor Menelik II.THE ETHIOPIAN EXCEPTION TO AFRICA:“The world is only now coming to realise, what Ethiopia and Africa have long realised; that peace, prosperity and independence of humanity can only be activated and assured by the collective and united efforts of free humans who are prepared for eternal vigilance and labour unceasingly, to protect those most precious of Divine gifts. The sympathy and support from which Ethiopia received from other African people, when invaded 23 years ago is ample testimony of the potent sentiments which unite all free African countries and all those aspiring to be free... Ethiopia is well conscious that the willingness of Independent African States to cooperate and unite, working together in solving their common problems and achieving their common goals is essential to the continued progress of the African continent and her people...”Haille Selassie, April 1955. Ethiopia preserved itself throughout the centuries via the Orthodox Church adopted by King Ezana 1200’s AUC whom propagated their faith from venerable monasteries such as Debra Hayq and Debra Libanos and via their efficient military, whom; throughout the centuries inflicted spectacular damage to the idea of European and Arab invulnerability –when facing Africa! Such has been Ethiopian reputation that the Portuguese submitted an embassy there in 1520 AD, as they soon did with the Kingdom of the Congo. The Emperor Fasiladas expelled Jesuits as other countries could not, having to forfeit their identity and their legacy. The battle for Adowa in 1896 and the routing of the Italians, under the Emperor Menelik II’s leadership illuminates the apex of Africa’s martial capacities, as the more contemporary form of the Rhodesian SAS or the historical example of Hannibal defying Rome. Gromo Warriors enjoyed a democratic caste system, with each caste of 16-32 aligned to a specific function and purpose within the community. The 33 metre high, 7 level, 150 ton stele of Axum the ten gallery tombs, the marble throne podiums, the 4 towered palace, the three and a half century old castles of Gondar with their mile of landscaped grounds, twelve gates and 120 foot Grand Audience Hall (of Emperor Fasiladas) and the unsurpassed rock hewn, eleven versatile and differing churches of Lalibela serve as embedded monuments, chiselled into the consciousness and the desert environment, sculptured by Chronus into memory, of Ethiopian artistic sophistry. Axum and later Ethiopia was influenced by its conquest of South Arabia in the mid 6th century and Persia. Its markets continue to trade the frankincense, myrrh, camels, salt and silver that it has done for centuries. It adopted Galileanism in the early fourth century and soon developed a translation of the Bible into the written Ge-ez script. Axum formed a trade and diplomatic alliance with ancient Rome in 336 CE –the greatest of ancient powers, which it survived annexation and outlasted the West (after the decline of Romulus Augustulus in 476 CE). The Roman ambassador Frumentius was appointed to be a permanent liaison.The panelled ceiling at the Debra Dano monastery, animist the rock carvings at Kohaito, its sacrosanct ritual silver paraphernalia and the intricate calligraphy embossed manuscripts –all reflect the spiritual piety, purity and devotion of the Ethiopians. Its music –prominent from the first Ge’ez grammar of 1552, equalled it. The Tereyu school of Ethiopian iconography dates to the 18th and 19th Roman centuries or Zagwe dynasty. From Constantinople to Gdansk, its icons and triptychs were traded, while the monks resisted an invasion by the Arab Imam Ali Rashid at their Fortress of the Shepherd’s Dream. The Ark of the Convent beheld as sacrosanct by Galilean monotheism is considered to be in Axum’s St Mary of Zion Church. “When I had established peace in the lands subject to me, I came to Adulis to sacrifice on behalf of those who voyage on the sea...”Axum obelisk inscriptionFrom 2510 years ago, the kingdom of Aksum had its own religion, written language Ge-ez and calendar and was trading obsidian and the products of Africa with the Hellenic world as well as China from ports such as Zeilla, Massawa or the Red Sea Adulis. It had stone dams, created elaborate crafts such as ivory scrapers and the myriad gold, bronze and silver statues adorning the cities of over 20 000 citizens, while the capital stretched over 75 hectares. Its sovereign Ezana adopted Galileanism in a purer –more venerable Orthodox form –as well as erecting the obelisks. King Kaleb even gained territory in Southern Arabia and Yemen was also occupied. The Ge’ez monarch classic: “Kebra Negast;” depicts the first contact between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba –legendry foundress of Ethiopia; -the one who brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia –where it has remained –safeguarded in Africa, for millennia. It is also an excellent justification of the existence of monarchy –pre empting the Divine Right espoused by the British King Charles and James I along with the French Louis XIV. The “Physiologus,” summarises a surviving fragment of Ethiopian botanical and medical lore dating back to monastic Axum along with the Rules of Pachomius. King Claudius’s defence of the Alexandrine creed, the annals of Iyyasu I and Tekla Giyorgis, the autobiography of Haille Selassie. In 2023 AUC (1270 AD), the Zagwe dynasty was replaced by the unifying Solomid dynasty –a dynasty which lasted a stupendous 704 years –more impressive when compared to the fluctuating European and Chinese monarchies, which promoted trade of ivory, glass, coffee, ironware, gold, musk and slaves; regulating it through toll stations, piously spread Orthodoxy and received embassies from Portugal. The growth of Ethiopia and its dynasties is illuminated in the many royal and religious chronicles and the foundation many monasteries such as that of Delta Libanos and Debra Hayq. Ethiopia sought to convert its conquerors systematically to Orthodox Galileanism; thus pre empting the attempts of so called preaching missionaries from Europe by several centuries. The dynasty under Negast David in 1463 conquered the modern borders of Ethiopia at Zeila and Shoa. From 1434 -1468, Emperor Zera Yakob established the Jilof and Wof Wasra Forest Reserves and reforested the mountain ranges near Addis Ababa. In 1543, Negast Galadewos (1540 - 1559) saved Ethiopia against the Islamic incursion of Imam Ahmed Ibn al Ghazi, who desecrated Aksum cathedral and the Gelila island monastery. Throughout Ethiopia offered a more humane and expedient account to throne rivals; in alignment with Africa’s traditions of kinship rather than the Asian, South American, Tsarist or European solution of killing princes –of exiling them to a community on Prince’s Mountain –where one would be chosen to succeed the death of the incumbent and the rest held captive by a force of guardians. The Negast Yebna Dengal received a Portuguese embassy after purposely delaying them; extracting as much information as possible on them and their faith. He also asked them for military advice against the Islamists and the Turks and sought to import firearms. Ethiopia under the Emperor Claudius; resisted the encroachment of the Jesuit’s and their arrogant delegation of appointing a Jesuit patriarch of the Orthodox Church in defiance of the wishes of the Ethiopians. They also insisted that the Portuguese delegation participate in wrestling –and lost.Ethiopia has a voluptuous and translucent cultural heritage in music, art, architecture, literature and scholarship especially under Amde Sion (1314 -1344). In scholarship, Ethiopia is known for its botanical and medicinal treatise: the Physiologus and the Fetna Negast –or Laws of the Kings. Theological scholarship from the renowned Orthodox Church includes the Metshafe Birhan, the Metshafe Bahri –Book of Theosophy, the Fekka Yesus –Explications of Christ and the Wedase Maryum –or Praise of Mary. In fact, to denounce the erroneous and fallacious slander that we Africans have contributed nothing of value; the West possesses many manuscripts stolen from Ethiopia. The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris contains at least a 1000 on record. The British Museum plundered 550 from the Magdala expedition of 1868. The Vatican has over 250 sequestered from its Jesuit expeditions in the early 17th century, while more exist in Austria, Russia and Germany. Church music dates back to the 6th century and the monk St Yared, who invented the zema or the sacerdotal liturgical chant notation. The liturgical chant for the mass was composed by the monks Azazh Gera/ Azazh Rayo under the 16th century reign of the Emperor Galadewos. The Schools of Music, Dance, Poetry and Verse have long being commissioned by the Church to devote themselves piously to this cause. Traditionally in Ethiopia, new songs composed through the year are celebrated and recited on September 10th –or the Ethiopian New Year.Emperor Fasiladas (1632 -1682) –the son of Susenyos (1607 -1632) and his dynasty of the 17th Galilean period made their permanent capital Gondar; the visible and radiant presence of Ethiopia’s form of the Renaissance. This reflected itself in the stone castles, spiralling pavilions, carved sunken baths, castellated walls and carved bridges. He was also known for preserving the old ways and expelling the Jesuits and all meddlesome foreigners. The emperor Iyyasu I between 1682 and 1706 updated the legal code, the army, the Church and the administration –a task continued by Iyyasu II (1730 -1755).As in all of the lands of the Ethiopian emperor; there grow all fruits except chestnuts... including beans, chick peas and squash and in the best grounds, there grow many trees and date palms but not as good as in Cairo; due to the sandier soil. There grow lemons, citrons and oranges plentiful. There grow not melons but gourds, herbs and flowers of many different sorts along with honey and much sugar... along with countless domestic animals such as buffaloes, oxen, cattle, sheep, goats, asses and very great horses and hounds... They include roe buck, hares, gazelles, elephants, giraffes, panthers and lions... There is much silk and cotton grown; which produce very fine garments of wool, silk and cotton, which they wear...”Description of Ethiopia’s bountiful agriculture, Alessandro Zarzi, a Venetian traveller 1700’sThe emperor Tewewodros –crowned after defeating the usurping Ethiopian aristocracy in 1855 sought to modernise and unify Ethiopia, dreaming of separating the Turks from Jerusalem (on parallel with the Crimean War where Turkey was supported by France and England). As a strategist he valued artillery –especially his vaunted mortar Sevastopol, constructed a paddle steamer on Lake Tana out of papyrus grass and improvised a tree trunk explosive, reduced cumbersome baggage trains, replaced mandatory billeting with salaries for his troops, now armed with muskets and rifles. The emperor severely sentenced looters arguing that a salary was sufficient enough. Efforts to curb slavery and modernise law were also endorsed as he sought to make Ethiopia a modern power comparable to Europe. He sought further army reform but was blocked by the British and the French. He also sought to revive the Orthodox Church and propagated written Amharic and assisted peasants by transferring Church land to them. At his volcanic retreat at Magdala, the British pillagers encountered his defiant resistance rather than surrendering in 1868 –shooting himself with a Queen Victoria silver pistol. The royal treasures from the workshops of Gondar and Bejember included:“Gold crowns, mitres, jewelled crosses and goblets lay strewn about the royal palace... Robes of fur; war capes of lion, leopard and wolf skins; saddles magnificently decorated with gold and silver filigree draped the imperial wardrobe and stables. Numerous shields covered with silver plates and state umbrellas of gorgeous hues adorned with all of the barbaric magnificence that the genius of Bejember and Gondar could fashion. In the armoury, were swords and claymores; rapiers, pistols, scimitars, yataghans, tulwars and bilboes; daggers of Persia, of Damascus and of India, in scabbards of crimson morocco and purple velvet, studded with gold buttons.” Stanley commenting on the siege of Magdala 1868.Despite the British, Ethiopia continued with Yohannes IV. On 21 January 1872, Yohannes IV repulsed the Egyptians. He formed the Treaty of Wechale in 1876 with the Italians (who broke their word at Adowa) which included consular exchange; the free migration of labour, commerce and missionaries of all faith He would die seventeen years later in the Battle of Malawina having brought solidarity amid the bishops of Egypt and Ethiopia. He sought to recognition and modernisation by the British in an official letter and with gifts. In one in only a long list of grievances against Africa; in their insult they betrayed their impugning of the dignatas and auctoritas of one of the two central independent African nations from their foundation (at that time, the other was Liberia); by replying two whole years later... He reunited the various kingdoms to form a more cohesive and vigorous federation, with Tewewodros and Menelik II, each laying the basis for the current Ethiopia, reducing feudalism and strengthening the monarchy, while reforming the country.The emperor Menelik II enacted the new capital of Addis Ababa with palace, estates given to the aristocracy, St George’s Church and foreign legations from 1897; as the epicentre of Ethiopia as well as recovering old territories of Harar, Embabo and Shawar. At the Battle of Adowa; over a 100 000 Ethiopians united to thrash the great Northern hemisphere, European Old World empire; the Italians and halt their colonialisation in Africa for 16 years (until Libya) and their own temporary occupation for forty... He modernised the administration with the first Cabinet and ministries (nine in total), 12 central justiciars each with three court recorders along with setting up a modern school of languages to train interpreters and ambassadors, for greater contact with Europe. In his reign, a trade route was established via the merchant Arnoux between Alexandria and Showa trading everything from jewels to Harar coffee to Blue Nile cotton. Border commissions and treaties were negotiated with the French over neighbouring Somaliland, while the Convention of the White Nile, achieved mutual commercial relations and the first railway towards the coast. Personally, he believed in extreme toil, starting his day at 3 am and ending it at 10 pm. Afforestation was carried out and state forestry departments set up as early as 1900.At least Ethiopia completed its own written Amharic script and its own Orthodox Church –with an Ark of the Covenant model in each of the 20000 individual Churches as the second oldest Galilean country in the world in the early fourth century, pre-empting the official betrayal of the old ways and conversion of the Roman Empire by the traitor Constantine. On advantage; is that arboreal desecration became enshrined as a cardinal sin in its tenets. The Empress Taytu sponsored an Ethiopian bank, while the Ethiopian aristocracy took the initiative in advancing commerce and industry (which European aristocracy ignored) as Ras Hayu Taklo set up cinemas and taxis while Ras Tafari Makonnen invested in a road company and fruit plantations. The athletic and youthful Emperor Iyyasu (1911-1916); deployed from Machiavelli: the preservation of property rights). He abolished quarenga which chained debtors to creditors; audited the court, Church and state for embezzlement and aimed to mobilise the youth; as advisors and supporters of his animated vivacity. The Empress Zawaditu continued the modernisation process between 1916 and 1930 with the formation of a weekly newspaper and joining the League of Nations in 1923. The Emperor Haille Selassie I was born in 1892. In 1906, aged 14 he was personally appointed by the Empress Zawaditu to the governorship of Harar Province and immediately started to reform taxation and legal issues. He sponsored Ethiopian admission to the League of Nations from its inception in 1919 –despite obsfustication by racist Dominions and Europe as a pious –if naive attempt at world peace. From 1924, he campaigned vigorously to abolish slavery. In foreign affairs, he was the consummate diplomat and negotiator and in recognition of his charisma and persuasiveness, Addis Ababa became the African Headquarters for the United Nations’ Economic Commission in 1958 and the base of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. In an age, of effervescent leadership, nasal protestation, chiding admonition, vacant expressions and incorporeal action, vociferously clamouring away.... In an epoch which strangles substance... virtue... faith... conviction.... Gaia and humanity.... where bellicose waffle and private avarice abound... the brilliance of Ras Tafari lay in the merits of secrecy and silence. They lay in action and principle not on pompous verbiage. Placid in the face of incitement and shrewd in political sophistry, avoiding division of tribalism and racism; he united his people –and symbolised the liberty and capability of Africa –on its own... He was renowned for his astute memory. Loyalty was rewarded with scholarships; honours; foreign travel and free medical care. His pious demeanour and selfless devotion was rewarded with spiritual veneration by the Rastafarian sect of Jamaica –especially after the rain accompanying his visit and the dedication of land at Shashemene –for them to find sanctuary, a safe haven, a spiritual refuge and home in Africa... Who else modernised their people so? Who else –was prepared –voluntarily –to abdicate their Imperial, 3000 year old, aeon enshrined prerogatives with a democratic Parliament, civic liberties –and 2 Constitutions –with the freedom to prosecute the Government in court, for any of its failings (Article 62) (1930 and 1955) –voluntarily to his people along with securing personal liberties of religion, life, liberty and property, without revolt or rebellion –of his own free will... (Something seldom replicated anywhere) In his own words: “It is necessary for the modern Ethiopian to accustom himself to take part in the direction of all the departments of state –and to share within the mighty task, -which Ethiopian Sovereigns alone had to accomplish in the past).“I, Haille Selassie I; emperor of Ethiopia; am here today, to claim that justice which is due to my people and the assistance to it promised eight months ago, when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed in violation of international treaties... There is no precedent for a head of state himself, speaking in this Assembly. But there is also no precedent for a people being a victim of such injustice, and being at present threatened by abandonment to the internationally recognised aggressor. Also, there has never before been an example by any government proceeding to the systematic extermination by barbarous means in violation of the most solemn promises made by the nations of Gaia; that there should not be used against innocent human beings; the terrible and internationally illegal deployment: the poison of harmful gasses... It is to defend a people in its struggle for its age-old independence; that the head of the Ethiopian empire himself, has humbly come to plead and fulfil this supreme duty and ultimate prerogative of self-determination, that all countries deserve and behold; after having fought in person, at the head of his armies...I did not hesitate to declare that I did not wish for war; that it was imposed on me and I should struggle solely for the independence and integrity of my people... “I personally refused all proposals to my personal advantage by the Italian government; if only I would betray my people and the Covenant. I was defending the cause of all small nations and people who are threatened by aggression...”“Despite the inferiority of my weapons, my complete lack of artillery, aircraft, munitions and hospital services thanks to the League sponsored blockade of Ethiopia –not Italy; such was my naivety; that my confidence in the League was absolute! I thought it to be impossible that fifty two nations –including the most powerful in the world; should be so successfully opposed by a single aggressor. Counting on the faith due to international treaties and protected by the League and world powers; I had made no preparations for war, as certain small countries in Europe... When the danger became more glaringly urgent, during the first six months of 1935, I tried to acquire armaments, many governments proclaimed an embargo to stop me doing so... Have the signatures appended to a treaty value, only so far as the signatory powers have a personal, direct and immediate interest involved?“Placed by the aggressor face to face with the accomplished fact, are the vaunted League of Nations and its member states going to enshrine the terrible precedent of submitting to force? Is it the covenant of collective security itself which needs reforming? What undertakings can have any value, if the will to keep them is lacking? Is it international morality itself; which is at stake here and not the articles of the Covenant? On behalf of the Ethiopian people; as a member of the League of Nations, I request the Assembly to take all proper measures to ensure thee respect for the high ideals of its founding Covenant! I renew my protest against the violations of treaties of which the Ethiopian people have been the victim! I declare in the face of the whole world; that the emperor, the government and the people of Ethiopia will not submit before force; that they will use all means in their power to ensure the triumph of right and respect for the Covenant –even if all other members have forgotten... I ask the fifty two nations; who have given the Ethiopian people a promise to help them in their resistance to the aggressor; what are they willing to do for Ethiopia and for Africa? And the great powers who have promised the guarantee of collective security to small states on whom weighs the threat that they may one day suffer the fate of Ethiopia, I ask what measures do you intend to take?His finest moment was the final evidence corroborating the intrinsic flawed League of Nations, whose failure to resolve this looming threat, promulgated complacency by the West; that allowed Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini to get away with World War II. His address to the League, in which he warned of the growing threat of Fascism, was ultimately ignored: - for the policy of appeasement and the Second World War. The resister of incursion against Italian, British and American pretensions alike; preserved the independence of Ethiopia and aided in winning it back during the Occupation. It was the Italians who broke the 1928 treaty of Peace and Friendship 8 years later and the 1925 League injunction against poisonous gasses; yet it was Ethiopia who experienced an arms blockade; depriving it of the natural and inviolable, inalienable right to defend its self –preservation. It all started with the 1934 Wawal incident where Ethiopia was protecting her historic boundaries in a counter offensive against the preliminary Italian assault. Hoping to mediate peace and that the non African world would honour its word and international law; he instructed his troops to not resist. When that failed and a three pronged invasion continued; he valiantly fought in person –with his troops; until numerically overwhelmed. Yet it took a barrage of chemical, biological; aerial and all manner of firepower/ weaponry and 500 000 + troops to defeat the mettle of this solitary African nation whose bold history had denied Italy the chance of swallowing it before. He left abroad to the United Kingdom after the 1936 Battle of Ganata Dorya; to keep the resistance alive and avoided the humiliation of signing capitulation and surrender... “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those that should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to flourish”.Emperor Haille SelassieHe traded not only with the US and Soviet Union, but with Sweden, Yugoslavia, Taiwan, China, Italy and West Germany against each other. Ethiopian battalions distinguished themselves abroad by fighting in Korea. He was pivotal in the formation of the Non Aligned Movement and the Organisation of African Unity –whose headquarters were housed at Addis Ababa. He gave Ethiopia a permanent and Constitution of 1931, revising it in 1955 with freedom of speech and the media so that it was the responsibility of civil servants to the people and not politicians and sought to modernise Ethiopia and the feudal system –by giving it the first constitution in 3000 years of history, the first radio station and modern roads with the 1951 Imperial Highways Agency and 1952 Imperial Board of Telecommunications with a railway to the Red Sea. Ministers were given the powers to formulate their own edicts and initiatives and those of non aristocratic birth headed them since the defining of ministerial responsibilities through the 1943 enhancing of the Council of Ministers. Trade unions were legalised by 1962. He sought to check the ruinous capital outflow of luxuries by imposing a 30% ad valorem tax on European luxuries. Inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index was kept at an annual rate of not exceeding 1 % until 1971 –which ensured continuity of living conditions and economic stability; which ensured Ethiopia was spared the fluctuations experienced by the world....Centralising administration for efficiency, attempting to update the army with a squadron of jet fighters and the foreign trained St Cyr graduated Imperial Bodyguard, modernising the legal and tax system and promoting education; his service to his subjects over 61 years; exceeded many self seeking politicians of democracy. His appointment of progressive intellectuals such as the 1931 Constitution drafters: Takla Harwyat and Takla Maryam, with Dr Hakim – (1935 London Emissary, Lake Tana dam negotiator and Superintendent of the venerable Tafari Makonnen school and freed slaves school) reflects his Cabinet astuteness over preference for fawning sycophants as many vaunted corporation CEO’s desire...Business was promoted with hydroelectric schemes; tax concessions to investment; cement factories; fibre and textile mills along with other industrial plants grew –augmented by substantial trade surpluses and foreign reserves. Written tenancy agreements with penalties to landlords who failed to comply with maintenance were introduced – (something which would benefit those exploited as students in Europa). Upon his return, he advanced reconciliation with the Italians –not reprisals conducted under the vengeance of Hecate, Eris and the Furies: “Do not reward evil with evil! Do not commit any acts of cruelty like those the enemy cast against us... (And it will ever rebound to their glory –that no Italian suffered so.” Trials were openly held in public. Settlement programmes were introduced. In 1950; the University College was set up to benefit three areas with tertiary education: Engineering and Architecture in Addis Ababa; Public Health in Gondar and Agriculture in Almoyo with teacher training/ Basic Administration colleges as well as the faculties of Law and Education plus the School of Social Work. Previous to that and afterwards, he patronised many promising scholars, intellectuals and youths –sponsoring their studies abroad. The rare viable national airline Ethiopian Airways, new railways and updated port facilities at Assab and Massawa connected the nation. Haille Selassie even patronised traditional Ethiopian cultural heritage with the Imperial artist Afewerk Teku. The British Deputy Resident contradicted himself in justifying the substitution of Britain for Italy to the Emperor and his incisive grasp of constant and valid critique: “The British government have an inability to agree.... that it would be derogatory for national sovereignty or inconsistent with the establishment of a free and independent state, to give an undertaking that the emperor be guided... in all significant matters... by the representatives of His Britannic Majesty’s Government...”Something which Ethiopia had accomplished for a couple of thousand years –older than Britain or France, Portugal –and definitely Belgium... –was running itself –protecting itself, in one form or other since the Romans and Alexandrines. Its national airline actually made money. Curiously, it retained food self sufficiency for over three thousand years –until the early 1970’s. Its civil service modernised by Haille Selassie in 1961, under the principle of competitive meritocratic examinations –not politics as all world civil services should be established upon, outlasted him and Mengistu. Abroad, he mediated in the 1963 Algeria –Morocco conflict and the 1972 solution to the South Sudan under Jaafar Numeiri. Like most African leaders, he offered his services to broker peace between nations instead of promulgating war as the leaders of Europe, Russia, the Middle East and the Americas have done. In 1964; university students were required to interact with rural grass roots levels by gaining a year’s work experience –teaching there. It was Haille Selassie who expanded the secular school system of Menelik II and formed the University of Addis Ababa in 1961. Students set up their own movement and Representative Council. Between 1971 -1981, university students rose from 4000 to 14985. Princess Tsahai as a true patriot; defended the cause of Ethiopian existence abroad; even after the rise of Mengistu and the Derg.When the Derg accused the emperor of exploiting the wealth of the people and placing it in Swiss bank accounts, 10th September 1974, the emperor rejected these spurious claims reprovingly: “You do not understand Ethiopian history. Since an emperor sits for life and has no need to take money for future exigencies. There is no money.” Above all else, personally a selfless example of African humanity, piety and virtue, he modernised and redeemed Ethiopia domestically; defended Ethiopian and African rights to existence and free will –devoting himself abroad to pan African unity and peace with the OAU formation, and voluntarily sacrificed the royal prerogative, in the interests of change and the abolishing of feudalism, -if it would preserve Ethiopia... even granting concessions to the army in 1960 and 1974, along with the DERGUE, on behalf of the African people, who in the end sacrificed their monarch to the Red Terror of Mengistu.“Land to the Tiller!” Mengistu Haille Miriam’s grasp of psychology and nationalism to unite his people; like many African leaders and statesmen was impressive –the Western governments could learn considerably. The Derg; under his chairmanship; continued sending students to mobilise peasants –Development through Cooperation... They embodied the rights of self determination; collective identity and willpower; social equity; the abolishment of feudalism and unification. Under the DERG, the primary African social innovation was the invention of “kebeles.” These were popularly elected Urban Dweller’s Association’s which protected tenants against exploitation by landlords. It settled disputes and administered rent/ housing and urban services. Peasant debt was abolished along with feudalism and paying rent to landlords to aid the plight of the rural poor. An annual literacy campaign started in 1979; was so victorious that it won UNESCO’s annual literary award for 1980. The DERG did allow private property for small businesses, despite their Marxist credentials and affiliations –they were pragmatic enough to realise its importance to the peasantry. Recently, both Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea have encountered further economic victory. Meles Zenari, the Ethiopian prime minister is another exponent of the African Renaissance revival. In foreign affairs, Ethiopia negotiated peace between both sides in Somalia before voluntarily withdrawing. Politically; Ethiopia has multi party democracy and has devolved considerable autonomy of power to its federation of states –even the right to secede, which the supposedly enlightened example of federalism: the USA denies (having instigated its Civil War of Secession 1861-1865). Consequently; its unitary nature has prevented the exercise of this prerogative by any of the states in Ethiopia. Meles Zenari has also shrewdly identified high import component prices and inflation to be the two biggest enemies of farmers –particularly small ones and has made considerable strides to counter these during the 1990’s.The Ethiopian exception to Africa is to survive for 3000 years and to challenge all attempts to snuff out this unique example of African independence. Its modernisation process owes much to the vision of the Emperor Tewewodros and his later heirs: Yohannes IV, Menelik II, Iyyasu III, the Empress Zawaditu and most of all: the elder statesman Haille Selassie: who was so pivotal as an inspirational model for Pan Africanists and did more than any other, since the emperors of Gondar and the kingdom of Aksum to illuminate the presence of Africa and its Enlightenment... The second oldest Galilean country in the world was influenced in culture by its Orthodoxy and resisted all attempts at conversion, remained agriculturally and economically free until the 1970’s and never let other powers dictate its policy, which provides hope for all sovereign libation bearers of our continent...NUBIA, KUSH AND THE SUDAN:The architectural legacy of Nubia can be seen in its pyramids, its Byzantine influenced churches at Old Dongola and its palace with central three churches in the Alodia capital of Soba along with the cathedrals of Faras and Qusar Ibrim. Medieval glass from Egypt and the area currently Iran, along with glazed Islamic vessels was installed and exchanged for distinctive polychrome ceramics and vases in addition to intricately carved ivory kohl pots from the Middle Nile. Silk from the East and from the royal Palermo workshops adorned the cathedrals. Even Yuan dynasty porcelain has been found – suggesting an extensive trading network via the Red Sea. They processed salt and agriculture flourished with livestock, white dhurra and even barley. Literacy existed –promoted by the monasteries. Major settlements in the Sudan included the Eparchate and island settlement of Nobadia: Meinarti –by the end of the Second Nile Cataract –which traded between Aswan and Nubia until the 2000th century AUC. All of these refute traditional notions of being primitive and isolationist in Africa: –particularly in the North and East –in counterpart to the emporiums and networks of Timbuktu, Gao, the kingdom of the Congo and the Songhoy.The saga of Kerma in Upper Nubia commenced 4500 years ago to a thousand years later with the discovery of domestic agriculture and the erecting of permanent rock shelters and huts, which marked a distinctive process in the history of humanity in choosing to live in a separate structure, unconditioned by nature; in contrast to a cave. Kerma then progressed to the pylon temple apex of Deffufa. It was ruled by a venerable lineage of female warriors. Its scarlet and obsidian based pottery has extended as far as the shores of Western Arabia and jewellery such as anklets and necklaces has been found of stones, bone, feathers and eggshell from that period. It exported sorghum, cattle and cotton as one of Egypt’s trading allies. Elephantine Island traded Nubian cheese, art and linen to Egypt in exchange for beer, wine and copper tools/ weaponry –one of the earliest of recorded international commerce links in the world...Nubian gold attested to the strength of its trading networks and sovereignty –preserved amid the incursions of the Fatimids and other rulers of Aegyptus –until the Mameluks imposed a governor and garrison in Old Dongola in 1941 AUC/ (1288 AD). The hilltop citadel of Old Dongola with its palaces, cathedrals, industrial pottery works and outlying Galilean monasteries with cemeteries flourished until the late 2000th century after Rome’s founding –although as a regional settlement it continued under Islamic auspices until the 2400th. Defensive outposts covering a hectare and with 4 metre high stone walls, guarded the perimeter along the Wadi Howar (west of the Nile) –such as Qula Abu Ahmed. The kingdoms of Alodia and Makuria were literate in the written script of Nubian and remained faithful to Monophyisitism and the patriarch of Alexandria, while the latter established a treaty with Egypt and sent embassies to the Byzantine Empire –making a gift of ivory and a giraffe to the Emperor Justin II; and Asia with Geogios as son of King Zacharias being sent to negotiate with the Caliph al Mutassim in Baghdad. In addition to the appointed Eparch of Nobadia with Eparchs at Makuria, the administration of the matrilineal descending Sudan monarchy; included a domestikos of the cathedral settlement of Faras and another of Taifa along with regional Exarchs –administration being influenced by Byzantium and Nubia. The kingdom of Kush was founded 3011 years ago, the capital at Napata, stretching to include parts of modern Ethiopia, Somalia, North and South Sudan, its hegemony from Uganda to providing a dynasty of Egypt, (2 AUC – 115 AUC) –capturing Memphis by 730 BCE by a river invasion. (751BC -664 BC) unparalleled, trading as far as Jerusalem and China –from the Chinese porcelain there. It also specialised in tombs and pyramids as a reminder of the transience of life in comparison to death –formed 3000 years ago at a comparable period to Egypt. Between 2 years prior to the foundation of Rome and 113 AUC, they conquered and governed Egypt via the sophistication of its bronze weapon equipped army. The Kushite Pharaoh Tarqho of the 25th Dynasty Nubia and Egypt retained the potency of his armed forces by various nocturnal exercises –which involved marching the thirty miles (or forty eight kilometres) between Memphis and Fayoum –in a single night, with the pharaoh himself, joining in the nocturnal march as means of a personal example. He also remembered his native homeland, constructing four colonnades at Kanoke, whose sculptures such as the brass sphinx and bronze statuettes of the monarch descendents, included botanical specimens of his conquest and acute sensitivity over correct human proportions as a stage in art. Temples and obelisks immortalised the architectural discernment at Kawo, Gebel Bareal and Tabo, their interiors dazzled with faience and glazed tiles. The Kushites were not inactive in foreign affairs, supporting Hezekiah –King of Judea, in his accession and fought against Sennacherib at the Battle of Eltelan, 52 years after the formation of Rome (701 BCE) and the campaigns of Tarqho against the Assyrians. From 163 AUC (590BC), the capital moved to Meroe not Napata. The first Augustan prefect of Aegyptus Cornelius Gallus entered a mutual treaty of friendship with the Meroitic king at Pilae (commemorated in hieroglyphics, Greek and Latin). It has iron tool and works dating over 2600 years, indeed metallurgy was so prized, that it became a closely shielded royal secret. Between the 4th and the 6th century, while civilisation crumbled in the Western and Eastern Roman Empire, the kingdoms within Nubia flourished, their art and culture inspired by and influencing Rome and Byzantium with embossed glass and gemstone crockery and silverware or practical items such as baskets and textiles from the renowned artisan centre at Qasr Ibrim. It also produced fine faience ware. They were capable of launching a Palestine campaign.The survival of Nubia, its southern kingdom of Alwa (its capital at Soba) and the Kingdom of Makuria as late as the ninth century; thanks to a diplomatic treaty with the Arabs in the year 652 and another with Byzantium allowed them to retain their independence in exchange for a nominal tribute. It also controlled official entry beyond the Second Cataract to all foreigners. They also played a pivotal role in the earlier centuries of endorsing Galileanism –as did the Ethiopians; influencing the appointment of their own and of Alexandrian bishops, rather than accepting a foreign candidate, passively. Its historic devotion can be spelt in the radiant illustrated and bound Bibles that it produced during those early centuries and the church murals, inspired by details as afar as Coptic Egypt, Byzantium, Syria and even Persia.“In the capital of the kingdom of Alwa: Soba, are fine buildings and spacious residences; churches and gardens abounding in beauty and there is even a suburb with a community of Muslims. The ruler of Alwa is wealthier and with a greater army than that of the ruler of Al –Muqurra. His farmland and that of the other residents is fertile and extensive. They have multiple date palms and vines, and their principle cereal is white millet resembling rice from which they bake bread and brew beer. Meat abounds with them because of the abundance of their cattle and their great wide plains. It takes many days to transverse their country to the coast. They have excellent horses and brown Arabian camels. The religion is that of Galilean monotheism but they tolerate others such as Islam, their bishops being appointed by the patriarch of Alexandria –like the Nubians; but influenced by them. Their books are in Greek which, are translated into their own written script. However; they are less understanding than the Nubians...”8th century account of Ibn Souleymane.In the Sudan; the Great Enclosure and temple complex at Al Naggar; decorated with elephants was the basis for elephant cavalry training 2000 years ago. The town itself had cisterns and tanks, walls, spacious houses with irrigated fields and gardens, paved roads, more civilised then the terrain outside the Roman Empire in Europe and Asia Minor at that time.The pyramids of Meroe in the Sudan were influenced by dynastic Aegyptus between 453 AUC -1503AUC. The kingdom started in 200 AUC and was defeated by King Ezana of Axum in 894 AUC. Both the Meiotic kingdom and that of the Sudan were guarded by navies – and commanded by the Navarch or Naukaroi (admiral) –the former (Pelmos atolis or Commander of the Waters). The Ethiopian kings of Meroe were expected to commit suicide for divine honour, once the priests decided that he no longer served his people, sending a messenger –or face regicide with dishonour, up until Ergamenes (who established relations with Ptolemy II of Aegyptus) resisted the historic order of succession. The splendour of its Temple of Helios reached the accounts of Herodotus no less. Basalt commemorative stelae have been unearthed, 2 giant iron working smelters demonstrating the complexity of iron metallurgy (in contrast to the basic forest forges of Europe), have been located plus the terraced complex walls and ramps of Musoma es Sylwa. All three have hieroglyphics based alphabets which indicate high standards of literacy. Meroitic script dates back to the fifth century after the founding of Rome.The Funj Sultanate, its zenith in the 16th Galilean century, defended by cavalry, included a tax and justice system along with regulations restricting the hunting of wild animals and the promotion of alluvial gold panning. The market in the capital Sinnar, exported all manner of merchandise from camels to exotic animals to gold to tamarind, natron, gum Arabic; textiles, furs, copper hoes, iron and tin rings for metalwork, for lead, dates and salt. Brazier remains have been found. Curiously, foreign trade was confined to the capital –while the Sultan and his entourage had a domestic commerce monopoly. The Darfur emirate also reached its zenith at this period.Mosquitoes do not perturb the Dinka of the Sudan, being repelled by innovative usage of white ash. No Dinka ever allowed a natural death of old age to their chiefs, who were buried alive. Darfur’s 12 ft high stone wall ruins and elegant carvings show that there was life in the Sahara.The Mahdi Mohammed Ahmad and his Ansar warrior; after repelling the Egyptian and British invaders pre empted Sudanese liberty for 13 years; in an Islamic state; They even slew the British General Charles Gordon on the steps of the governor’s residence in 1885. The precursor of Sudanese nationalism and Islamic promotion for the Sudan in his fervent zeal to be a prophet of his faith; sought to defeat the British annexation. His published call to fight started exactly 130 years ago from the island of Aba in the White Nile. Personally ascetic and austere, an initiate of the Sammaniya order, he united pious Sudanese, Baqqara nomads shunning the migration restrictions of Gordon and Danaqula traders. He persuaded the British to compel the Egyptians to evacuate and besieged Khartoum –where Gordon perished. With a system of judges and courts, a mobile treasury, various agents and dervishes, he formed the keystones of an efficient administration. His gold pound currency became admired for its purity. He died in 1885 as well, succeeded by Khalifa Abdallahi (1885-1898). Khalifa Abdallahi appointed Ibrahim Adlan to modernise public finances. The savagery of the British reprisal as in the Boer War and the later Mau Mau Emergency of 1952, shooting over 8000 wounded Sudanese who begged for mercy and defiling the corpse of the Mahdi, first mutilating it, beheading it and tossing it in the Nile before bombing his riverside tomb. What if we; were to go to Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s Cathedral and pillage the tombs of Gladstone or the Earl of Marborough or Cromwell or a British monarch; that myriad archaeologists and soldiers have done to our crypts of the Sudan, Egypt and elsewhere in Africa? It would be we who would be censured by the media of the world –and yet Africa is different... The 1938 Graduate General Congress marked the modern unifying attempts of the Sudanese intelligentsia to press for self determination –especially vocally during World War 2, which it eventually managed, thanks to el Azhari and others. The Sudan acquired independence 1 January 1956 under Prime Minister Ismail el Azhari (leader of the Graduate General Congress; and first President of the Supreme Council) and preserved democracy with a coalition government the National Unionist Party under second Prime Minister Abdallah Kalil; the Umma Party under Sadiq al Mahdi and the Khatmiyya of Sayyid al-Mirghani, with only an occasional military interruption, (which devised budget surpluses, abandoned cotton price controls, the Babanusa to Wau north –south railway and established the Central Bank), until Jaafar Numayri. It is interesting to note that it pre-empted the unilateral Declarations of Independence that the Rhodesian Parliament under Sir Ian Smith and the Comoros Assembly would later undertake, as its parliament unanimously passed its sovereignty decree without the consent of Britain –and received no penalties. It was founded on the admirable principle of secular law to avoid religious conflict –prominent in the division between Islam and Galileanism. Under the military; the chief justice nominated the Central Council; while the people participated in local and provincial government councils. The Transitional Government in 1965 recognised Sudanese chiefs were less relevant and their Senate was abolished; women were franchised and the South were permitted to participate in resolving issues. In Kassala, the Eastern Sudan a credit scheme was introduced for local businesses. Repayment was guaranteed by social peer pressure and group savings that could both be used as collateral. After 1 year, Abdul al Dahab withdrew from power. The 800 000 acre irrigated Managil Extension with a dam at Roseires and another at Khashm al Quirba providing hydroelectric power to Khartoum, aimed to extend the economy’s success on cotton aided by the growth of pump schemes and mechanised agricultureIt is to the credit of most post independence governments in Sudan; that they sought to address the Southern question peacefully that colonialism had failed to resolve. Before the comprehensive measures adopted by Numayri, the first government agreed on training the South and incorporating them into the administration, means to protect refugees and guarantees of religious liberty being protected. It is also to many African politicians’ credit, when they have offered compensation for indigenous ownership of core economic assets, to outsiders or settlers –when they could have simply nationalised –despite the horrors of the West, they have little legal or ethical necessity to do so. Examples of this include the compensation offered to those of the White Highlands in Kenya, Siad Bare in Somalia and Jaafar Numayri in the Sudan –who offered compensation in inflation proof government bonds. The Sudanese government –unlike outsider states, support the legal right of eminent domain –compensating their people for evictions.An Industrial Development Corporation sought to make government investments more economically efficacious, potent and autonomous of political aspirations in 1965 AD. Two years later; the Industrial Investment Act recognised the most durable and sustainable companies were those which invested in domestic not foreign industry. Local government fabricated self –help schemes setting up schools and clinics reliant on community support. Private investment received incentives while the Interim Programmes sought to refurbish infrastructure including railway rolling stock; weather proof tarmac roads and Port Sudan Docks –with an oil pipeline connected to them constructed in 1977. 70% of revenue under the First Development Plan in 1968 was dedicated to the enhancing of public infrastructure. Khartoum founded as an Egyptian army outpost, also has the unusual honour of having a campus of the University of Cairo –a joint academic venture of cooperation across frontiers, not recurrent in Asia or South America.Jaafar Numayri -the recogniser of the Southern Question, was born in 2683 AUC and graduated from the premier Hantoub Secondary School, where he led a revolt aged 17, ensuring the closure of his school for 7 months before enrolment at the Sudan Military College. In 2705, he joined the army and the Free Officer’s movement inspired by the dismantling of feudalism by Nasser. Five years later, he was thrown out for sedition, after leading an attempted coup and two years after that; was reinstated. In 2721; he became head of the Gebeit Training School. He defended the White Nile against civil war –repelling the Ansar ensconced on Aba Island and was prepared to established diplomatic negotiations with the Soviet and Arab world parts. He was the instrumental drafter of the 2724 AUC/ 1972 AD Southern Agreement which secured southern regional control via a ministerial High Executive Council and People’s Regional Assembly over all regional affairs, excluding Federal issues of defence; foreign affairs, communications, currency and the economy along with equal treatment of both English and Arabic languages and both religions of Islam and Galileanism. There even existed a Cabinet level Minister for Southern Affairs. His clemency extended the Amnesty Law to 1970 and his gestures resorted in a restorative influx of refugees back to the South. He granted a pardon to his fervent critic Sadiq al Mahdi, who had sworn and plotted his death. He released 1200 political prisoners, who had challenged him –and then allowed them to stand for National Assembly elections –not interfering when several won. He awarded official toleration and recognition of traditional African religions –which Islamists had suppressed before. Sharia and traditional religious laws would only govern kith and personal affairs; while secular would be used for criminal law. In 1983, recognising the scourge of alcoholism on Africa’s society and in affecting trade imports; he poured 11 million dollars worth into the Nile. Leniency and the promotion of moral virtue are not Northern “Developed” but “Developing” virtues. Economically, he guaranteed Western and Arab investments and worked for concordat between them and Africa.Emperor Haille Selassie suggested the compromise of 6000 northerners and 6000 southerners to comprise the army. Numayri sought to mobilise the disinterested populace as well as all political organisations in the SSU. He also included Anayanga rebels in the army. Abroad; pan African liberation movements were supported. In the 1978 elections, independents occupied 60 out of the 304 National Assembly seats. The Jonglei Canal was set up to counter fresh water evaporation from the lakes of the equator The Bucketwheel was invented to dredge the canal while constructing the weather proof roads from the debris. Oil deposits were located in the South. The Kanem sugar project was inspired to reduce dependency on such an expensive import. The Rahel Sohe irrigation scheme aided cotton and groundnut production.A coalition government was formed by democratic consensus in 1986. Sadiq al Mahdi, the Oxford doctorate graduate recognised the influence of Islam and sought to provide a fusion of both Islamist and secular law; embodying it within a permanent Constitution. He ensured talent was promoted to ministerial level and avoided basing his judgements on that African loyalty to one’s own ethnicity... to prevent all of the effects that that has had in so many of our continent’s nations... Hassan al Turabi –instructed at the Sorbonne and Attorney General under Numayri; became the Most High Academe of Islamic revolution in Africa. President Omar Hassan Ahmed al Bashir (a former defence minister and paratrooper) became the leader of Sudan in 1989 Democracy –in politics, economics, in trade unions and the media was preserved in the north; while the peace of 10 years was disturbed in the south by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement under Colonel Garang favoured full secularism rather than the ascent of Islamic law launching a twenty years war against the Northern occupiers. His movement educated the Sudanese in mathematics, geography, history and Mathematics –which they could use to grant the chances of a brighter life and future. He signed a peace treaty which briefly ended the southern secession in 2005 CE and would have granted it autonomy for six years. but was assassinated three weeks after becoming vice president. The Southern Sudanese rejected colonial imposed frontiers to assert their independence as the world’s newest nation in 2764 AUC, its new capital Juba –its peaceful transition negotiated by that astute and quintessential African diplomat: Thabo Mbeki –the former president of South Africa. Nubia and Kush survived for centuries as kingdoms in their own right –surviving the Romans, Egyptians, Ptolemies and the Byzantines in turn, with impeccable credentials of prowess. They even managed to provide an Egyptian dynasty and extended the hegemony and influence of Africa to incorporate Arabia and the Middle East. As for the Sudan; it started off with democratic credentials until 1969 and Jaafar Numeiri –who for all his faults, came up with an initially credible economy and viable resolution of the Southern Question, which outsiders never considered. John Garang and the South Sudan Liberation movement came up with another African mediated solution in 2005 –but he was assassinated. The final settlement which granted South Sudan autonomy as the newest African state this year; was brokered by Africans –as previously cited, it was Thabo Mbeki –who espoused the ideals of Africa and Arusha which is to chose peace over war...THE WESTERN QUADRANT: (Gabon, Cameroon, Togo, Niger, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.“Give me a sound economy and I will give you stable politics.”Gabon President Albert BongoPresident Mba the acquirer of Gabon’s autonomy on 17 August 1960 and preserver of political pluralism until his death in 1967, provided investment incentives, political and trade balance, building the first railway in the country and the history of Gabon by 1987, it possessing one of the largest planetary plywood factories with afforestation renewal, exporting manganese and the deepening of Owendo port. Despite popular replacement of Mba by Cy Aubame, it was the French who reinstated the former president, showing their contempt for African conception of popular democratic choice. Under President Ali Hajj Omar Bongo and Finance Minister Paul Moukao, Gabon experienced impressive economic stability and growth under “renovation renewed” and security offered to private investment–up to 9.5% average between 1965 -1980. 30000 local firms received tax exemptions for starting. The minimum salary rose to 17000 Central African francs. An international Buntu research facility was founded in Libreville 1983 to promote African scholarship along with an African Computing Institute. School attendance at primary level was near 100%. The president even undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca but retained religious tolerance –in contrast to many Islamic territories, Israel and the anti-Islamist USA. Even as Europe suffered under the OPEC oil crisis, Gabon prospered with high salaries, one of the highest African GDP’s per capita –higher than SA even and urbanisation utilising the emerging university graduates to enhance the economy. “I don’t forget my peasant origins. I was not born in a hospital bed or a cradle and I never had a nanny. I was born in poverty. Despite, honour; power and all attendant privileges, I have never forgotten...:”President Albert El Hajj Omar BongoGabonese received equal access to education and healthcare and benefitted from the banning or racial, religious, ethnic tribal and gender discrimination. . He encouraged expatriates and exiles to return home patriotically to economic liberty and Gabon’s advancement, unlike other world nations who dissuaded their local potential. From 1963 -1983, over 7300 kilometres of road were constructed. A new ore port Libreville -Ovembo was set up, with logging complexes. Both Cameroon and Gabon have their own stock exchanges, along with Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Mauritius. The president and PSG were known for engaging in constructive dialogues with opponents, which allowed scope for different perspectives along with airing dissent, criticism and ideas for reform. The PDG (Democratic Party of Gabon) chose to redeem itself in January 1979 at a congress, where it forbade ministers from external interests or more than one salary or portfolios along with challenging inefficiency and graft. In the spirit of internal democracy –Central Committee members even lost their seats. “These summits are a waste of time. All anyone does is talk. Sometimes, listening to all that talk which does not translate into action, squandering all those resources, time and energy, I think that I will scream...”President El Hajj Omar Bongo 1981 OAU SummitIn October 1945, he attended Zanyi Primary. In 1952, he acquired entrance to a technical college before achieving the 1958 postal administration examination. Gabonese independence was formed by Fulbert Youlou’s UDDIA –Democratic Union for the Defence of African Interests, plus the two that President Bongo was a member of: the Congolese Progressive Party under Felix Tchioryu and the Movement Socialist African both set up in 1957. I 1961, he refused to stand for a Parliamentary constituency, viewing it as the mark of the self seeking and venal. In 1962, he became part of the civil service as the assistant Cabinet Director in March and full Director by October. In 1965, he was appointed as Department of Defence Liaison before in 1966, he became Minister of Information, then Vice President 12 November.Cameroon still has the uninterrupted lineage of the venerable sultanate of Foumban and the Bamoun people present for over 700 years –older than the interbreeding and interrupted monarchies of Europa. The 16th monarch during World War 1, devised his own religion, culture, language and script. Elsewhere in the Sahara, are the 900 year old emirate of Katsina and the 800 year old sultanate of Sokoto. They never suffered from a famine in its entirety. There, literacy prevailed amid the populace, while its aristocracy discoursed with the classical Greeks and Arab astronomy of the astrolabe. The Kano capital comprised of an eleven mile wall with thirteen gates and over 30 000 residents and the empire traded textiles, goat leather, tobacco and indigo. Cameroon preserved its royal treasuries before opening it to the public, consisting of the glories of the past including everything from coins and jewellery to beads, tusks, beds, carved whips, ceramics, drinking horns, sculptures and ancestral figures.The UPC was founded in 1948. Its founder Ruben Um Nyobe was assassinated by those to whom the UN Mandate had been entrusted on the dawn of independence in 1960; his vision like Lumumba’s betrayed. Amadou Ahidjo was born August 24th 1924 at Garoa. He went to Yavou Higher Primary and then a post office radio operator at the age of 18. The humble backgrounds of most African leaders –those not part of the African intelligentsia under colonialism; proves that, Africans can overcome poverty; lack of formal education and other barriers; to become leaders of the quest for liberation and the African Renaissance; politically; economically and socially... All it takes; is the will to do so –and overwhelming effort... That makes Africa different from the coterie, aristocratic junta or cabal that makes up the wealthy professed demagogues of democracy from patrician public or grammar school backgrounds in the UK, Europe or South America! It makes many African leaders –who at least had associations with poverty or toil not privilege from the plutocrat Senators, presidents and Representatives of Australia, Canada or Ivy League USA or the affluents of ASEAN and Japan. In 1947, Ahmadou Ahidjo became the first to protect Cameroon, as a champion of local interests in the Territorial Assembly. By 1956, he chaired the National Assembly and Prime Minister in 1958. President Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon –independent since 1 January 1960 founder of a coalition government one party consensus –the main opposition leader became federal prime minister of East Cameroon, –again refutes the idea that African leaders believe their occupation of office to require life tenure, by abdicating peacefully to his constitutional successor: Paul Biya. He presided over the integration of the British and French divided North and South Cameroon, ensured equal development for both North and South along with presiding over a flourishing mixed economy, stable politics and civil society. He provided a common tariff, currency, equality of languages in university education, single labour legislation and laws, consolidating both administratively in a common civil service. Cameroon even managed to expand manufacturing to the degree of meeting 50% of its own requirements domestically. 5 out of 20 cabinet members catered to the English side; the rest to the French. For balance; the second most powerful post: Chair of the National Assembly went to the English speaking representative Simon Aa. The French side were placated by being given Minister of Public Services: Paul Kangye and the Minister for Health. His administration also favoured youth and talent. Those with promise and potential; instead of conforming to the gentrocratic administrations favoured by many of the world’s leaders who have historically been intimidated by youthful radiance rather than can be used, received elevation in the Presidency –and even ran the Central Bank. One feels that his idea might actually improve many world Central Banks and Treasuries, if they recruited the brightest of university graduates; i.e. with ideas –and used them; rather than the same geriatric nincompoops that caused the crisis being constantly reappointed or bribed off with taxpayer’s money; across the First and Second World... The Cameroonian oil pipeline is specifically designed to avoid misappropriation of revenue and benefit the community. Revenue is based in a London account and at least 80% must be set aside for expanding public infrastructure, education, health and rural upliftment. A nine member panel with representatives of the state, civil society, parliament and the Supreme Court determine the allocation of funds. To steal funds set for healthcare or education of our own people –by any African official is heinous! Africans should reject the money philandering mentality and anything else which contributes to our perceived negative reputation –by learning from examples such as these. FONADER was designed to provide farming loans in 1973. With the Medium Sized Agricultural Farming Scheme and CAPME –National Credit Association for Medium Enterprises, it aimed to provide consultancy services, feasibility studies, technical lore, grants and assistance, establishing 30000 new medium sized sustainable farms, 60 % of which, were dedicated to the youth. This resulted in close autonomy in food production. Thanks to local entrepreneurial talent and energy along with pro investment measures by the Ministry of Finance, small enterprises expanded and even contributed to innovation such as the Bammeiade blacksmith who devised a corn and cassava mill. Hydroelectricity expanded from the 2 at independence. Communications from 461 kilometres of road in 1960 and a 2 branch primitive railway were aided by 10564 kilometres of constructed roads, highways connecting the major centres, refurbished seaports and the rebuilt colonial Doula railway from 461 kilometres of railway at independence to 1173 plus four international airports. A national television and electricity network illuminated Cameroon, satellite phone stations were installed in 1973 and 1987 and it became the base of a new petrochemical system. Annual GNP growth climbed by 5 -7%. The budget expanded yearly until 1987. Cameroon dropped from a 59% export dependency on France to a 35% dependency by 1980. By the early 1990’s Cameroon had a 70% school attendance rate. To prevent overconcentration and crowing at the main University centre in Doula, regional, specialist academic campuses were opened: language and literature at Bura, industry at Nogourda and agriculture at Dsoye. Prime Minister Paul Biya succeeded on 4 November 1982 –refusing to be a puppet for Ahidjo and appointing his own cabinet of civilian technocrats such as a doctor as Minister of Health and a former banker as Minister of Trade and Industry –Edward Onjo. A Ministry of Women’s Affairs was set up –as it was in Liberia in 2005, to empower women. Presidential staff and their roles were reduced, while ministers were granted more responsibility and power –he was not afraid of them. Biya permitted liberalised media and pardoned his predecessor in an intended act of clemency, along with party elections 4 years later, municipal the following year and legislative –the year after that. 33/ 59 lost their posts and there were multiple contenders. Independent candidates were allowed to challenge him legally –even if none did. He also modified the constitution so the speaker of the National Assembly would preside over a transitional government on his death. Elections would then have to be held within 40 days and the interim president/ former Speaker could not them be a candidate for office. Municipal and local government was secured by elected village assemblies. Both bureaucrats and politicians were deployed away from their place of origin to prevent venality.Togo under Sylvanus Olympio, (who aspired for economic autonomy while under the mandate of France –as he recognised the precepts of many African leaders, that political independence is meaningless without economic independence), since the granting of suzerainty -27th April 1960. He cut armies as an extravagant and unproductive entity to 250. He balanced the budget, sought to diversify agriculture and managed to end the French budget subsidy. However, his reign was overthrown in 1963 by 300 Kabre soldiers of France which had deserted. Olympio’s civilian successor Nicholas Grunitzy had to placate them by adding 1000 soldiers but reduced the budget deficit. Voluntarily, he surrendered part of his presidential prerogatives –unlike most that consolidate or expand those powers and abdicated in 1967. Togo and Ghana both became inspired to regenerate skills via Worker’s Brigades. The market women of Lome are famous for their entrepreneurial skills and business acumen. Politically too, they exerted their influence to exclude aliens from the retail trade and joined the vanguard of the RPT party. One of them –Marie Sivomey –even progressed to be mayor of the capital Lome. President Eyadema even sought to retire from power, step down and hold elections for a democratic successor but Togolese civil society and academia refused to allow him to. Cabinets were carefully balanced with 4 military, 4 northern and 4 southern civilians by President Eyadema to defuse tension. His early morning visits and inspections enforced punctuality and discipline marvellously as his personal attention ensured efficiency drives; with maximum consciousness of the structural flaws of embezzlement that needed stifling. Peasant cultivators were relieved from direct tax payments and import duties were reduced. He ensured the paving of roads; equal access to scholarships and social /civic improvements for both North and South to prevent accusations of favouritism. An authenticity campaign reminiscent of Mobutu’s Congo, also aspired to make African society proud and conscious exhibits of their traditional identity rather than pale business suited apparitions of the globalised, Western monoculture. Togo achieved the financial burdens of academia by sharing a joint university with Dahomey or Benin. In foreign affairs, he reconciled those who had supported the Biafra secession to those who favoured Federal Nigeria, mediated peace in Chad and advocated ECOWAS along with the favour of Third World trade parity with the First World in the Lome Convention. Togo also hosted a number of trade fairs –such as that of 1987, which concentrated on simple exhibits which could aid the poor such as low priced solar panels and water purifiers –simple technology which is appropriate to Africa; designed by Africans and doesn’t require high maintenance or expensive imports like most machinery.Nationalism of Niger started with the 1946 formation of the RDA under Dr Francis Borvey and the Bamako Congress in Mali which brought various anti French West African forces together as partners. In the 1954, the UDN was founded under Djibo Boray and formed a coalition alliance with the PPN to counter the pro French BNA. Niger was presented with self-determination under President Hamari Diori (1960- 1974). 3rd August 1960. An Animate Network was set up with village volunteers and experts to bypass corruption and bureaucracy and ensure aid reached rural households and their projects. It set up groups of 10 -12 popularist committees in team building measures. The RVA was also anti bureaucracy mobilising the people in health, education/ literacy/ agricultural training and then using those people to volunteer to pass it on. Under President Hamori Diori, the state owned Groundnut Corporation doubled the value of its initial capital. Astute commercially, he enabled many advantageous transactions and negotiations for investment; dealing personally with businessmen in a functional office, devoid of the pomp of state ritual. His cabinet too was ethnically balanced to prevent tension. In Niger and Benin, state brigades were used to empower workers in useful skills such as construction and literacy. President Kountche created a civilian government in 1976, prioritised efforts to counter the Sahel famine, countered graft and Seyni Kountche of Niger replaced military with civilian rule, tackled corruption, and sought the withdrawal of French troops from Niamey, gaining a third share in uranium mining French owned SOMAIR consortium for the state. He envisioned a non ideological state with technocratic policies based on modernisation, causing a 6% GDP average growth rate. In 1976, the Samorija movement promoted popular enfranchisement and public works in afforestation and food D invited Islamists, chiefs, businesses, veterans, intellectuals and the people to offer advice and their perspective on issues. In 1987 President Ali Saibou took office in Niger and reduced French connections and influence, granted an amnesty for political prisoners and held democratic elections with a 1989 Constituent Assembly. Rather than suppress university students’ grievances –he was prepared to listen to them and recognise a popular student’s organisation. In 2000, President Mamadou Tanja took office. The Ivory Coast gained its independence on 7th August 1960. It remains the only historical example of a country with 4 different capitals in the last 70 years. These included Grand Bassam, Bingerville, Yamoussoukro and Abidjan. The modernised city of Abidjan, with its artificial harbour isolates itself from rural dwellers by excluding them from its junctions, thriving with modern transport, telecommunications and the expanse of parks and apartments adorning the Champs Elysee with even an artificial ice rink and Club Mediterranean. . One of the largest basilicas in the world is the opulent $200 million one at Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast, given as a present to the Vatican sponsored by the pious president Felix Houphouet-Boigny. The Ivory Coast welcomed all immigrants whom could contribute, was staffed by technocrats and was enlightened enough to expand its education enrolment programme with the requirements of the economy; to prevent an overlarge surplus strata on indolent, state sponsored proles to superficially reduce the employment figures. State sponsored adult education schemes enabled the unqualified to gain skills in construction, needlework, literacy and agriculture. Its economy –non mineral based; incredible phenomenal growth -7% under 1980 and flourishing for three decades, in addition to its political stability. “I take inspiration from President Felix Houmphoet Boigny. Everything he does is what we should not do... Look around Abidjan at all of the things named after him... the Felix Boigny maternity centre, the Felix Boigny Bridge... the Felix Boigny Boulevard What we need is decentralisation. That is when people can take their own affairs into their own hands.History Professor Laurent Gbagbo Addressing President Felix Boigny and his Cabinet 1988.For three decades, President Felix Houmphoet Boigny presided over an expanding economy and political stability. In 1962, he abolished the head tax and introduced progressive taxation and three years later he initiated a 10 % but this became recompensated when new capital has already been accumulated and reinvested domestically. He had such faith in the economic stability of his country that unlike many leaders –he kept his profits in Africa not Switzerland –banking and investing in the Ivory Coast. His PDCI had more than one candidate per constituency elections and won all Legislative Assembly seats in the first democratic elections of 1959 and in 1988; he amnestied his critics including Professor Laurent Gbagbo –a later premier of the Ivory Coast who advocated democracy from 1982. He formed an Entente with his neighbours: such as Niger, Togo, Upper Volta and Dahomey/ Benin financed by 10% of each country’s customs dues. His tenure as France’s Minister for Health in the 1950’s was far more successful than the stability of several French governments under which he served. In addition, he represented France in Algeria and the UN. He was so respected in France as an African statesman; that President Mitterrand and 11 former prime ministers of France attended his funeral in February 1994. Recent economic reforms endorsed by him and his government included suppressing administrator’s high cost property leases,, Parastatal reform and enhanced autonomy, and the exclusion of political deputies from state corporations and commercial interests. He institutionalised increased financial supervision and public state inspections. He got private investment to endorse state capitalism. The GDP tripled within 2 decades. The economy was diversified from monoculture agriculture to include services and tourism. School attendance soon increased from 22% to 55 % and over 50% of GDP was reserved for education and health, and over 60% literacy was achieved in the 1980’s. The Ivory Coast remained a beacon of unprecedented order from 1960 freedom to 1999. Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, the former director of the West African Central Bank presided over political pluralism, democratic liberalism and stable transfer between 1991 -1993 to the constitutional National Speaker of the Assembly, not seizing power. The price of textbooks was reduced and cheap generic drugs were sponsored, to counter expensive Western medical imports. Nor, did the army chief of staff: Robert Gueri, who ordered his troops to cooperate. Under Professor Laurent Gbagbo who won democratically in 2000; the Ivory Coast responded to Clinton’s African endemic peacekeeper project, sending 740 soldiers for training, in recognition of constructive peacekeeping efforts. Was it a European who ended forced labour in the French colonial empire? No –it was an African delegate from the Ivory Coast. Felix Houmphoet Boigny introduced this legislation in the French Assembly in 1946 and was personally responsible for its abolishment. Born on 18th October 1905, Felix Boigny attended Dakar’s School of Medicine and graduated first in his year. His primary political challenge came from opposing French planters’ attempts to prohibit minimum cocoa prices. Magnanimously, he amnestied both exiles from Ghana implicated in subverting Nkrumah’s regime and arrested political prisoners. His self –discipline has enabled him to purge stimulants and intoxicants, as he admirably sustains from the narcotics of alcohol, coffee and tobacco. In 1966, he amnestied prisoners in an attempt at reconciliation. In 1969, he met with many sectors of society –students, civil servants, the private sector and labour unions in order to hear their grievances directly. He avoided political prisoners or executions and the Ivory Coast remained freely open and accessible to journalists with the media able to carp and criticise –with nothing to hide in contrast to the US with closed torture bases from Guantameno Bay to East Europe. The world’s largest church demonstrated the magnitude of his piety to the Galilean monotheism faith, dedicating the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in his home city and new capital Yamoussoukro, Cote d’ Ivory to the Pope, who commemorated and inaugurated it. “Honour and love your race –our African race! Be yourselves... not that of the Northern Hemisphere... If you are not yourselves; if you surrender your personality, you have nothing to give the world... You have no pleasures; no use, nothing to attract and charm humanity; for by the suppression of your individuality as Africans; you lose your venerable and distinctive history...”Sierra Leone’s first independence (1792-1800) lasted 8 years before the British colonial annexation. Throughout its democracy, it has retained a Bill of Rights. Fourah Bay College has been the premier bastion of West African education since 1827 –older than all English universities outside Oxbridge and possibly Durham. As a country it has produced noted historians such as the pastor Samuel Johnson, whose 1897 “History of the Yoruba People,” sought to counter colonial accusations that Africa has no reputable history and no indigenous historians. Sierra Leone pioneered microcredit –in Africa; -not the philanthropy enslavement organs/ “aid organisations” with its Cooperatives. “We used to be at the mercy of cruel money lenders... Cooperatives have proved to us; that peasant farmers like ourselves... individually; weak and without influence; can if committed to work collectively: can overcome our poverty by ourselves; by making our own course; with honesty; loyalty and cooperation...” Yet; -like so many native ideas; it had to wither and choke for alien imports –which; unsurprisingly failed (given no involvement with African citizens and our requirements.)“Sierra Leone today becomes a unified and independent nation, to take her place in the Commonwealth of Nations and in the world at large... We must also face squarely to the problems which will all confront us, and I want you to understand that the Sierra Leone Government cannot do it alone –we need your help and support... –of each and every one of you... The ain will certainly be to make our country: a land worth living in; a land worth serving, a land in which, we are proud to be citizens... but this can only be attained by wholehearted service and hard work now. I ask you to deal fairly and honestly with your fellow humans; to discourage lawlessness, and to actively strive for peace, friendship and unity in our country...We have much to do to bring about improvements to all parts of our country... But there is also much that can be done by yourselves, to meet your own needs and I shall continue to praise and support voluntary, patriotic and domestic effort –whether it’s directed towards the building of a road, bridge, school, community centre or other communal requirement... I would like to make it clear that Independence will not result in sudden changes in our day to day lives... Whether you are a farmer, a trader, an artisan, a daily wage worker, a fisherman, a lawyer or a judge... life will go on –just the same... with the same rights and privileges safeguarded, the same type of laws, the same taxes and other responsibilities, the same justice in our courts and the same articles sold in our stores... Mining, missions, trade unions, schools, hospitals and government departments will go on as before... The significant change: is that we are now in complete control of our destiny and for the formulation of our external and internal policies!”Sir Milton Margai’s Independence Address, 27 April 1961 Sierra Leone –based on providing a refuge and a chance for a fresh start for former slaves –like Liberia, retained democracy from 1960-1977. Its Governor General in 1961 –Sir Henry Lightfoot Boston –was a Sierra Leonean. It had further elections in 1983 and 1986 –the latter under President Momoh. Sir Milton Margai –drafter of Independence, unifier of parties in the United Front delegation to Britain, a founder of the Organisation for African Unity in 1963 and was personally modest -including avoiding hoarding wealth –and his Sierra Leone’s People’s Party won 1960 and 1962 elections. Opposition politicians were able to gain personal loans and the UN delegation was headed by the opposition party APC leader Siaka Stevens. His birth in Gbanbatoke on 7th December 1895, his education in the elite Fourah Bay Institution and its affiliated Durham University formulated his perspective across continents. Awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1947 and knighted in 1959, he served the country through public service, training a midwife service before entering politics –leader of the SLPP in 1951. His brother Sir Albert Margai born in 1910 of a different faction, won freely in 1964 and had extensive Cabinet experience –unlike US leaders. He devoted himself to the people –giving the rarest gift of all: (that many politicians forget); time! A day was set aside –as prime minister –to the masses –and rallies were set up to revive the people –especially channelling the vitality of women to honoured supporters and participants –such as Madame Ella Guluma –Minister of State/ Portfolio and Chief MP for Moyamba. He was committed to the noble visions of the OAU, Commonwealth Prime Minister Conferences, UNO and non aligned democracy. Lieutenant Colonel Juxton Smith of the National Reformation Council removed fiscal extravagant plantation projects, the Forster Commission tried Sir Albert Margai and several ministers for misuse of funds and the Dove Edwin Commission pronounced Siaka Stevens the civilian successor –popularly supported –and endorsed by the following National interim Council under Colonel Bangura; Women in Sierra Leone have played an active part in politics since pre-colonial times –starting with the Mende fisherfolk and the Temne, whose women served as tribal elders. One of the first female activists Adelaide Casely Hayford believed in female emancipation through education; flouting colonial authority by creating the Girl’s Institute in 1923 and the Technical Training School to give female entrepreneurs a chance in Africana studies, arts, crafts, weaving, basket making, business skills etc. Wallace Johnson, installer of the West African Youth League was the first to call upon women to liberate themselves and to prove his sincerity; co-opted many eminent female dignitaries to its leadership. Edna Elliot –its assistant organising secretary and one of the first West African women to get a qualification from a US university –Howard University; turned down her post as a teaching assistant in the British dominant schools, shocked by the active British racism present. In 1938, Cummings Johnson became the first elected urban female representative in West Africa against the male Dr H.C Bankole Bright –of the Legislative Council. The Sierra Leone Market Council was launched by the leading female businesswomen such as Mrs Matilda Williams and Mammy Drucilla Hory. In 1951, the Sierra Leone Women’s Movement was launched in an anti inflation campaign. They campaigned for female political suffrage, adult literacy, formed a scholarship fund for girls, opened a worker’s restaurant, arranged the donation of artificial limbs to the disabled and sponsored the first woman’s cooperative in 1954. Stella James became the female deputy mayor of Freetown in 1960.The leaders of Sierra Leone’s sovereignty –invested in its infrastructure –with schools and handicraft industries especially devoted to the blind, the deaf and the disabled along with a sanctuary for paupers. Rural hospitals, dispensaries and a community nurse service in addition to a Pharmaceutical School; that this particular African country –along with many others, formed for the health of its citizens. Piped water and electricity was extended to the towns –ignored by the British and adult education centres were encouraged. Voluntary Ujaama inspired schemes and projects were promoted –such as the conversion of a motorway bridge from a former railway bridge at Daru and a 74 bed addition to Port Loko Hospital. In entertainment, a National Dance Troupe was set up for Sierra Leone to take pride in its artistic capabilities, with oral history projects, a thriving musician population, several international performed theatrical productions and others... promoted through schools with the 1970’s Schools and Colleges Arts Festival. In finance; the government did not choose nationalisation and Africanisation but offered credit to African entrepreneurs and set up an industrial estate at Wellington, Freetown for foreign entrepreneurs and revived the National Railway Workshops to offer mechanical engineering. All capital goods for investment received a duty free incentive. This manifested itself visibly through the 5% GDP growth rate (1962-1972), with low inflation and debt. Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone; won elections democratically in 1967 –non Rhodesia and non South Africa’s –Africa’s first ceding of power to the opposition civilian government, 1973 and 1977; and relinquished power without coercion. For fifteen years he served on the mineworkers union as secretary before entering similar service in the Protectorate Assembly and Freetown City Council –Minister of Mines and Labour in 1951. In 1960, he became president of the APC. During his tenure, social services were expanded and he formed the Mano River Union –a free customs union with Guinea and Liberia –with a land resources survey forestry and local industry training. Secure in his rule; he died after relinquishing office, peacefully after his re-elected 7 year constitutional term to Joseph Momoh –who allowed multi party elections and accepted Parliamentary ideas for reform/ realignment of the budget. He believed in open public access to the head of state for his people. In 1982, those MP’s who failed to serve their constituencies –only self interest (44%), were removed by their constituents. Siaka Stevens believed in devolving and decentralising the failure of MP’s –not to the self regulator: Parliament –nor to the executive; but via periodic elections to the people. For over a decade –until they protested; he gave the criticising dissent of students and academics at the prestigious sanctuary of Fourah Bay University College; autonomy and liberty.“We pledge to support the people’s requests for accountability and for politicians to serve their country...not themselves. In particular, we issue a warning, denouncing all those people who have made it a habit to ignore stipulated rules and regulations by virtue of their standing or connection in society ... as from this moment; their days have come to an end. Henceforth, the question will not be; “who you are,” but “what you can do.” In other words, as from today your recognition in society will be determined by the contribution you make to its welfare, rather than by your assumed airs of arrogance...”Inauguration Address of President MomohCaptain Valentine Strasser –Africa’s youngest head of state at 25 years old –like Jerry Rawlings was personally untainted by corruption. Under him; the streets were filled with paintings; flowers were planted to gloss the bland urban areas and the civic pride of volunteering to clean the streets of accumulated filth; as patriotic communities on Saturdays came back and held a democratic election in 1995. He remains unique in the history of the world; to subcontract national defence totally –to a private, non Sierra Leone security firm of mercenaries (the South African Executive Outcomes) which restored the diamond fields to the government and removed rebels from Freetown in exchange for a diamond concession. They also trained the army and militia. Captain Strasser’s democratically elected successor Ahmed Tejan Kabbah –of the Sierra Leone People’s Party retained their expertise in protecting strategic installations and was committed to democracy. Foday Sankoh and prominent leaders of the AFRC/RUF were tried and sentenced to death but RUF intervention resulted in negotiations for a ceasefire and inclusion of Sankoh in the state. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission patterned on South Africa was formulated in 2002.The South African Parastatal Telkom pioneered the South Africa Cable for inter-route connectivity optics in 10 countries (South Africa, Namibia, Gabon, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and the Ivory Coast among them). VSAT provides African voice and data services to African governments.In the 2740’s (AUC) it was African patriots not foreigners, which demanded democratic change. Eyadema in Togo was compelled to accept the popularly elected High Council of the Republic and the human rights lawyer Koffigoh as his prime minister along with presiding over a thriving economy. Omar Bongo in Gabon narrowly won multiple political party elections in 1992. Mugabe lost to Tshangvari in “Zimbabwe” from 2000 onwards. In 1990, Paul Biya of Cameroon submitted to democratic protests for political change. Heroically; society launched a spontaneous “Operation Ghost Town” in a campaign of economic boycotting and civic disobedience –avoiding banking, taxpaying or supporting the government. Museveni was reaffirmed in direct and open elections in Uganda; while Kaunda submitted to the installation of Chiluba in 1991 in Zambia. Generals Denis Sassou Ngesso (Congo Brazzaville) and Andre Kolingba (Central African Republic) conceded their ousting a year later. Perhaps that is the measure of any remotely concerned African leader invested with common sense: to finally step down after having served your country and your people –when they ask of you to. (Gabon, Cameroon, Togo, Niger, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone... each of these nations has similarities and divergences in the African Renaissance... All had pragmatic leaders rather than the visionaries and prophets of South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal, Burkina Faso and the Congo. All chose healthcare and education as urgent. All those of this Western Quadrant except Niger, refute the old ingrained heresy that Africa is economically incompetent and cares nothing for democracy or its cultural heritage. Sierra Leone stands as one of the world’s pioneering examples of photography, with Fourah Bay College led in Africa’s own chiselling of its intelligentsia –and provides the first non Rhodesian, non South African example of relinquishing power democratically to the opposition – Siaka Stevens of the Sierra Leone People’s Party in 1967. Gabon is known for its early example of an African welfare state, while it Cameroon and the Ivory Coast were known for their political stability over decades and their economic augmentation of their citizen’s living standards and prosperity...THE OXBRIDGE OF THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE: (Mali and Timbuktu); Mali; the Formation of Pan African Institutes: Political, Culture and Economic,African scholarship to the world was consolidated in individuals and in academic sanctuaries. The Great Library and Museion of Alexandria, the Universities of Cairo and Sankore, the one at Carthage... but achieved a scholastic apogee with Timbuktu... the sanctum guided and administered by academics.The Mali manuscripts still have mysteries to reveal: including Ahmed Baba’s dissection of slavery –before the Arab and Western world censure centuries later. It produced the Aegyptus biographer Al Sakhami, the grammarian and poet Agha Mohamed al Khali; the biographer and Maliki jurist Ahmed Baba and the philologist/ jurisconsult Abdullah Boryo. The grammarian Abu Al –Sanhaji the meteorologist and astronomer al Hajj Mohamed al Iraqi, the ethics and piety obedience academician Ibn Abu, the civic law of Ibn Tuhfar and the rhetoric of Ugad al Jiman all contributed to the Renaissance. The definitive Quranic commentaries were scripted by al Nasafi, Sayyid Ahmed. The academician savant Sadi attained brilliant scholarship in law, dialectics, grammar, logic and rhetoric. The illustrious sage and historian Tarikh Al Fattash recorded this in his esteemed 1655 Timbuktu annals. The 19th century female scholars included Khadijia Asma’u –translator and commenter of Khalil’s Mukhtasar and the female Islamist scholar nana Asma’u her sister, who came up with the 1820 Way of the Pious and 1842 Path of Truth, warning rulers to honour the piety of Islam and updating Islam to account for a more equitable status for females. “The rich high justiciar of Timbuktu... keeps a magnificent and well furnished court... Here are a great store of physicians, justiciars, scholars, priests and other learned men; that are bountifully maintained at the empire’s and justiciar’s cost and charges. And hither are brought diverse manuscripts and written books out of Barbary, which are sold for far more than any other merchandise...”Leo AfricanusThe scholar’s and jurist’s enclave and sanctuary Timbuktu with over 80000 inhabitants and two venerable universities; was granted internal autonomy from the Mali Empire in 1433 AD. The justiciars in Walata, Timbuktu and Djenne invested imams and appointed administrators and were chosen by and from the leading academics of the city state. In the 15th Galilean century, it contained between 30000 and 50000 souls, in the 16th; 75000 souls. It thrived on the guild system incorporating all from scribes to tanners to jewellery and handicrafts to books, silver and goldsmiths, palaces with glass windows and domed mosques, on par with Renaissance Europe, yet uninfluenced by them. Its commerce ranged from manuscripts to shoes and ornaments with between 150 -200 clay storage magazines for merchandise. It traded Arabic gum to England along with gold and bedcovers across the Sahara. Its piety and Islamic scholarship were blessed in its several Great Mosques and 150 Quranic schools.The University of Sankore flourished in Mali between the late 10th century to the 16th, before and parallel to the great historic universities in Europe (Oxbridge, the Sorbonne, Prague, Milan etc), with students originating from as far as Persia and India. The scholar Ahmed Berber with his notable 1590 account of the invasion by Morocco; taught there. It had a similar structure to Oxbridge founded on colleges which were presided by imams and based on the tutorial system. Anyone could found an institution to divulge anything if they could find students willing enough. Students acted as aides and amanuensis/ scribes or secretaries if they lacked material means or required learning. Individuals were encouraged in thought and to write their compositions –whilst publishing them freely, provided the works were outstanding. Mercenary motives of publishing succumbed to scholarship as they do not at present, (favouring tripe and profits over quality). Courses included Islamic theosophy, logic, alchemy, medicine and history. They also included astronomy, mathematics, jurisprudence, grammar and rhetoric. This feat echoes currently; with the formation of the 1973 Ahmed Baba Historical Research and Documentation Centre in Timbuktu –repository and archives containing over 20000 rare and original manuscripts detailing evidence of scholarship in the city and of the African Renaissance –at a comparable time to the European one. Mali and South Africa in 2006 established a joint Historical Research Commission to examine, store and use the knowledge of the Timbuktu manuscripts.Africa’s leaders have always valued education. Many of its most illustrious, renowned or infamous, influential in the compilation of African independence and subsequent history, while defining its identity; strived for the greatest of education –under colonialism and afterwards. Examples include the seven degrees of Robert Mugabe; the academics of Sankore; the ANC and SACP cadres on Robben Island in apartheid South Africa; the technocratic administrations from Gowon’s Nigeria to Idi Amin to Jerry Rawlings, Dr Augustine Neto and Felix Houmphoet Boigny. Many contributed to literature, philosophy, culture or history; valuing words highly. Amilcar Cabral, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and Jomo Kenyatta illustrate this. Quite a few regarded its provision and expansion as the most essential of priorities for their people from Thomas Sankara to Kenneth Kaunda to Frelimo. Indeed, in retaining international Oxbridge grade and Grand Ecole standards in their examinations, while Europa and the USA water down their exams, education (Outcomes Based Education etc),curriculums and university entrance levels; education –especially for those who have access, is generically superior, one has found from personal experience of being educated in Europe and Africa. University and schools are less regarded as a place to socialise –and prized for their education by our fellow Africans –especially without extravagant facilities; without electricity, under a tree –where the mind – (not the calculator or mind numbingly tapping in data input and computations into advanced computers/ other technology –but not understanding any of it) is utilised and enlightened, rather than suppressed and indoctrinated by rigidity and orthodoxy..The African Renaissance is only attainable through the selfless toil of individuals and of renowned academics –African –of whatever nation, race, gender, creed, education, belief or vocation; that believe in Africa; that remain loyal to Africa... that remain in Africa... –especially to formulate indigenous solutions to exogenous and endogenously imposed solutions... his has been a vision since Alexandria and Timbuktu... and the dreams of those such as the founder of Holism: Smuts and the founder of the Rhodes Scholarships: Cecil Rhodes to more contemporary exponents. Ever since Sir Frederick Lugard encountered Islamic schools in Nigeria in the 19th century, Europeans have been flabbergasted at Africa’s commitment to education. Between independence in 1960 and 1983; over 63,000,000 children according to UNESCO participated in education with an average 9% growth rate in enrolment –twice as much as estimates in Asia or Latin America... Under colonialism; The Gambia, Tanzania, Senegal, Mozambique and the Ivory Coast had over 90% illiteracy after centuries of European rule... Now; they have over -60 -70 or 80% literacy... In 1986, the Organisation of African Unity prompted by the eminent Nigerian virologist, Tomori sponsored the inaugural conference of African scientists. The Sahelian state of Bornu not only acquired firearms with its European counterparts but its leaders donated land to Islamic scholars who settled there; in order to cultivate self –sustaining scholarship.“A phone in the hand is worth more than a wallet in a pocket...”Allan Knot Craig, former Managing Director of Vodacom.When it comes to investment and technology, it is not Eurasia, Oceania and North America, that offers the most aureal prospects, it arises with our African hinterland –entirely consistent with one’s overall thesis. The advances in mobile banking, is but one of them. South Africa was the second world country –after the United Kingdom to officially adopt Japan’s voltage power optimisation and energy conservation technology in 2011. The Nigerian computer entrepreneur Seni Williams formed a partnership with Oracle Technology in the USA and has exported its African computer technology and flexible, online secure banking system where banks can adopt accounts to any product or service, to Ghana, Benin, Sierra Leone and even Slovakia. Nigeria is also renowned for its computing, technical and business innovation along with the companies of South Africa. There is also the first African space tourist and IT billionaire: Mark Shuttleworth who patented an internationally reputed Internet security network. South Africa’s Johan Raubanheimer galvanised pools around the world, responsible for their cleanliness by inventing the automatic pool cleaner. The South African CSIR –Council for Scientific and Industrial Research devised the tellurometer for surveying and the digital laser; but believing it should be available to the world in the spirit of true scholarship and science; it was soon copied by the non African world... G.B Lauf, the South African even received the US military Order of St Barbara for perfecting the use of Gyroscopic theodolites –accuracy over five times the original, for land surveying as a professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa and then setting up a US training school at Fort Still, North Carolina in the USA in the 1960’s and served in the US Eighth Air Force to update their surveillance techniques. Africa has not only no need of the external world; their very presence has often been regressive, stifling and responsible for the degenerating strife... Many of their proposed solutions or accomplishments have been pre-empted, refuted or identified by our own individuals: from Nyerere and the problems of foreign aid (Arusha Declaration) onward. The South African scholar Greg Mills for example pre-empted the main conclusions of the Commission for Africa and its Report. Since 1966 the Senegalese nuclear physicist, historian and philosopher: Cheikh Anta Diop –specialised in carbon 14 dating and low energy radioactivity in the IFAN (French Institute of Black Africa) Institute in Dakar, Senegal. In 1974, the First African International Conference on Science and Technology was initiated to target and aiding indigenous African approaches and solutions to science. This commitment was reemphasised with the 1979 Monrovia Strategy and the April 1980 Lagos Plan of Action and in Libreville 1981. A Plan to unite African scientific scholarship was drawn in 1986 –with the first conference linking the Network of African Scientific Organisations to their foreign counterparts.The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria is another venerable academic experimental facility in Africa founded in the 1970’s with over 150 academics committed to the agrarian revolution in Africa by assimilating local and international scholarship and research, autarchic in power, water, a hospital and school. Its triumphs include developing a tick vaccine, researching communication between humans and termites, -plus the proving of African farmer’s having greater efficiency –especially in agro-forestry (plants and trees complementing the productivity of each other in fields) –then the panoply of failed non African interventionists. It pioneered plant resistance cultivation =e.g. using the Reunion plant “la Revolution,” for countering maize streak virus, which won the King Badoiun international agrarian research prize in 1986. It has also targeted the insects behind cassava pestilence and blight. IITA also adapted soybeans (nodulating) to Africa’s soil –despite opposition by the plutocratic US agrarian lobby. The loyalty of those such as Dr Akinkuzi of the University of Ibadan, who turned down Oxbridge for Africa; deserves honouring.The Mali Empire was founded under the legendary Sundeita Keita, crippled and exiled from his home, reaching a population of around 20000 in the 11th century. Until its obliteration by the Tuareg in 1420 AD and the final 1591 invasion by Morocco, used gold and cowries for its currency, trading European cosmetics, Asian glass and textiles, Egyptian horses, North African dried fruit and leather along with Saharan salt and copper and its filigree wrought gold ornaments which surpass their modern descendents, where the Wangala merchant caste spread trading colonies. Its distinctive mud brick architecture can be demonstrated at Djenne’s Great Mosque –the largest in the world with several domed towers each with an ostrich egg topping it for fertility and prosperity. The original was built in 1240 under Koi Kunbora and replicated exactly twice –once in the 1820’s and another at the start of the 20th century. Mansa Musa’s reign between 1312 -1337 pinpointed the epicentre in terrain with flourishing mercantile cities such as the salt block mining and architectural capital Targhaza, Walata, Gao, Timbuktu and others. Such was the opulence of Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca, with an entourage of 12000 and 500 camels each with 300 pounds of gold, with 100 slaves holding golden staffs; that the profligate quantity of gold resulted in hyperinflation in Arabia and Aegyptus, -where the metals market was devalued by 12% and overall inflation rose by 10 -25%. Running out of money; he repaid 7 dinars interest for every 3 dinars borrowed. Death was commissioned for those who did not prostrate, wore sandals or sneezed in his presence. An Andalusian poet graced his court and a Moorish architect was imported to reconstruct the main cities. The mud architecture of places such as Djenne; is continuously renewed and remains practical for insulation and the wooden constructs also serve as external supporting scaffolding and palm wood pegs. It’s original Great Mosque and architecture was built around 900 years ago. More recently; its mayor has his own power to levy taxes and to influence provincial tax distribution. The cupola audience chamber at Niani, the mihrab in Gao and the mosques of Timbuktu were influenced by Arab architects, while the library endures as a tribute to this state ruled by intellectuals. The native metallurgy at Djenne involving arsenic worked leaded copper and brass; again derides the popularist myth that we Africans are too inept to have discovered this process without side;; a tribute that the many artistic masterpieces of the Cultural Odyssey chapter will further illuminate. The Dogon of Mali connects to their ancestors via their carvings and art and realised that preservation of their heritage, arts, crafts, village life and architecture –even if for tourists, can be enriching –in several ways. Their knowledge of astronomy, astrology and divination is even more impressive; given their comparative isolation from knowledge of the West, India or China. They also practised indigenous African democracy by consent in their Assembly (togurna). They also are noted for separating buildings into those accessible only to males and those accessible only to females. The Bandiagara cliff with Dogan architecture signals this. Jenne Jeno dates back to 250 BC. “To be President –he must be one of the People, so that he can know their real aspirations and help them to realise them. He must mould himself in the image of his people and not make his people; according to his own image of them...”Modibo Keita“Many people –including priests; have tried to create an artificial conflict between individual religions and between religion and socialism. The basis of religion is true fraternity –brotherhood and sisterhood between all humans. The basis of socialism is community between all humans. Religion indeed; constitutes the true base of socialism... A good Muslim or a good Catholic; must have a socialist soul.”Modibo KeitaModibo Keita of independent Mali 26 June 1960, aimed to prevent the army coups of most nations by creating a counterweight People’s Militia mobilising the youth. Its success, was forestalled as the army overthrew him to abolish it. Despite his Islamic purity, he understands the universal humanity of all faiths –and their necessity. His party was popular enough to win all seats at the first election of 1959. Between 1962 -1967, he sought to reduce economic dependency and enslavement on France, withdrawing from the franc zone and cutting off all diplomatic and commercial relations. He sought to create a federation with Guinea, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forsaking Malian suzerainty for a federal, united Africa in the spirit of Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba –until the perfidious assassination of the latter. He revived Malian culture (as outlined in the Cultural Odyssey) such as patronage of the known Sundeita Keita and the Mali Information Ministry in 1970 sponsoring an anthology of poetry, and with his several leader heirs and the South African government since 2003, to restore Timbuktu and its auspicious trove of manuscript scholarship. Mali achieved universal free primary education by the late 1980’s and an adult literacy campaign since 1960. A medical and pharmacy school was also set up with freedom from land rent, free electricity and water. Cost recovery programmes were initiated at the central Point G and Gabriel Toure hospitals.Modibo Keita (one of the prime Malian nationalists), was born in the capital Bamako in 1915. He was educated at one of the premier colonial African academies: the elite Ecole William Ponty in Dakar Senegal. In 1945, he helped to establish the RDA pan nationalist congress gathering and the Block Sudanese. In 1947, he was elected to represent Mali in the Territorial Assembly and became secretary and in 1957, he became a deputy; then Vice President of the French Empire National Assembly. In February1987, the finance minister Saoumona Sacko was personally charged with a popular mandate to fight smuggling and corruption. He froze state expenditures that were not official or justified; purged the corrupt and such was his zeal that not even the presidential plane and aides were spared from having luxury goods seized for not paying import duty. He grounded both the presidential plane and another suspected of illicit diamond smuggling. “You have to be very wary of Malians as they are like a spring... you can push them only so hard... but one day, that spring will uncoil and bounce, to kick you in the face...”Moussa Traore “Give me time to make contact with the people –and their wishes; -the people, for whom we have taking this step for democracy...”Amadou Toumani ToureMoussa Traore became President in April 1971 but was arrested by Colonel Amadou Toure on behalf of deme kratia –the power of the people in 1991. Colonel Toure presided over a 14 month transitional government and elections, before handing over to civilian president, a former teacher and historian: Alpha Oumar Konare in 1992. Despite being threatened with student protests, he refused to deploy the army and pressed for even greater powers for the judiciary, students and other ungrateful institutions such as the media, parliament and business. From 1991 -1995, cotton production expanded from 272000 tonnes to 400000 tonnes. Mali almost achieved self sufficiency in rice and in 1998, constructed its own Mantiani or hydroelectric dam. Yet Alpha Konare realised aid serves as nothing more as a means of dumping EU/ US surplus, destroying local agriculture, industry and commerce. Aid was channelled not into the ghastly white elephants of the IMF and World Bank or into foreign bank accounts, but into providing electricity and clean water to villages. Sabaliboyou led a 1990’s civil protest movement in Mali’s capital Bamako, to test the spirit of the Constitution against the poor being removed for urban improvements. Such was popular support and justice, that the court upheld the rights of the poor against government, the rich and businesses. “The situation is very difficult and very fragile. But I have never felt so sure that we have the means to resolve our own problems and Mali holds the key to its own future. We are not asking the international community for help to walk, only to stand up. We can do the walking ourselves.” “Our people can be proud of their ancestry and their accomplishments... Djenne and Timbuktu are there for all to witness... People, who know their own history as Malians do, develop a strong personality! That is why, I am so confident in our potential future...” President Alpha Oumar Konare May 1995He did not promise miracles and use that as an electoral campaign and the truth worked. Konare and his government even recovered ? 1.5000000 from Swiss bank accounts. Realising the prejudice of electoral funds being biased towards the ruling party; he sponsored giving a fairer distribution of public money to the opposition. Abroad, he even criticised Yoweri Museveni for not accelerating democracy at and OAU summit. One would have thought that the West for all its professed pledging of support to African democracies would have solicited respect to one who upheld it for ten years before passing it over to Amadou Toumani Toure who won the 2002 and 2007 elections. Yet, the external superpowers have always derided support for Africa –even those Africans who adopt their own policies, politically and economically. In fact, often it has been they who have obstructed our ardent quest for the Renaissance, meddling against our will by supporting autocracy hypocritically such as Abacha, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor and Mugabe in exchange for plundering our natural and cultural heritage –such as the millions of resources filched from us and within museums. Yet Mali’s presidents since independence have believed in the restoration of the glories of the Malian Empire and historical heritage, not for tourists but for the people... without plundering the artefacts for themselves... Nor have most leaders since independence who have founded or restored memorials and monuments within our history. When tuition fees and compulsory school uniforms were abolished in 1994, enrolment grew from 1.9 000000 to 3.2000000/“We are here to identify the problems. What we guarantee is good management. A healthy democracy requires a strong opposition.“I have no illusions about the difficulties involved in governing democratically but there are no exceptions from the effort required to build Mali democratically, without repression... I am practically in the position of the driver who must keep swerving to avoid running people over, who just wait in the road... I am trying to move the country forward... but that will require patience and time. The more I try to avoid colliding, the more the opposition get in the way, instead of assisting...“Three years may not seem like a very long time to globalised First World people dressed in expensive suits, who sit around conference tables, discussing the fortune of vulnerable African countries such as ours, but for Malians... three years makes all the difference in the world... The price of just one of those expensive jet fighters; that the US is always buying superfluously could make a huge difference to a country such as ours”... “Half my country is unemployed –despite all of the adopted “Western reforms”! Democracy must be able to deliver some material progress and to give us a genuine chance at a brighter future, if it is to have any meaning and value to Africans...”President Alpha Oumar Konare It has been the proud vision and aspiration of those from Kwame Nkrumah, Haille Selassie, Cecil Rhodes, Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral; to their modern successors of Presidents Mbeki, Museveni, Afwerki, Gaddafi and Obasanjo to aspire to the unification of Africa –to transcend all boundaries and frontiers. Politically; this was seen in the venerable Organisation of African Unity –which predates European incumbents; founded in Addis Ababa (as seen in the Ethiopian Exception Chapter) in 1963. Such was the support by African nations to it, that Tanzania even devoted 1 % of its budget to finance the OAU. It prevailed in its cardinal aims: to remove all colonial powers: the Spanish from Equatorial Guinea; the French and British from their territories (the British with the High Commission Territories in 1968 –the French with Djibouti in 1977), of the Portuguese from Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea and Mozambique (1975) of South Africa from Namibia (1990) and finally; the end to Apartheid itself –in 1994. No can deny; that via their support of these liberation movements and consistent loyalty in denouncing apartheid South Africa’s policies, the Organisation succeeded –without exogenous factors in liberty in Africa: -giving Africa the freedom to determine its own mistakes; its own dreams –but most of all: its own destiny... This transpired in their enshrinement of national sovereignty in the founding Charter:I: Absolute equality and sovereignty of African states! (This is noticeably different in the structure of the United Nations where 5 permanent countries have the right of veto: The United Kingdom, France, the USA, Russia and China and there are 10 other rotating members on the UN Security Council, as opposed to the General Assembly. It is also evident in the G8, EU etc...) II: The right of each African state –to exist and not be invaded by another.III: Voluntary union of one state with another!IV: Non –interference in the domestic affairs of a member state.V: No state to harbour dissidents from another... and unreserved condemnation of political assassination and other subversive activities which seek to undermine the foundations/ autonomy of member countries... on the part of neighbouring countries –or any other country.VI: Absolute dedication to the liberation and total independence of African territories, not yet free...VII: Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state, with its inalienable right to independence.VIII: Peaceful settlement of disputes through diplomatic forums: by negotiation, mediation, arbitration or conciliation!Tenets of the OAU Founding Charter, Inaugurated under Haille Selassie I, Addis Ababa 1963 AD. Many are quick to condemn the failure of the Organisation of African Unity in always protecting the best interests of its members, the continent and its people. However; it is always more arduous and rarer to find examples of successful diplomacy, which aimed at peace and stability through conflict resolution or prevention. In the spirit of the African Renaissance; can be illuminated the following examples as well as others documented elsewhere in this treatise and under Magistra Clio with Chronus; all of which testify to the victories our pan African organisations as well as individuals have had in resolving its own issues of foreign affairs –without foreigners. Since the inception of the 1964 OAU Commission for Arbitration and Conciliation, it has preserved the adherence to its outline, including the avoiding of war by Somalia seeking to reunify all Somali’s –including those on sovereign Kenyan and Ethiopian terrain. Both Haille Selassie I and Modibo Keita (of Mali) resolved the Moroccan –Algerian potential border crisis in 1964 and in 1973. Haille Selassie also acted as an OAU peace emissary to reconcile Nigeria with those such as Tanzania, Zambia and the Ivory Coast – (who had supported the Biafran secession in the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970). The OAU will also be remembered in its uniting of virtually all African nations and the world against apartheid, the way it championed and publicised the cause of SWAPO and Namibia, urging the UN to enact Resolution 476 and the international denial of official recognition of SA created Bantustan “independence.” It is also admirable as champions of African justice calling upon the international community to recompensated Rwanda for perpetuating the genocide. It will be recognised as serving African interests, in contrast to the United Nations which still hosts scepticism towards Africa, as clarified in the formation of the African Development Bank and resolutions which pressurised independence of the former colonies of Ruanda –Urundi, Angola, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe.The main exception to the policy of non interference and respect for domestic sovereignty in the African Union is enshrined in the following Article IV of the African Union constitution: “The right of a Union to intervene in a member state pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances: namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.”It’s strengthened descendent; the African Union was launched in Durban 2002 AD (2755 AUC) with the same visions of winning independence in Africa a single continental currency –and African army. After the Rwandan genocide of 1994 (2747 AUC) (; where the vaunted UN botched spectacularly ;) the AU pledged that it would not be repeated and become the first pan country/ supranational organisation to intervene in a country for crimes against humanity –such as genocide. It helped arrange the first free presidential elections in 2760 AUC in the Congo since President Kasavubu was voted with Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 2704 AUC. There have been few diversions in boundaries over five decades of independence. An example of the African Commitment was the overthrow of Joseph Mobutu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998 by the African patriots the Rwandan Popular Front under General Paul Kagame. Both the CIO under Mugabe and the South African Intelligence Service, foiled the attempt of SAS trained mercenaries and British SAS led (as detailed in Adam Robert’s book: “The Wonga Coup”); endorsed by the British Sir Mark Thatcher; in seeking to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea and replace it. The mercenaries received African justice for foreign meddling –in being incarcerated in Africa’s infamous prisons: Malabo’s Playa Negara and Harare’s Chikuribi. For those quick to point out the flaws of the African Union; -at least it has not been compromised in its integral autonomy, like other multi- country congresses. President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt worked to negotiate peace in the Middle East. After all, how many victories in addressing the planet’s problems can the United Nations really claim?The Kimberly Protocol against blood diamonds from places such as the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and “Zimbabwe,” has been more honoured by SA than London or Amsterdam. The African Renaissance Institute was founded in Gaborone Botswana to continue the dream of those from Nkrumah to Mbeki and is chaired by a former Zambian ambassador Kapembe Nsingo. The Custom’s and Economic Union of Central Africa survives forty years later comprised of Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Chad and Gabon. OCAM was founded June 27th 1966 to unite Africa’s islands by trade relations.“While cooperating with all states and international organisations, African states must not accept formulae that perpetuate colonial regimes or sow seeds of division among our countries...”Emperor Haille SelassieOther political formations include the sponsorship of a joint African intelligence or counterinsurgency unit based in Harare in 2006, with particular emphasis on “terrorism” and “terrorists.” (Africa with its centuries tradition of religious tolerance for Islam and its higher proficiency at diplomacy, has unsurprisingly incurred far less assaults –at African targets, than its Asian, European and American counterparts.) The Congo Brazzaville Group, served as a precursor of regional continental solidarity The original Casablanca (Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Algeria, Egypt and Libya) and Monrovia (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Libya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Togo, Tunisia, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal). Groups were formed in 1961 and differed in their response –with the former favouring a more radical joint political and foreign policy integration, while the latter favoured mainly economic cohesion. Yet African has demonstrated an impressive five decades of collective unity for the majority of countries in foreign affairs, regardless of internal or minor exceptions. The Permanent Interstate Sahel Drought Committee involves all –even peripheral members affected such as Nigeria, the Gambia and Guinea; since September 1974, in an African attempt to reverse desertification and its consequences.“We know that even after our independence has been achieved that African Personality, which we would build up will depend upon the consolidation of our unity, not only in sentiment but in fact. We know that a balkanised Africa, however loudly it might proclaim to the world its independence and all that, will in fact be an easy prey to the forces of neo-imperialism. The weak and divided can never hope to maintain a dignified independence however much they may proclaim their desire to be strong and united; for the desire to unite –is very different from actual unity. One can see the forces of neo-imperialism threatening these little states in Africa; making them complacently smug in this mere sentimental desire to be one, and at the same time, doing everything possible to prevent the realisation of that unity...”Julius Nyerere, Second Conference of Independent African States 1960All of this appears glaringly obvious but it only illuminates and re-iterates that basic proponent that Africa is evidently conscious of what it needs to attempt. Multiple publications by alien foreigners have only revealed the answers with hindsight, solutions that we Africans pre-empted –decades, centuries or aeons ago... Vigilance necessitates that we Africans clarify this to the world and we resist the mistaken attempts which only forestall the ardent quest and pursuit of the African Renaissance. Economic entities include SADCC –which worked to reduce dependency on the economic colossus of apartheid and post 1994 South Africa; ECOWAS and the Mano River Union in West Africa –and the East African Community –for Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Emperor Haille Selassie introduced the African Development Bank. ECOWAS was founded in May 1975 by Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gabon, Mali, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, adopting a collective 3rd party customs and trade policy and allowing for common citizenship, currency and the freedom of movement of labour. Others included the Senegal River Development Organisation SADC (Southern African Development Committee), the Southern African Customs Union, COMESA –common Market for East and Southern Africa, CEPGL – (Economic Community of the Great Lake Countries and CEMAC –Central African Economic and Monetary Committee –all of which have promoted regional trade and growth with laudable effort. The Lome Accords negotiated in Togo involved the OAU and NEPAD. The 1974 Lome Convention united the majority of African nations in their foreign affair approaches to those of the EEC, Caribbean and Pacific.“An important aspect of Pan Africanism is the revival and development of the “African Personality,” temporarily submerged during the colonial period. It finds re-expression in a re-awakening consciousness among Africans –of all races; and of African descent of the bonds which, unite us –our historical past, our culture, our common experiences and our aspirations...”Kwame Nkrumah 1962It is brilliant to note that Africa cares more than the G 8 about emasculating corruption and graft –not only in certain individuals and leaders but in the Peer Review Development Mechanism –the public results of which, are freely published for public consumption. 29 African countries have consented so far at this probing tribunal of efficiency –the first in the world to involve heads of state as counterweights to each other. Also –of 29 countries to ratify the UN Convention against Corruption –guess how many of the G8 have ratified it? Zero, Zilch, Zip; nothing –not one! Guess how many African countries have? 15 –more than half of the ratifying total; have signed it. 36 have signed the African Union’s own Convention against embezzlement and the NEPAD Action Plan. The African Union has set its own African Court and Charter of African and People’s Human Rights. Thabo Mbeki even fired his vice president on possible corruption charges and neither he, nor Afwerki, Mandela, Senghor, Nyerere, many leaders of the True Whig Party and Liberia, Sankara, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, any of South Africa’s prime ministers since Union or Rhodesia’s etc can be accused of the same. The Mo Ibrahim Prize for Good Governance is awarded to the African statesman, who most distinguishes himself on behalf on his people. One has yet to see a European, Asian or American incentive equivalent.“Today we look to the future calmly, confidently, and courageously. We look to the vision of Africa –not merely free, but united! We know that there are differences among us. Africans enjoy different cultures... distinctive values... special attributes. But we also know that unity can also be attained among humans of different origins, races, religion, cultures and traditions and that there are no overwhelming obstacles to the coming together of people. History teaches us that unity is strength and cautions us to put aside our differences in the quest for common goals... It is our duty and our privilege to awaken the slumbering giant of Africa... to the vision of a single African brotherhood bending its united efforts towards the achievement of a greater and nobler goal...’Emperor Haille Selassie: Foundation of the Organisation of African Unity, Addis Ababa 1963 The Oxbridge of the African Renaissance is more than merely the academic enclaves of Kano, Sokoto and Timbuktu... It is more than merely Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda or those of Ibadan and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria – or the universities of the Witwatersrand, Cape Town and Kwa Zulu Natal which rank in the top 500 in the world... Surprisingly, it consists of more than merely the scientific discoveries and entrepreneurship that individuals, companies, organisations and governments of Africa, with Africans have entailed and given to the world... which as an intellectual trove, is truly the testimonial to the African Renaissance, outlined in this chapter... The plethora of unifying entities –economic, social and cultural –including the African Union, SADCC, ECOWAS –and even the military ECOMOG peace keepers that restored peace to Liberia and Sierra Leone, must also be included as achievements in the ideals of African solidarity; expressed by Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Pixley Seme, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and Julius Nyerere! Finally too, there are the own African engineered initiatives: including a joint multi country intelligence unit, NEPAD, the Peer Review Mechanism, the way of diplomacy and Arusha, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission instead of reprisal and vengeance: and the definitive cause of the African Renaissance itself“Our freedom stands open to danger just as long as the independent states of Africa remain apart... I am convinced that the forces making for unity constantly outweigh those, which divide us. In meeting fellow Africans from all parts of the continent, I am constantly impressed by how much we have in common... It is not just our colonial past, or the fact that we have aims in common, it is something which goes far deeper... I can best describe it as a sense of oneness: that we are Africans... Pan-Africa –not Pan-Europa should be our watchword, and the guide to our policies...”Kwame Nkrumah 1963ASHANTE, BENIN AND THE GOLDEN STOOL: (African Democracy and Revolt), Equatorial Guinea (and Other West African Empires): “The city of Benin seems to be very great as you enter it; you go into a great broad thoroughfare, seven to eight times larger than Amsterdam’s Warmoestraat. The inhabitants are very consciousable and they do no wrong to each other; neither do they harass or take anything from strangers; for if they did; they would afterwards be put to death, for they lightly judge one for doing any wrong. The king’s palace is on the right side of the capital; as you leave by the Gates of Gotto Gwato. It is a collection of buildings which occupies as much space as the town of Harlem in Holland and is enclosed. There are numerous apartments for the Prince’s ministers and fine galleries; enclosing courtyards; most of which are as big as the Exchange in Amsterdam. The inhabitants of this kingdom; if possessed of any riches; eat and drink very well. The common victuals of the rich include mutton, beef or chickens and yams for their bread. When they have boiled them and beat very finely; these become fine cakes; they frequently entertain one another and impart a proportion of their superfluity that necessity dictates.” 16th century visitor’s account of Benin City. The Kingdom of Asante over 100000 square miles long, dates back to the first federation of 1680 under the Asantehene Osei Tutu and the control of the gold mines. It would remain the symbol of democracy along with Liberia, in Africa reaching full autonomy by 1818 under King Gezo. The Asantehene presided from the golden stool at Kumasi, with talisman sandals, gold finger rings and silver neck-plates, with 77 subordinate stools for high officials from the local regional chiefs to the Chief of Lamplighters and the Chief of the Royal Burial Grove. The Keepers of the Golden Stool supervised defence, tradition and prevented any occupant of a stool –up to the Asantehene from abusing his power as a constitutional lawgiver and law obeyer, – hostile to the people. Both the Royal family and the keepers had separate musket bearing armies to counter each other. The successful candidate would choose a name of prestige linked to one formerly of the stool. Lightly touching it on his behind, this symbolised his own fleeting mortality compared to the nation’s immortality.” Yet the Keepers and the people would always retain the powers of veto and appointing a replacement, along with determining foreign affairs. Potential heirs or rulers could not lead or influence destoolment measures. The deposed was then lead away from the palace and capital, then exiled to a new capital. King Ghele was fined for the discourtesy of not halting his journey to ask permission to pass through territory and in addition, for also not assisting in the construction of public works –a traditional Ashante custom invoked of passing travellers. “We do not wish that the Asantehene should disclose or favour the origin or ethnicity of any person.” “We do not wish that he should curse us.”“We do not wish him to be greedy.”“We do not wish that he should refuse to listen to advice.”“We wish that he will always have time for his advisors.”Intoned by the okyeane or linguist, for the people; in the Enthronement Ceremony.The process itself of removing the Asantehene was known as destooling from the elaborate Golden Stool, with opulent palanquin cushions, elephant tails, tasselled canopy and umbrella crest is the finest of extant carved African thrones, a befitting process of this indigenous, constitutional African democracy and monarchy. The umbrella marked a title of military privilege – only captains and above were permitted them and they grew more sumptuous with rank. His palace spanned a three mile boundary circumference with 12 gates, each lined with avenues of clay embedded skulls while the central wing composed a 431 metre facade with raffia palm galleries. There were the royal barracks, tombs, necropolis, storehouses, arsenal, and separate quarters for various members of the court, female servitors and different stages of the royal family –adolescence, the queen, the king, the queen mother, distant princesses, youth etc... equivalent to its rival at Versailles. While the capital Abomey included over 50000 at its zenith, the royal estate could house an estimated 7000 to 8000. It contained many of the features of a modern state and society, with its permanent army and civil service, its embassies, its codified law and order, well defined boundaries and language. It even had a postal service, a system of supply depots and a network of roads along with an efficient tax revenue collection and an annual census using pebbles to represent individuals. For at least 150 years; Dahomey stabilised prices with nominal inflation and a stable currency where 32000 cowries equated to four British pound sovereigns or one ounce of gold. The minister of agriculture –post of Tokpo, presided over the goal of food autarchy and was responsible for crop experiments in millet, yam, cassava and palm oil production two centuries before the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture was founded in Nigeria. Under the 30 year rule of Opuku Ware, Ashante would annex the principalities of Gonja, Namnba and Dagomba so that at its zenith it would cover over 100000 square miles and have an estimated 2 -300000 people. What remains unique to Asante’s kingdom is its depiction as the African Sparta with one of the few to have a permanent army of 5000 –whose “Amazon” warriors entrusted with safeguarding it, were female, from their zenith in the 17th and 18th century, to their defeat by the British in 1892. Asante knew the multiple advantageous reasons for entrusting the security of the kingdom to a female rather than male army, an example that remains rare or distinctive in the history of the world, who always favoured men with that distinctive honour. It avoided coups, the sense of rape inflicted on a civilian population, pillaging and other features. They traditionally started as elephant huntresses under King Weybuya. After a series of defeats and military campaigns, the kingdom of Dahomey experienced a manpower shortage. King Agaja in an attempt to reverse his misfortunes; used the huntresses as a basis for the nucleus of a modern army against King Huffen of Whydah in 1727 and 1729. They also defeated a British army in 1824.They won their battle –first by confusing the men. They would then expand Dahomey through diligent military effort until the final defeat by the French in 1892, dextrous with swords, clubs, bows and arrows and muskets –the weapon of all eighteenth and nineteenth European Wars, the American Revolution of 1776 and the 1861 -1865 Civil War. They were conferred upon all manner of privileges and distinctions including baggage caravans and servants won in battle –up to 50 attendants each. They had two uniforms –one for parade and one for combat –and these changed between individual battle units, with their own bands, songs and dances. Mock battles provided combat simulation rehearsals. The privilege of rank –while men were confined to millet beer and palm wine; some of Africa’s finest –female warriors gained access to the finest tobacco, rum, gin and brandy imported from Europe and the Confederacy of America. Women in Dahomey occupied prominence in every social, political and economic spheres –as hoers, artisans, merchants, servitors, court officials, porters, field hands and the army –even doctors, two centuries before they would be common in Europe. It was a mark of social distinction and protocol that females of any rank took precedence over their male peers –they were viewed as more reliable and trustworthy then men, inspecting those males and holding them accountable. Even the queen mother outranked the king. They formed the role of the police, palace guard and military yet when not fighting, many of the soldiers had an occupation or profession. In fact, they were used as espionage agents for assassinations and intelligence gatherings as males would underestimate them –to their demise. There were only a handful of male palace and court staff such as the grand chamberlain and major-domo or Tounonu–and male servants could not reside within the royal estate. The kingdom of Dahomey had a mere two crimes involving the death penalty during the 18th century, while England had over 300 (including impersonating an Egyptian). It also had a system of literacy of over 135 symbols and a preserved standardised gold series of weights and measures.A singular mark of political maturity in indigenous Africa, are many examples of constitutional monarchies with democratic councils to provide political restrictions as indicated in the model above. A few of these are illustrated in the following! These all epitomise the ability of those governing to rule by popular suffrage, involvement and consensus. Many of Africa’s great leaders –Shaka, Cetshawayo, Sir Tshekedi Khama, Sir Seretse Khama and Nelson Mandela –as well as the Oba of Benin, the Asantehene of Asante, the kings of Rwanda, Burundi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Buganda and the pharaohs of Egypt came from royal backgrounds, which prepared them for power, influenced by the wishes of the people... The Mandinka Empire (2623 -2641 AUC/ 1870 01898 AD) renowned for the Diula craftsmen, was formed of autonomous village communities similar to the Swiss canton model. Supervising them were the parallel religious, military and civil authorities, with the Almani at the apex. The Gold Coast currency system was as sophisticated and as solvent as its rivals abroad.The history of African vassalage is the history –not of subjugation but the history of passive resistance; defiance and rebellion! Perhaps it can be stated that we whose freedom has been so recently won; value it more than those such as Europe, who are prepared to sell suzerainty to the European Union and others prepared to sell it to China, the USA or globalisation itself. There are myriad examples such as the First Chirumenga spearheaded against the Pioneer Column in Rhodesia, the Boers and Zulu’s in their wars against the British and the 1900 uprising of the Asante on the Gold Coast. They include the 1904 Herero uprising against the Germans in Southwest Africa (Namibia), the 1905-1907 Maji Maji Rebellion, the Baoule of the Ivory Coast until 1911, and the Mau Mau Rebellion in East Africa in 1952/1953. It included Cameroon from 1956-1958 and the Algerian war of independence led by the FLN from 1954-1962. There is also Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976. Africa has a fine patriotic heritage of avoiding outsiders and far from being considered barbaric or asinine; has many historical examples of strength and defying outsiders. The 300 strong boats of the Mane invasion fleet in Sierra Leone points to this. Poisoned arrows were tenaciously used against the first Portuguese incursions and they had no trouble in penetrating Portuguese armour.The Ethiopian emperors; the kingdoms of Ashante, the Kongo and of Madagascar, have all proven their existence for centuries, even millennia as able to withstand the Northern sector with their adapting armies and superior generalmanship. Guerrilla generals and master strategists such as the Boers –Jan Smuts, Paul Kruger etc and the Carthaginians –Hamilcar, Hasrubdral, Hannibal or the Zulus under Cetshawayo and Shaka the Great–to name a few; -noticeably African, are capable of defeating the greatest of foreign colonial powers –whether it be the Romans, the Italians, the British or French. Africa adopted the new Age of Gunpowder as fast as contemporary Europe –despite propaganda to the contrary, with musketeers appearing in Sierra Leone as early as 1667. The King of the Sabu, on the Gold Coast even sent musketeers to help the Dutch. The 18th century army of Benin’s Akware had them. Under Jose I of the Congo –all 30000 had muskets. Both they and the Sogo had captured artily from 1670 onwards and soon devised their own. Colonialism may have won Africa but it was not destined to do so without a protracted series of campaigns. Bedouins in Libya challenged Italian occupation until 1931, Sudan’s Dinka rebelled until 1927, the Igbo of Nigeria until 1919 and the Senegalese Jola until 1930. It may have won against our people but we finally vanquished it –through peace constitutionally, through, defiant revolution and through guerrilla campaigns and war. Many such as the Uogoo of East Africa had nothing but supreme disdain for their German and British purported occupiers and rather than submit to chiefs; nominated the most unpopular person as a false chief –hiding the identities of the real elders to impose taxes and receive threats/ blame. Thus, they didn’t mind lynching that collaborationist or letting the British/ Germans do so, when they resisted. The Masai too, had no chief tradition; so when the British preferred autocracy; they protested in their defence and culture of consensus participation.For the first 6 years of African independence 1956-1962, Africa preserved democracy and political/ economic stability. What many outsiders fail to realise is that in many countries, a single liberation movement predominated in gaining concessions from colonialism and was responsible for independence in many colonial territories. Thus, it was only natural that they would democratically win the majority of seats –in a number of cases: even all of the seats. One party states were thus often popularly endorsed initially from Tanzania to Guinea Bissau. In other cases such as Kenya, Zambia and the Ivory Coast internal democracy via multiple candidates was offered but opposition voluntarily joined itself in a sense of unity. Mauritius and the Gambia had historically successful coalition governments, while others from Cameroon, Togo ad the Sudan carefully balanced ethnic coalitions Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone had frequent periods of democracy while Swaziland and Morocco were constitutional parliamentary democracies, while opposition was always permissible in South Africa, Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe, Botswana –preserver of tribal kgotlas and Namibia (since 1977). Movements such as in Mozambique Frelimo, the PAIGCV in Cape Verde and CLSTP in Sao Tome and Principe remained based on genuinely. Uganda under Museveni even had no political parties but allowed individuals and alliances political freedom. The Seychelles and Libya among others adopted a top downwards approach to political pluralism.In terms of political longevity and survival from the 6 terms of Liberian President Tubman to that of other African leaders, their consummate political maturity and astute intelligence is evident –generically more elevated than many so called democratic leaders... At least, our leading politicians have always been fascinating and worthy of interest, those who have had the decency to make politics in Africa far more satisfying than the mediocre nonentities of Europe and Oceania who by their passive inactivity and lack of tangible incremental spark, or dynamic charisma, deserve the oblivion that Chronus and the Muses have reserved for them. There is often something to be said for the majority of leaders since freedom was won, whether they participated in the liberation crusade, or the jihad of reconstructing and modernising their nations, or stability, personally –or even conceding power gracefully when necessity prompted... This volume concentrates on the highlights and efforts that Africans –our scholars, our leaders, our people, our society and our history... Yet there are examples of African leaders who have voluntarily conceded their power, whether or not they had to. Julius Nyerere, Ahidjo in Cameroon and Leopold Senghor in Senegal. Nelson Mandela of all people, who was imprisoned for over 27 years, stepped down after a mere 1 term of five years. Even President Jacob Zuma has gracefully conceded having one term. In the 1990’s Kenneth Kaunda, Hastings Banda and others all conceded that their time was over and withdrew from politics without dispute. Democracy was not our failure! In Africa; military regimes have often countered the venality of civilian regimes –acting often as purifying scourges before conceding power. From Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso to Jerry Rawlings in Ghana –intervening twice to Olusenjo Obasanjo in Nigeria all sort to check the graft and revive their countries. Paul Kagame in Rwanda, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia, Isias Afwerki in Eritrea, Meles Zenari in Ethiopia and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda all presided over remarkable process of healing, integration and reconstruction.Africa’s approach to democracy –is more mob based and since the days of a village tree does not always necessarily express itself in formal political factions. Trade Unions such as COSATU, long after they lost power under Reagan, Thatcher and the influx of the commercial tosh pulped out by the Chinese; continue to play a role in Africa ever since Tom Mboya declared a role for them. In Zimbabwe, they now form part of the coalition government under Morgan Tshangvari. In South Africa, they continue to influence the social, economic and political factors, as part of the ruling tripartite alliance. Their heroism refused to allow the delivery of Chinese arms to Mugabe who betrayed his earlier principles and people from Durban Harbour. It is the unions and the people, who act as visible checkpoints via toy toying against insufficient service delivery and municipal/ local government nepotism and racketeering. Sometimes, it is not through trade unions but through various Churches, civil society or popular uprisings arising from the people themselves, as seen in the decade of the 1990’s where the majority of African countries were forced to concede a change in policy and leadership to their populace. That is the popular will in Africa –not meaningless petitions, easily ignored by the so called tribunes of the people but strikes, protest rallies and action.It has often been the role of youth from schoolchildren in Namibia and elsewhere, to the great revolts in the Central African Republic that toppled Bokassa over uniforms and the 1976 Soweto youth riots with the butchering of Hector Peterson, involving over 15000 school children who refused to accept the indoctrination of all school subjects into a language of those that had muzzled their freedom and used nowhere else in the world; instead of English and their own. This also manifests itself with the students of the new Arab Spring; that have also fought for freedom in Africa over indoctrination, repression or abuse who toppled Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.Africa has the potential to become a united continent, its own economic colossus and superpower. It more than any other, has viewed the Chinese for the environmental, economic and cultural threat it has become. It alone has often compelled Asia and US in concessions –convicting the Chinese for smuggling illegal workers, the Japanese for illegal poaching –overfishing and convincing the US Wal-Mart to accept enforced job security for locals.The fabled kingdom of Benin was founded around 1300 CE by Oba Ewelo I, who founded a new palace and walled capital. His successor Ewedo enhanced the powers of the monarchy; transforming it into a spiritual theocracy on divine rule and reserving the prerogatives of titles to the Oba, in the basis of power for around the next 600 years. The kingdom was governed by the Palace Chiefs: Eyhaevo Nogbe; the Iwaqua or royal court staff and the Town Chiefs: Eyhaevo Nove. The 710 year old Linear Earth boundaries of the Benin kingdom are over 16000 km? of the world’s largest earthworks and over 75,000,000 metres ? of earth was removed to make it. This achievement surpasses the bastion defences of Hadrian’s Wall and the Great Wall of China. The palace of 100 courtyards was surrounded by a 10 kilometre walled ramparts and five storey deep moat and the circumference of the capital city walls exceeded 6 miles, with its guilds quarter and Uwelo –palace suburb reserved for the queen mother and members of the royal family. Benin was so regarded in Europe; that it exchanged ambassadors with Portugal as early as 1486. Its textiles during the 16th century; were so fine that they were regarded as purer than any comparable product of Europe. Both the economies of Asante and Benin - (up to its peak under Akwenza I), with elaborate networks of toll posts, were sophisticated enough not to rely on indentured labour or the slave trade; as the US, Tsarist Russia, Europe and modern China are, trading pepper, ivory, brass artefacts and art in exchange for firearms and fine Indian muslin and silk.Ewuare the Great extended the frontiers to incorporate the smiths and craftsmen of the Yoruba and Igbo in modern Nigeria along with his heirs Ozolua the Conqueror and Esiye –stretching 80 leagues long and forty leagues wide according to contemporary Portuguese accounts. To prevent a rebellion, the Oba sovereign only allocated territory not in single portions, but in series of estates and villages scattered around the empire. The Oba of Benin held an annual Igwe festival to renew patriotism to which foreigner interlopers such as the British; were rigorously excluded from. The brass plaques, the bronze sculptures, are ceremonially used to illustrate royal dynasties of the Oba, warriors and mortuary epitaphs representing natural forms rather than stylised eulogies. This art was so highly viewed by the British that they looted as much as they could in the destruction of Benin City by them in 1897 driving the Oba Ovonrramwen into exile. Eweko II regained the throne under the British and sought to preserve the artistic capabilities and heritage of the Kingdom of Benin. Without colonial support; he single handedly founded the Benin School of Arts and Crafts so that the skills of ivory carving and brass casting would remain to this day. Their first priority; which they triumphed in; was to replicate all of the embezzled court treasures. The bronze and copper metallurgy of Ife (Guinea) includes busts that predate Christopher Columbus. The 1053 Wasser Stone Circles are over 1250 years old, involving the erection of stones up to 10 tons, as stelae“I warn you that if one of our villages is torched by your French cannons; we will march upon you and crush Porto Novo and its several villages that belong to it. We will vaporise the many French occupied villages that deserve independence and return their leadership to me; the rightfully elected King of Dahomey. I request you to keep calm and do your business in Porto Novo. That way we can remain in peace. But if you want war; if you want to seize Dahomey; I am ready. I will not finish it. I will fight for Dahomey if it kills 20000 of my men and if it lasts a hundred years. I will not submit to the French! I will never surrender! The last king of Dahomey Behan 1889 resisting the FrenchIn 1961, Dahomey formed a customs union and mutual hydroelectric scheme. Independence brought a series of civilian governments beginning with the coalition government of Hubert Maga with Sourou Migan Apithy. In 1962, minister’s and civil service salaries were cut. The literati of the country under colonial and postcolonial times were known for their proficiency and took part in uplifting Africa. Apithy then assumed the presidency and Justin Ahomadegbe became prime minister due to protests by the army and a popular uprising. In Dahomey/ Benin, General Soglo from 22 December 1965, under a military and technocrat coalition government, set a personal example of endurance and work ethic on public projects. First he personally took part in agriculture and the harvest in the “Return to the Fields” and then transport in “Operation Roads and Bridges.” He was then replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Alphonse Alley and Major Maurice Koundete who prepared the country for civilian elections in 1968.As all three first leaders contested the presidency and threatened stability, Emile Zinsou became President until 10 December 1969 for President Koundete. Finally, elections were held in 1970 and civil war was averted by an unusual consensus amid the three main contenders of 1968 -Apithy, Maga and Ahomadegbe, to consent to a presidential council of the 3 –the head of state would rotate, serving for 2 years each. Until 1982; there were no deaths in any of the 6 coups –there were no politically motivated deaths. Life expectancy in Benin augmented from 37 years to 49 years along with 64% in primary school and 19% secondary under Kerekou. He guaranteed foreign investment plus reduced state employment and the number of Parastatals. Those with a conflict of economic, social or personal interests could not become politicians or members and were definitively prohibited from state tenders or contracts, which reduced corruption substantially. They were forbidden even from having non Benin wives or being members of any secret society such as the Freemasons which might precipitate divided loyalties. Under Kerekou, Benin avoided the fate dictated by the attempted coup of the French Bob Denard and his South African and European mercenaries, which with Western support; threatened many African independent states –he was sentenced to death in absentia for his crimes against Africa.“Pluralism –cultural, economic, religious, artistic, political, historic... does not come to any society... to any territory... any part of Africa but is inherent in every society. The alleged “encounter” of African civilisation with European civilisation is really just another false impression; the actuality of encounter derives from a mutation within African civilisation (the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians and other avid participants of Africa unite with those of Phoenicia, India, the Orient and China –with the voyages of Admiral Zheng He to refute it)... Far from having come to Africa, with colonialism, it is highly probable that cultural and other forms of pluralism already existed in Africa; but were checked and impoverished by colonialism and neo-colonialism’s advent, which artificially reduced it to a confrontation between two poles, one dominant –and the other: dominated.”Beninese Philosopher Paulin J HountondjiIn 1991, Benin gained a new democratic government peacefully and without external assistance. Its economy and press are still liberalised. Mathieu Kerekou (ascender of 1972, born in 1934 with Koufra Afakero Province, and was educated in the Sudan and Senegal), sought to abolish witchcraft practises still flourishing in Benin. Later in 1991, he abdicated peacefully to the new presidential incumbent Soglo and apologised publically for abusing public trust and power. An independent –non politically, martial and non commercial candidate: Yayi Boni achieved the presidency 5 years ago; which would be impossible to accomplish in the First World where to be nominated or endorsed –is unimaginable without corporate backing and without alignment to one of the few parties/ factions that have a reasonable chance of winning –as remarkable as President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia in 2005, when the women coordinated to rid themselves of decades of masculine ineptitude. The country now has over 100 legal political parties. It is also a sign of political maturity that since 1999, no outside country has felt the need to send international observers to legitimise the electoral process –now viewed as credible by the world.... Kerekou won the presidency in 1997 and sacked several ministers as well as the head directors of four major state corporations for graft.Djenno Jeno as an African commercial city thrived for over 1600 years since its inception around 453 AUC, expanding over 69 hectares and with over 30000 residents. This is made more distinctive by its unusual lack of domination by religious control –lacking a dominant temple and by lacking a military citadel. In addition to faience glazed ceramics, fired clay weights, spindle whorls and loom weights for weaving have been found. Nationalism in Equatorial Guinea stated with its first party the IPGE formed in 1960 under Luis Maho and later Macias Nguema. In 1963, the rival MUNOE under Boniface Ondo Edo. In 1967, the Fernando Democratic Union and the Bubi Union were formed. Equatorial Guinea gained its independence from Spain under Macias Nguema in 1968 under a coalition government with Altare Ndato of MONASSE as Prime Minister. The fate of Equatorial Guinea was not helped by the departure of 7000 -8000 Spanish Guineans who let within two years rather than display loyalty to their country. In 1969, the National Scientific Expedition completed an extensive geophysical survey of potential minerals and resources under Mba Nsue, the Secretary to the Ministry of Mines and Industry. An import –export monopoly was found to fail and was abolished by the government in 1972. The Bata harbour was modernised, a new Central bank formed and a teacher training institute set up by 1972. D Ndonge Bidiyago, a former ARND member created the first written account of the history of Equatorial Guinea by a local in 1977. His nephew Obiang Nguema seized power in a popularly supported coup in 1979. He deserves credit in history for being the first in the world, to convict judicially and sentence a former head of state to death with several others by firing squad, for crimes of inflicting genocide on one’s own people and destroying one’s country. A civilian and military tribunal presided over this popular form of justice with an observer from the International Commission of Jurists, in the Marifel cinema St Isabel. He enacted a new constitution and proclaimed an amnesty –freeing prisoners in Rio Mundi and Fernando Po, improved relations with Western Europe –especially aided by a visit by the Spanish monarchy and inspired economic growth expanding the GDP by up to 60% per year. Journalists were able to move freely in Bata and St Isabel. Catholicism was legalised once more, while modernised telecommunications of the radio, television and satellite phone was restored. However; Equatorial Guinea continued to defend itself neutrally in foreign affairs, with the West, with the Soviet Union and China all offering advisors. The Soviet consul was expelled for attempting to interfere in internal affairs.Severo Moto, founder of the Progress Party in 1980 and a few others were heroic enough to challenge Obiang Nguema in presidential elections despite not being supported by the world. He even set up a government, constitution and credible solutions to the social, economic and political quandaries. He fled to Madrid to do so, refusing to compromise his democratic principles as Nguema’s Minister of Information and Tourism. Heroically and in spite of great personal risk, both he and Morgan Tshangvari in “Zimbabwe” repeatedly returned to contest presidential elections to give their fellow citizens a chance for democratic change and reform; despite not being supported enough by the so called world superpowers of Europe, Asia and the Americas and suffering torture. Equatorial Guinea survived both the 1973 and the 2003 attempted coups in a remarkable example of pan African solidarity and intelligence work which verified that we Africans are as capable as the West.The failure of the Wonga Coup and many other attempts shows that we Africans are not to be underestimated by a bunch of patronising, white mercenary –non Mukiwa, cocksure British and South African, SAS trained, former public school boys including former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s son “Sir” Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann. Those who think that they can conquer Africa, to humiliate us and to deny our ability, will receive the well justified sense of African justice; that forms the undergrowth of the African Renaissance –the fate of Africa’s most notorious, nefarious prisons: .Playa Negra and Chikuribi in Zimbabwe . The Hausa kingdom and the Luo of the 16th Galilean century also prevailed. The 18th Galilean century Bornu Empire, the Cazembe and the Kordoufou are historical examples, each of them worthy of study in their own right. Queen Amira of Hausaland in the 16th century and the women chiefs of the Mende and Serero of Sierra Leone/ Tonga of Zambia along with the Rain Queen of South Africa’s Limpopo provide a even greater example of female rulers in Africa when there were very few in Europe or Asia and none within the USA or independent South America. The Ekwe cult amid the Igbo of Nigeria was reserved for females –akin to the Athenian Huntresses of Artemis, the Vestal Virgins of Rome, the Thesmophoria, and the Venus/ Adonis cult. Throughout this era and throughout independence; it was women who provided the staple economic basis in producing agriculture and in commerce. According to a 2001 UN survey, approximately 84% of all informal economy entrepreneurship in Senegal is influenced by women. In Lesotho, it was 73%, in Zimbabwe -67% -in all three, they outcompeted men.Finally, one concludes this chapter by accessing limitations on the absolute monarchy political structures traditionally sought by Africa to prevent gentrocratic oligarchy or autocracy. The Bamileke of Cameroon only awarded rank, title and leadership based on merit, society achievement and charisma. King Kukhulu and others of his lineage was confined to his compound at Shark Point, Lower Guinea and was prohibited from crossing water as were the Sakalava kings of south Madagascar and the Ewe chiefs of Nigeria. The Ewe king could only leave his dwelling at night. The former king of Fernando Po in Equatorial Guinea; avoided all manner of Western contamination apart from a hunting knife and rifle. The night prior to his coronation where the ruler of the Timmes in Sierra Leone would receive an executioner’s axe as indicative of a precarious mortal thread to his people, he would be chained up and subject to the abuse of his people to demonstrate the constraints of his leadership. The Shiluk of the White Nile deposed their king on grounds of old age, illness or an incapacity to sexually gratify and stimulate his royal wife. Any sons of the king also had the right to challenger their father for the throne. Many others were constrained by various taboos, personally such as the issue of names spoken for the kings of Madagascar or forbidding contact with all but a handful of advisors or in restrictions subjugating their power.The Alitemnion of Libya awarded office to the swiftest runner. The Bodie among the Grebo of Sierra Leone was banned from lamenting or to be mourned along with only being allowed to eat and drink privately and alone. The Fazoql were so obsessed with public duty and justice that if their sovereign were incapacitated in performing his duty of daily dispensing justice openly under a tree for three days or more, he was put to death for failing his job. The Shiluk king was walled alive in a hut for ill health or unable to discharge his role. The Bunyoro king of Central Africa was compelled to commit suicide or his wife would enact regicide if disease and decay impinged his office so that a healthier one could follow. The Nogai of Central Africa solved their political issues by declaring that anyone could be king. The night after his coronation, he was then put to death.Those people who claim that tribal democracy is a chimera are equally deluded in not understanding Africa, for in contrast to Western Parliamentary democracy which is the only form that the unimaginative globalised world recognises as valid, traditional councils provided a chance for people to openly venture their opinions freely, discuss and vote on affairs, akin to the Swiss federal canton model, without the intermediaries of a professional political elite blockading them. In contrast to MP’s, corporation directors and civil service permanent secretaries, Africans knew where their monarch or chief lived –and thus could affect things directly... Yet the White House, Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street or other State Houses are off limits –as are directly petitioning rulers. No indigenous chief would dare to set the police to assault rightfully betrayed students in Europe or hapless bystanders. In West Africa, for example; it was the role of the priest king to be responsible for public welfare, agricultural, religious and military proficiency for the Banjur’s. Any who failed abysmally, were scoured, flayed and insulted by the people. None of Capitol Hill Congress, Brussels or Westminster would endure it without setting the police or army on their own people. The African way trumps the First World, its agents far more politically conscious collectively and individually, than those nonentities, puppets of the corporations that endow them with electoral money that call themselves leaders of the First World, with very, very, very few exceptions...NKRUMAH AND RAWLINGS; THE GHANA PROPEHTS“Around the king’s capital, are domed edifices and groves, where live the sorcerers, in charge of their religious cult. In there, are also the tombs and sculptures of former rulers along with the royal prison and if anyone is incarcerated there; -no more is ever heard of him. These groves are guarded and no one can enter them, nor discover their contents. Their religion is paganism and a blessed serpent divulges the next monarch through its nostrils. When that ruler dies, they construct a vast dome of wood over the burial place. Then they place him on a bed covered in carpets and cushions, placing his ornaments, weapons, treasures and his vessels from which he used to eat along with various containers of food and drink. They then bring his former servitors and close the door... covering it. People gather and pile earth over it, until it becomes a great mound... surrounded by a great ditch, enterable only at one spot. They then sacrifice to their dead and make offerings of intoxicating drinks...”Ali Bakri commenting on the funeral of the King of the Ghana EmpireA 200 000 man army with over 40000 archers guarded the frontiers of the Ghana Empire founded in 500 AD, stretching over 1800 miles from Senegal to the Niger River under Asiaka Mohammed (born in 1493). The capital Koumbi Saleh until its Almoravid pillaging in 1829 AUC, had conically roofed kiosks, stone dwellings, 2 storey mansions decorated in paint and Arabic Koranic inscriptions and sacred arboretums for over 15000 citizens. Its perimeter expanded over a mile in the centre, flanked by two miles of cemeteries. Its reputation reached the perimeters of the Arab world as noted in the venerable historical account by Al Bakri of the Emperor Tenkemann who was capable of hosting banquets capable of feeding over 100000 people at the same time. King Kanissu of the 7th Century was so affluent that his stables housed over 1000 horses, with silk halters and furnishings, each with three personal attendants. After that, the Soninke state still possessed a palace with glass windows, silk and gold. Both enjoyed excellent trade with Europe, Arabia and other empires in Africa from their ivory, salt and gold trade caravan monopolies. Kumasi had at least 100000 inhabitants. The size of population matters especially; if it compares and contrasts with the low or equivalent levels of Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Europe. The parallels in burial customs with the pyramids of Egypt; several thousand miles away are remarkable.“When the king gives audience to his people, to listen to their complaints according to their rights, he sits in a pavilion, around which stand 10 pages holding, silver, and gold mounted steel broadswords. On the right, are the sons of the princes of the empire, splendidly clad and with gold helms in their hair. The governors of the provinces are seated in front of him on the ground and radiating further beyond them, are the counsellors. The gates of this domed reception chamber are guarded by dogs of a most excellent breed. The dogs never leave their positions of sentry, unless indicated, wearing gold and silver ornamented collars... The summoning bronze bells and drums of hollow wood ring out... People gather, when they cease...”Koumbi Saleh Court Description, Leo AfricanusIts heir, the Songhoy Empire had a navy of 400 canoes. Under Mohammed Touray, it would gain the benefits of trade, irrigation, and another Mecca pilgrimage, when he converted the empire to Islam. The capital Gao, until its pillaging and empire end under the 15th Moroccan Sultan al Mansur, “Seek ye first the political kingdom and the rest will follow.”Kwame NkrumahOne would not know it from the airbrushed accounts of modern pan European panegyric history; but the staple of the Ghanaian economy for the last 160 years: cocoa –was introduced; tilled and planted first by a Ghanaian –from abroad; not a foreigner: Tettah Quarshie. The first Ghanaian headmaster: Phillip Quagme died in 1816 –of Cape Coast Castle School. In fact; the first Ghanaian to receive a doctorate did so at the incredible year of 1734: Dr Anthony Amo –from Wittenberg University, Germany. All of these; deny that Ghana has ever needed intervention from overseas. King Aggray of the Cape Coast was exiled for refusing to transfer land –without the consent of his people, to the British. John Mensah led the protest in the 1920’s for representation on the Gold Coast Colonial Legislative Council. The Convention People’s Party created free primary school education in 1952 and it became obligatory in 1961 –even before full autonomy had been won.“We prefer self government with danger to servitude in tranquillity.’Kwame NkrumahPan Africanism and unity of Africa as opposed to global imperialism: expressed itself through its prophet Kwame Nkrumah with his indigenous variant socialistic vision and his avid support for a generation of liberation struggle revolutionaries along with his idea for the formation of a Commonwealth secretariat adopted in 1965 - but first manifested itself through the establishment of universities such as Adisadel College and Mfontispan. The initial British colony of the Gold Coast provided the basis for the campaigns of liberation and dawned upon the armed struggle which ignited the independence of the African continent –by the toil of Africans –of all creeds, religions, races, genders, ages, tribes and environments. The role of historians such as the indigenous Carl Reindorf and his 1895 History of the Gold Coast, reminded Africa of its ancestral memories and its proud history of defiance and achievement; assisting in forming the first of those who resisted colonial imperialism and those apologists who would deny the right of Africa and Africans to control their own destiny/ place in history... A plethora of local rate payer’s associations, the Aborigine Rights Protection Society and the National Congress of British West Africa attribute to African political literacy and intelligence. From independence; the Gold Coast received a new name from the glories of the African past and as a warning never to forget it...“In the very early days of the Galilean era; long before England had assumed any importance, our ancestors had attained a great empire. At its height, that empire stretched from Timbuktu to the Atlantic, lawyers and scholars were much respected and the inhabitants wore garments of wool, cotton, silk and velvet. There was trade in gold, copper, textile fabrics and jewels. Thus, we may take pride in the local name of our own Ghana rather than the British: Gold Coast, as an inspiration for our future. It is right and proper that we should learn about our past. What our ancestors achieved in the context of their contemporary society gives us confidence that we can create out of that past; a glorious future, not in terms of war and military pomp, but in terms of social progress and peace...”Kwame Nkrumah“One thing we must do is to get African independence. If we achieve that we shall be free to achieve other things we want. We feel that racial discrimination must go, and then people can perhaps enjoy the rights of citizenship, which is the desire of every East African. Self government must be our aim.”Jomo KenyattaA turning point in pan African Nationalism came with Akan women’s riots in Southeast Nigeria and the pan African Congress in Manchester in October 1945, attended by leading exponents such as Kenyatta, Joe Appiah descendent of a line of democratic Ashante kings and other champions. Dr Danquah, the pioneer of Ghana nationalism – (he proposed the historical name to replace the colonial Gold Coast,) the noted Akan law and ethnography scholar, formed the United Gold Coast Convention People’s Party in 1949 with the slogan: “Self Government in the Shortest Time Possible!” He hired Kwame Nkrumah as propaganda secretary, until Nkrumah cultivated his own party: the Convention People’s Party which popularly won 94% of the urban vote under the British in 1951, its more pithy and radicalised approach: “Self Government Now!” Its extension geopolitically, was blessed by Patrice Lumumba to join in a Union of African States along with Guinea (united with Ghana in 1958) with the Congo as federal capital, currency and central bank but the vision was terminated by the Belgian assassins and the CIA. Nkrumah’s ideal of an African confederacy; sought to provide a political and economic force –potent enough to counter the pervasive malaise of external nations and corporations. He envisioned a Joint African High Command.“The emergence of such a mighty stabilising force should not be... regarded as the shadowy dream of a visionary, - but as a practical proposition .... which the people of Africa can translate into reality... We must act now! Tomorrow may be too late... (Indeed –the radiant Aurora of independence was soon tarnished by the gaudy gilt of external betrayal by external forces of most of Africa’s most promising visionaries –and foreign complicity, in their extinction). Yet Kwame Nkrumah always had time for his people and lived for politics/ governing as his overarching concern not personal fripperies.His Presidential Inauguration espoused his cherished ideals, -no greater reflection of which, can be illuminated in the eternal flame of African freedom and liberation in Accra’s Black Star Square. So many of Africa’s aspirations can be elucidated by such iridescent symbols... forsooth the very words themselves has been encompassed, so as to reflect Africa’s true Renaissance! At least most of Africa’s leaders –whatever their later inclinations, proclivities or flaws... were initially both appointed with deme kratia –with the will of the people; -not imposed on the plebeians, and after liberating their people from both colonialism and neo colonialism, harboured desires to elevate their people, their nations and their continent to a respected and equal place in the world community... Few other statesmen –African or world, throughout recorded and unrecorded history, have been so willing to sacrifice a part of their country’s territorial inviolability and authority for pan African unity, peace and solidarity. Nkrumah invited himself to the cause of Pan Africanism more thoroughly than his US counterparts –inviting the noted espouses W>E>B Du Bois and George Padmore to Accra, to form the Spark journal and promote the cause of African American connections through the Bureau of African Affairs. He did his utmost to preserve all of the points and principles enscribed below:“On accepting the people’s call as Ghana’s President; I Kwame Nkrumah, solemnly declare my adherence to the following principles:1: That the power of the Government springs from the People and should be exercised in accordance therewith.2: That liberty and justice should herewith be maintained!3: That the union of Africa should be striven for by every lawful means and when attained, should be faithfully preserved!4 That the Independence of Ghana should not be surrendered or diminished on any grounds, other than the furtherance of African unity!5: That no person should suffer discrimination on grounds of sex, race, tribe, religion or political belief.6: That Chieftaincy in Ghana should be guaranteed and preserved!7: That subject to such restrictions required for public morality, order or health; no person should be deprived of the freedoms of speech, movement, religion or to access courts of law...8: That no property without compensation, should be confiscated, save where the public interest so requires and the law, so provides...”On the Eternal Flame; he delivered this oration:“We shall not relax in our efforts to foster the efforts at African unity and the creation of a real political union of African States –and I feel confident; that in time; our African compatriots will come to see our vision and to know that this embraces Africa’s salvation...We have come here tonight... to light the eternal torch of African Freedom! This perpetual flame, which we will ignite; not only here, but within our lustrous African hearts and spirits... will not only enshrine the spirit of the Republic of Ghana, but will also provide visual aid for the African Freedom Fighters of yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. We shall draw our inspiration from this perpetual flame for the struggle of African emancipation... Day after day and year after year, this flame will represent the burning desire of the African people –to be free –totally, unequivocally –and irrevocably free and independent: fettered by no shackles of any nature whatsoever –and their ability to manage and direct their own affairs in the best interests of themselves...I light this flame –not only in the name of the people of Ghana; but also in sacred duty to the millions of Africans elsewhere, crying in the name of freedom. And I charge all of us here present today, to remember that this great struggle of the African emancipation –is a holy crusade; to which we must all stand dedicated constantly and which must be prosecuted to a successful end... “Our independence is meaningless, unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” From prisoner to prime minister in a single day, how often does that occur? As there were no restrictions in running for office or voting, he stood and won. The British colonial governor Sir Charles Aden Clarke had to swallow his haughty indignation at this African “Hitler and his putsch” being released by popular will and being overwhelmingly voted for. The first of the new era of African nation independence (exempting South Africa, Liberia, Ethiopia and Egypt) Nkrumah was born in 1909. In 1935- 1943, there was an American interlude. In 1945 he attended the Manchester Conference on Pan Africanism. Two years later, he was appointed Secretary of the Gold Coast United People’s Convention formed by him, Dr Danquah, Mr Obeselisi, Edward Akufulo, Ako Adjei and William Abie, bridging the generations and contrast of the nascent youth and those such as the vanguard of Dr Danquah with his doctorate in moral philosophy. In 1948; the British Commanding Officer gave the order to fire on innocent civilians killing three in a protest march; after his African deputy had turned him down. In 1949, he became its leader, participating in the first election in 1951 with 34 / 38 seats and winning the 1956 independence election. In 1960, he became president of the Republic of Ghana and was deposed 6 years later thus preventing military despotism. Ghanaians had raised themselves through several forums and Nkrumah came up with many projects including the largest human constructed dam in the world: The 148000 m? Volta Dam, a VALCO aluminium and bauxite smelter, an intended atomic reactor and a proposed tower with a revolving restaurant. “If we are to remain free, if we are to enjoy the full benefit of Africa’s economic wealth, we must unite, to plan for the full exploitation of Africa’s human, natural and material resources, in the interests of all our people...”Kwame Nkrumah.His commitment to public works; infrastructure and industry with schools and hospitals; -if misdirected –at least was a monumental attempt to modernise his people. Ghana had its own cedi currency and Central Bank. His commitment to independence is exemplified in the contributions and support given to many liberation movements. When France out of petty spite; stole every part of the infrastructure of Guinea they could and denied Sekoure Toure aid after he rejected de Gaulle’s attempt to deny full liberty; it was Ghana who stepped in with a ?10 000000 loan –a cost which it could not afford so easily. The Ghana National Trading Company and State Construction Corporation both provided rare specimens of profitable public corporations. In 1961, Nkrumah was not impervious to the growing venality, appointing an anti corruption commission of inquiry, offering the guilty to resign –or face confiscation of their embezzled trove.“How can the obvious examples of modernisation and industrialisation of Ghana; such as new roads, hospitals, the harbour and town of Tema, the Volta Dam and Tefle Bridges... be reconciled with the charge of wasted expenditure? You only have to look around you, to see what we Africans have achieved... We built more roads, bridges and other forms of national communication than any other independent African state. We built more schools, clinics and hospitals. We provided more clean water. We trained more teachers, nurses and doctors. We established more industries...”Nkrumah, 1973.Minister of Social Welfare Mrs Susanna Al Hassan, spearheaded the campaign against prostitution, illiteracy and vice. Rural women received guidance in hygiene, infant welfare and domestic science. Illiteracy was challenged in the workplace, in government and elsewhere. Over 300 rural and community, self- help projects were sponsored in 1966 alone from drinking water boreholes to public works and infrastructure. The National Liberation Council dissuaded some of the grandiose conceptions of Kwame Nkrumah for more economical and modest alternatives. In the words of Colonel A.A Afrira: “State farms of Nkrumah are eloquent monuments to folly and waste, with thousands of people producing nothing.” They then surrendered to democracy, the second Republic and Dr Busia. The civilian administrations of Dr Hille Limam –who arose from a non elitist background –then received education in London and the Sorbonne, (1979-1981) and Dr Kofi Busia (1969-1972) sponsored technical schools and both had Cabinets of technocrats. Dr Kofi Busia lived in voluntary exile during the First Republic after being opposition leader of the United Party, and then became the first head of the Centre for Civic Education in 1967 and Progressive Party leader 2 years later. He later reduced the army. The Third Republic under Dr Limam sponsored cottage industries as the precursors of autarchy enterprises; promoted foreign investment and the revival of the gold mines along with greater trade negotiations with more affluent partners such as Nigeria. It raised the minimum wage and the minimum cocoa price. It used schools, civic societies and public bodies to redistribute 15 essential commodities to avert food shortages. The Ghana sculptor Kofi Antuboum and others received official endorsement. Fati Yabuke became the first female Ghana stockbroker. Between 1983 -1987, under Rawlings the economy grew at 6% and inflation fell to 20%. Ghana paid off over $500 million of its debts.“The African journalist is fully conscious of the responsibility that rests on the shoulders of Africa’s new journalists –that of keeping the people informed of new developments in the country, the continent and the world; exposing imperialism and neo-colonialist machinations; projecting the African personality and contributing to the liberation struggle and building of African unity. The new African journalist keeps cheap sensationalism out of his duties and lays emphasis on the positive things that go to help in building the new Africa –he does not relish the stories which do no credit to the advancement and education of his people...”Ghana’s Information Minister 1962.General Acheampong launched Operation Feed Yourself during the economic boom of 6% GDP growth from1972-1974) –recognising that the key to self –determination; whether in Ghana, Africa or the World; starts from the overriding national priority of feeding yourself: Both he and Nkrumah sought to balance development –north and south; throughout Ghana without favouritism. General Akuffo deposed him, -sentencing him to village confined house arrest, to restore needed austerity and stringency financially; offer political prisoners amnesties and prepare the country for the civilian elections of 1979.The proclamation and state sponsored broadcasting of public citizen’s rights and responsibilities; was protected by the Centre of Civic Education during the Second Republic and National Liberation Council. Both sponsored decentralised committees which involved traditional chiefs –represented in the 1969 constitutional provision of the House of Chiefs –preserved by General Acheampong, as well as ordinary people. A voluntary National Service Corps was started. Acheampong added qualified civilians to the National Economic Planning Council, the SMC and the 36 member Consultative Advisory Commission. The NRC set up Regional Development Corporations and generally redistributed revenue from the wealthiest to the poorest geographic areas in the interests of equity.“I will restore democracy in which the needs of the people are heeded by the government. This is not just a question of abstract liberties but it involves above all else... food, shelter, clothing and the basic necessities of life...”“We are trying to get the public to take up its responsibility about its own government. The armed forces are not a ticking time bomb behind a civilian government... We want to leave it to the Ghanaian civilians... We want to show you that you have been in bondage. We broke your chains for you, now we leave you to go –where you want to go...”Jerry RawlingsFlight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings was the ultimate purger of graft! No other has been so committed as to execute three former heads of states and extend the purges to the highest levels of civilian, political and armed force administration with Generals Acheampong, Utukka, Afrira and Akuffo executed. Revolutionary people’s courts, military tribunals and decentralising People’s Defence Committees; swiftly dealt with corruption efficaciously, bypassing the clogged and stifling civil courts. Initiating probes, Committees of Enquiries, restructuring and eradicating malefactors, he aimed to purge the public corporations, bureaucracy and armed forces. He deflected the smouldering wrath of the Ghanaian people into a more peaceful alternative to revolt, rebellion and mob action! Born in Accra -22nd June 1947; he was educated at the elite Achimoto and received British pilot training and became a Ghana Air Force Flight Lieutenant at the age of 28; proficient at boxing and horse riding. In 1979, he intervened to purge the military regime –abdicating unconditionally for the civilian Limann administration. When they proved economically and ethically destitute; Jerry Rawlings intervened in 1982... –after his removal from the AFRC by the Limam administration; he had become more popular than ever; as the advocate of popular liberties; pure from the morsure of acrid corruption...“Fellow Ghanaians as you will notice, we are not playing the national anthem. In other words, this is not a coup! I ask for nothing more than a REVOLUTION –something that will transform the social and economic order of this country. This revolution has three objectives: to restore the economy, to eliminate corruption and to promote the interests of the little man.”Jerry RawlingsHe also recognised the significance of local government oligarchies as not only being most susceptible to corruption, kleptomania and patronage but in also exerting the most profound and direct influence on people’s lives. Thus, he attempted to democratise it along with the army. When appointing PNDC members, he told them that their jobs were “a chance to serve the people sacrificially.” He instilled vitality into the passive youth –via the Student Task Force from 11 January 1982 –mobilised schools and the universities at Accra; Cape Coast and Kumasi. They participated in repairing roads; eviscerating trash; bagged fertiliser; afforestation of over 100 000 trees was inserted and community health projects were formed. The Federation of Democratic Youth replaced it. The African Youth Congress had their own newspaper –as did many. Along with commemorating Soweto Day and sending delegates to the World Federation of Democratic Youth; they had affiliates from the Gambia; Sierra Leone; Senegal; Nigeria; Liberia and Togo. They aimed at autarchy and self financing –running and managing tailoring workshops; bakeries; palm oil plantations; farms and transport cooperatives.“Some of us are showing signs of losing our self-discipline and are being attracted to the old ways of the powerful in our society. This hallowed anniversary of the 4th of June must remind us that such arrogance will breed a reaction, an often uncontrollable reaction, from the downtrodden...”Jerry Rawlings, 10th Anniversary of the June 4th RevolutionRawlings sluiced the civil service; devalued the currency (cedis) and reduced agricultural price controls along with privatising state corporations. His fiscal orthodoxy resulted in 6% GDP growth (1984-1989), reduced inflation and increased agricultural production. In 1992, multiparty elections were held and his popularity enabled his triumph as he did not enrich himself personally at the expense of his people as those Congressmen, European and British MP’s do –accepting corporate endorsed bribes. His finance minister Dr Kwesi Botchway, his vice president, personal advisors and communications minister were all capable intellectuals who recognised his qualities of leadership. Few ever give the justified praise to Africans such as he; who desired to uplift their people, preserving political liberty and choice (as did Sir Jugnanth and General Obasanjo) and restoring democracy more than once to Ghana –in 1979, 1992 and 2004 –while deposing corruption in the failure of the Second Republic in 1981. The PNDC started a poverty reduction programme in 1987 and set up a system of food silos for reserves to prevent future famines. They also introduced a new system of rural banks to aid those in the countryside.“For us; democracy cannot simply mean holding elections... periodically, whilst we continue to endure poverty; hunger; misery; illiteracy and poor health facilities and while many of our citizens are unable to find employment...’Jerry RawlingsChris Bukari –as Ghana’s Secretary of Finance; heroically defied the encroachment and defiling of Ghana’s economy by alien IMF and other phalanxes of interfering non Africans. He believed in retaining economic sovereignty –even if this went against the world popular doctrine of abdicating control to exuberant and amorphous entities. Born in 1953; Gbedina in the Sanderu District; he attended Ngavrongo Secondary School and studied Building Design (Like the engineer qualified Manuel –he proved that one doesn’t need a formal economics degree to excel –only toil and the mind/ will to do so). 9 years of free education are provided. The economy of Ghana improved to be praised by the UN and World Bank in the 1990’s. In 2003, the Ghana stock exchange was the fastest growing in the world. Ashante Goldfields became the first native Ghanaian corporation to be internationally listed and accredited -20% owned by the Ghana government. Ghana completed an expansion in public water from 35% to 56%. Ghana dealt with AIDS –not by denial –but by its own public awareness campaign. The 1985 and 1990 National Commission for Democracy restored it. President John Kufuor –is another exemplar of the popular elected political system, commitment to a mixed economy and toleration of critique winning the 2000 and 2004 elections. President John Atta Mills won the following election. Contemporary publications have found little to criticise them as they have done, with even the most gifted and promising of leaders here. Incidentally; Ashante still exists and retains its monarchy to counter the political government with the 1993 election and investiture of Osei Tutu II (named after the first, who founded the Golden Stool process). The Queen Mother Kyarewa Amponsem II–a chief and power in her own right; frequently liaises with the First Lady. Radio Savannah was set up to broadcast in local languages such as Akan –not just English as the colonialists did. The Non Formal Education Division aimed at a mass based adult literacy campaign. Ghana has contributed extensively to ECOMOG peacekeeper missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia. It has been pivotal in enhancing ECOWAS and in moving closer with a regional community trading credit scheme and cheque since 1999. Ghana has not censored, whitewashed or obscured the issue of slavery and has preserved its Cape Coast Castle and other slave trading posts. In the town of Assin Manso; a Garden of Reverence –commemorating those who perished has been set up –with a Hall of Prayer, a Wall of Return and a Meditation Lawn along with commemorative friezes while a slave market itself has been preserved in Salaga. In 2002, a Reconciliation Commission was set up to probe into human rights abuses under the military leaders, which reported in 2004. Nor has Ghana denied the disabled a right to contribute in the community and earn a sense of self dignity rather than almonry –as outside’s welfare states decree –with its very own Young Artisan’s Movement. Ghana’s intelligentsia have been active for centuries. Its unquestionable contribution to pan Africanism can be seen through the charismatic visions and leadership of Kwame Nkrumah who called for a united Africa. It can be seen in the decentralising, democratic efforts of the purger of graft: Jerry Rawlings. Whether in preserving democracy or memorials to the slavery past, or in the extent of achievement; influencing beyond its geographical boundaries; the Ghana empire –and its heir; the first Sub Saharan colony in Africa to be free, Ghana’s place in the liberation of our continent and its influencing of the African Renaissance is assured...SANKARA’S QUEST: (Burkina Faso) and the LIBERIA EMANCIPATOR:Revolutions are seldom motivated to the extent of spontaneously mobilising, to revolt and call for the reinstatement of a former leader. Few are so inspired as to be so attuned to the populace and are populist enough for their egalitarian rhetoric of liberating the people, to match it in reality. Burkina Faso –which replaced the colonial appellation of the Upper Volta; merged 2 indigenous words; to a befittingly appropriate choice, translating as: Land of the Incorruptible Man: That man was Thomas Sankara who intervened in 1983. Thomas Sankara came to occupy an honorific position to President Gerard Ouerdraogo of the UDV (Democratic Union of Volta), but became the voice, through which the disdain for neo colonial imperialism was projected, as the people sought to protect themselves from its flagrant disregard for them and their interests. After all, Africa is often disenfranchised –because of its comparative lack for globalisation’s creed and materialist frippery purchasing power, yet it is not Africa who is inflicted with exuberant commotion economically in 2761-2765 AUC... Democratic forums and media existed for the first 2 decades of liberty since autonomy on 5 August 1960, –until 1980 –and then popularist assemblies under Sankara. Maurice Yameogo’s First Republic (1960-1966) aimed at unification –and was compelled to retire by trade unions. General Sangoule Lamizana and the army acted as background preservers of political pluralism and civilian rule. Seven parties contested the 1976 elections aloneBorn in 1950, at the age of 20, Thomas Sankara attended a Madagascar military school, leaving his Burkina Faso home. The student and worker’s coup of May 1972, that he encountered, encouraged him to the fact that change and revolutions can happen –provided we want them and are willing to dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to them. He is one many African idealists, leaders and revolutionaries, -whom despite their flaws, nevertheless saw in the liberation of Africa, the precursor of the African Renaissance and the salvation for continental and the community’s autonomy. He contributed to other movements from the ANC of South Africa to the Patriotic Front in the Western Sudan to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation against the concentration camps of Israel, to the Karnak Socialist Liberation Front of New Caledonia. At the beginning of his presidency, Upper Volta became part of the UN Security Council on October 31st 1983 and was able to exert more influence internationally. Sankara –identified with the vast majority –who were peasants... His assassination by Blasé Compare on October 15th 1987 the successor, shows how externally influenced Africans betraying their own kind and marked the epitome of farce.The 1984 Sourou Valley Project irrigated not only 16000 acres near Ouagadougou but the aim for fertility amid the aridity of the past and of the terrain, humanizing the barren sense of purposelessness in action and in the future. Onions were grown in drought conditions by poor peasants –who knew their desert, while the UN Development NGO’s and Agency failed in the fertile and prosperous Ivory Coast, using genetically modified rejects from the USA, typically inappropriate. On September 22nd, the Council of National Revolution launched a Day of National Solidarity with the reversal of customary gender relations in Burkina Faso. Virtually unique, women were encouraged to do the work of men, while the men acted as housewives –were urged to go to the market, clean their homes and prepare meals, so that they might understand the vital equality to which women deserve, just as much as men. In November, a 15 day mobilisation immunised 2.5 million Burkinabe under 15, against meningitis, yellow fever and measles. On December 3rd to alleviate the budgetary constraints and spare burdening the people; -3000 delegates voted to deduct a month’s pay from the top civil service, military and ministerial grades –including the President and half a month’s pay from the lower grades -an experiment repeated and the sacrifice rewarded in a balanced budget. On December 31st, the campaign for public housing was instigated at the same time, that rent suspension was introduced, to counter renters exploiting the populace and yet, to retain a supply (for those renters dedicated to the market of Supply and Demand, would have to contend with extra housing availability)To reverse the assault of desertification which barrages the scoured insouciance of apathetic or contemptuous characters and gnarled contours of urbanity, artificially disseminated in defiance of Gaia, 10000000 trees were planted to halt the strident advance of the militant Sahara. On February 1st 1985, the Ouagadougou to Tumb railway became part of the aims of economic liberation. The blight of slums was transformed into model housing estates for the poor. Additional days advocating and endorsing the full equality and emancipation of women from patriarchal society and celebrating their offerings to their nation; occurred between March 1-8 and on August 4th. Between February and April, Alpha commando volunteers undertook to invest 35000 people who had not been privileged with education, with the imperative of literacy –in 9 indigenous languages. On November 9th, Sankara attended a rally in Nicaragua with its leader. In 1987, with the UN, the government brought the pervasive problem of river blindness under control. In 1990, African scholarship was promoted with the Institute for Black People. “After a year and a half of revolution; we can pride ourselves on having constructed schools, clinics and dams; built roads; increased our farmland and carried out afforestation. We can take pride in having provided housing for our people by ourselves. But this is not enough! Much more remains to be done! Most important is the efforts we have made to transform public attitudes. Each one of us now feels that wielding power is his business; that the destiny of Burkina Faso is not just the destiny of certain people who benefit from it; but of all Burkinabes... Everyone has something worthy to say. Each of us has something to contribute. Each of us demands accountability from each other. Never again will things be done as they were before. No longer will the wealthy of our country be our masters. This wealth belongs to the majority... a majority that speaks its mind...”Thomas SankaraAt a time when few leaders both fail to set a personal example and prefer waffling to action; Thomas Sankara sought to revitalise his people by giving them hope and a future with a new name; flag and anthem. Rather than seeking aid; he motioned for the people; to help themselves. Personally, he played his guitars at rallies; freely participated in projects and lived modestly with a Renault 5 as his car. Water supplies surged voluminously from under 9000,000 tons to over 300,000,000 erupting from 260 dams and 1000 wells. In a year and a half; 550 houses were constructed monthly; over 300 schools and 280 dispensaries. Burkina Faso almost achieved the goal of a primary health care post in every village. Apart from cutting salaries to channel funds into rural development –not the bank accounts of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, (which is what they demand as repayments when they talk about austerity measures to “save” Africa) he insisted on austerity measures. For example the fleet of Mercedes Benzes accumulated by the previous governments; were sold off as prizes in the state lottery. The railway refused by the World Bank on the grounds of making Burkina Faso too independent; was constructed through popular enthusiasm.At a time when the economy was indebted and the poverty of the people could not be challenged or questioned, Sankara not only sought personal austerity and demanded it of his government colleagues, but extended it to the plutocrats, by forbidding the importation of luxuries. He desired to “reject the pervasive welfare mentality,” by resolving the budget deficit and debt –but not at the people’s expense. He imposed a limit of 15000 CFA francs on his ministers overseas –and economy class only and even economised on paper, by printing on both sides –not one. Burkinabe voluntarily entered the spirit of public sacrifice with the Revolutionary Structural Fund. There were no Potemkin pretences or facades –he made no effort to hypocrisy –deploring those espousing egalitarianism yet living in an isolated and opulent enclave, away from the people (Ian Smith, Roy Welensky and Julius Nyerere too encapsulated disgust for this). For he went into rural areas –escorting foreign ambassadors, unusually confronting them with bleak reality and telling them to present their credentials to poor villagers. “Mr Ambassador, your Excellency, you have seen Burkina Faso as it really is. These are the people you must deal with, not those of us who work in remote and soundproof offices.” –“Tell them, why you are here!”Automation entails elimination of jobs, a principle of economics he grasped and rejected. Of what use is firing people during a recession –that’s hardly going to stimulate Keynesian Aggregate Demand? Private enterprise again, must not intrude on sovereignty and accountability and is valued if efficient, productive, competitive and employs people over spurious mechanisation. Sankara resisted the dictates of encroaching capitalism as he resisted the IMF and wished to annihilate its constricting debt. There is no sense in Africa of not utilising our resource of labour and substituting it for expensive European machinery, which as he perceived; then has to be flown to Europe for exorbitant maintenance or replacement. The ideal of sacrosanct arboreal counters to ecological pillaging; extended to the forbidding of wood gathering in depleted areas and preventing the arbitrary roving of livestock. In addition, every village must have a sacred wood grove, with profound veneration and memory of endemic tradition, throughout the continent. Every celebration in Upper Volta –whether it be a wedding or a birth, an award or birthday... was blessed and celebrated with the planting of a tree, commemorated in an August 3rd award ceremony. On March 8 or International Women’s Day, all mediated and envisioned things from the oppressed female perspective, against murder, infidelity, abuse, lechery, patronising, patriarchism and exclusion from political activity. The National Women’s Union aimed to counter this politically and socially sought to improve rural and urban life, with a new efficacious mud stove, building villages, advertising nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, advocating education and training of entrepreneurs, performing vaccinations and volunteering as nurses –all in the sense of the community in which Africa exceeds the fragmentation and dissolution of Northern family.The Council for National Revolution under Sankara set up Popular Revolutionary Tribunals –to let the masses participate in justice. Reduced allowances; reduced officials, wage reductions and the formation of sacrifice in the Solidarity Fund; eviscerated vice –along with prioritising rural areas over urbanity. Far from being a toothless ombudsman – (, like the British Parliament and its MP’s, the European and other Central Banks like the Bank of England and Financial Services Authority, which failed to supervise the UK Banks) the People’s Commission for the Prevention of Corruption subjected all officials to declare their assets, interests and possessions –Thomas Sankara was the first to do so voluntarily. It focussed on women; elders, youth and peasants. Rehabilitation centres were launched for beggars. The Volta Caucus entwined the people with the Assembly –as a forum for mass participation and justice. Blaise Compoare emerged as the benefiter of the assassination of Thomas Sankara and continued his revolution for the next few years “To make the village responsible for its own development; to develop without destroying -; starting from the peasant: What he is –he knows; what he knows how to do and what he wants...” Aspiration of the Naam MovementThe voluntary Naam movement was founded by the teacher Bernard Ouerdraogo in Yatenga, Burkina Faso. Bobo masks have received intercontinental artistic acclaim into their virile vitality. The Volta Caucus was set up to link civil society and Parliament. In Bobo Doioulasso and Ouagadougou, the 2750 AUC PACVU (Project to Improve Urban Living Conditions) aims at decentralisation of public funds and local rural investment, where the community and association work together to build economically autarchic projects. The recent Burkina Faso economy has prospered.Liberia’s independence under Governor (1842-1847) Joseph Roberts –the first President to gain Liberian independence from the American Colonisation Society in 1847, presided between1847-1855, marked a phenomenal political, economic and social paragon of meritocracy, order and progress –by an African nation at a time where only Ethiopia was free on the continent. Its ability to prevent annexation by a foreign policy and neutrality, its commitment to democracy, a mixed economy, a free press and in providing a refuge for slaves, refutes any argument that Africa is doomed and that Africa is incapable of governing or reforming itself. Under his initiative, the Constitution limiting the presidential terms to 2 years, Bill of Rights and US dollar as a stable currency for the next 170 years were enacted. Joseph Roberts then became one of many presidents to serve as President of Liberia College founded along with a night school later named after him, in 1857 and became the Belgian Consul in Monrovia 1862. President Stephen Benoon (1856-1864) was shrewd enough to secure a modern navy and 1000 marines from Emperor Napoleon III of France, without economic or political concessions and secured foreign recognition of Liberian independence and identity. He also annexed Maryland County into Liberia in 1857. From 1864-1868, President Daniel established further trade links with Hamburg, the Dutch and the British, extended control into the interior via indirect rule and confined attempts by outsiders at smuggling to legitimate ports of entry such as Buchanan and Monrovia. In 1871, President Edward Roy was deposed by the Liberian people in a popular uprising, without destroying the institutions of state. President William Colemannn was a noted patron of academia –donating $40000 alone to Liberia College. He launched expeditions to charter the northwest and southeast of Liberia. The former justice of the Peace, Dr Garreston had initially refused the succession to President H Johnson insisting that those who most want power, do not deserve it, yet eventually was urged to become the President between 1900 -1904. He then resigned without complaint after his term, having extended mineral rights to potential foreign investors in exchange for tax revenue, having formed the Liberia Development Scheme, achieved a Northern boundary survey agreement and sponsored a mineral and flora expedition to evaluate Liberia’s natural resources and potential. “Labour is the Law of Life,”President Arthur Barclay of LiberiaPresident Arthur Barclay served with distinction between 1904 -1912. He advocated the abolishing of domestic slavery and sought to include those natives of the interior in martial service, to unite them. He refreshed municipal governance by allowing local democracy to elect and nominate Township Officers –over 50 years before town and county councils would be open on a democratic franchise in post World War 2 USA, UK, India and Europe. To distil patriotism, espirit de corps and teen discipline, he introduced cadets in schools with regular camps to exert themselves, independent of Baden Powel’s Scout movement. Open Immigration centres to promote a new influx, were established in the United States. In agriculture, he launched many new research laboratories including a novel rubber research facility. Towns and districts received Agricultural Officers under the Agricultural Commission. President Daniel Howard governed between 1912- 1920, in the face of Central Power and Triple Entente pressures, preserving neutrality for the first three years of World War 1 seeing it as a colonial leader’s war, before declaring war on Germany in 1917. President Charles King (1920 -1930); had the grace to resign when he realised that he was failing his country through the Great Depression. He negotiated the pivotal arrival of Firestone in the 1920’s along with the broadcasting of the first radio message in 1927. “With appropriate public policy instruments such as taxation, credit commercial policies and general regulatory measures, the Government of Liberia can influence the tempo of private investment and voluntarily guide it in desired directions, complementing public programmes and policies designed to increase the rate of economic and social development.”1967 Treasury Secretary James Milton Weeks of Liberia and President Tubman’s administrationPresident William Tubman of Liberia sought to reduce the penetration of the pervading Firestone Rubber Company, sold the Presidential yacht and abolished the compulsory tithe to the True Whig Party along with import duty. He also opened up office to the meritocratic, formed a national power network, the iron ore port of Buchannan. His country remains one of the four independent non colonial countries along with the Union of South Africa, Aegyptus and Ethiopia. At 18, he became a high school teacher. As a country, Liberia experienced political stability from 1847 -1980. The Free Port of Monrovia exceeded its projected shipping forecast -20 years ahead of its anticipated target of 1975. His Open Door Policy diversified the Liberian economy, with new autarchic industries similar to SA’s ISCOR, the registry flag accounting for the world’s second largest maritime fleet with over 2500 registered merchant vessels, modern telecommunications and hydroelectric facilities. The economy was nearly as strong as the South African, the strength of both which is attested to the Liberian dollar and South African rand being on par with the US dollar.William Tubman, server of an unprecedented 6 successive terms was born in Harper, Maryland County on 29th November 1895. He attended the local primary school and Cape Palmas seminary along with receiving private tutors. Teaching in a high school, in 1917 he became a lawyer. In 1919, he became County Attorney and in 1923, he became the youngest Liberian Senator at the age of 28. In 1928, he represented the laity at the World Methodist Conference in Kansas City, Missouri and in 1937; he became Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. As president he chaired and formulated the Monrovia Group of the Organisation for African Unity favouring lower tariffs and loose federation in contrast to the Casablanca Group calling for a close integrated African union. In 1960, it became the first African member of the UN Security Council. He sponsored four new counties for the sake of unification in his Grand Unification Policy and inclusion and conducted a grass roots processional into the countryside, to address people’s grievances personally. His believe in almonry/ philanthropy has enabled the sponsorship of the National Museum along with many scholarships to study in Europe and the USA. He extended female universal suffrage franchise in 1946. A literacy campaign was introduced, the Booker T Washington Institute received support and even a Government Accountancy School was set up. In 1947 and 1951, national smallpox vaccinations were conducted. Quarantine Officers were set up to prevent contagion or disaster at every port and at Robertsfield aerodrome. “In a world of rising expectations and accelerated visions, the lofty goals of national destiny still require Liberians to channel and harness all their resources... in order to achieve a sustained upward thrust for ever escalating rounds of distinction...”William TolbertWilliam Tolbert became World President of the Baptist Alliance –the first black and the first African. Punctual himself, he dismissed and criticised visitors, officials and politicians for their tardiness or inertia. He instructed the National Planning Council; each province gained equal access to projects. He expanded the administration to include even more meritocratic indigenous Liberians of the interior as well as those of the costal state. He commissioned free university education. Monrovia in the 1960’s had centres of free medical care, refugee protection and language training facilities. Its Red Cross was founded in 1919. The Fast and Prayer Day became a national holiday in 1882, a day in which citizens fast and pray for their country, cleansing themselves in a day of national pleading for continuance, welfare and the protection of the nation aided by August 24th or National Flag Day. On February 14th, on Literacy Day, they honour literacy measures and celebrate its necessity. Politically, Liberia remained unique in denying citizenship to “whites”, for only “Blacks” or those of “Black” descent could acquire Liberian nationality and even under the hegemony of the True Whig party, any 300 citizens could freely register to form a political party. Yet the True Whig Party sought to persuade the politically minded and talented –to join it –thus neutralising true opposition. From 1847-1980, the True Whig Party held political office –a record unmatched by any electoral faction in the history of the world –including Republican Rome and Pericles Athens. The People’s Redemption Council under Sergeant Doe –avoided officers –consisting of non commissioned officers and soldiers, -the highest ranks; involved in the coup were sergeants –fairly uniquely... It also sentenced the previous Tolbert administration to swift justice by a mixed military and civilian tribunal, entirely open to the free international press.“We can take pride in the fact; that this nation... with 133 years of stability... stays as a true African and world historic example of political, social and economic stability...”President William Tolbert...The Liberia Herald has vigorously served as a chronicle of dissent and critic of policies since 1826 -4 years after the Birth of Liberia as a sanctuary for ex slaves of the American Colonisation Society. Amos Sawyer –drafter of constitutions and presidential candidate –as did Baccus Matthews and Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, repeated worked for democracy in Liberia –suffering torture and confinement. In particular, the students of the University of Liberia in Monrovia –revolted heroically; refusing to tolerate the imprisonment of intellectuals such as Sawyer; questioning the dubious authority and nobly defying the arbitrary decrees of the US backed Sergeant Doe –after he expurgated over a century of independent African democracy; -and sacrificing themselves over the affront in awarding him the undeserved distinction of an honorary degree –to this non university educated desecrator. “The constitutional oath of office is politically and symbolically significant and substantive. It reflects the enduring character of a democratic tradition of the peaceful and orderly transition of political power and authority. It also affirms the culmination of a commitment to our nation’s collective search for a purposeful and responsive leadership... We applaud the resilience of our people who, weighed down and dehumanised by poverty and rendered immobile by the shackles of 14 years of civil war, courageously went not once, but twice to the polls to vote and elect Vice President Joseph Boakai and myself to serve them...We express to you, our people; our deep sense of appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity to serve you and our common Republic... We pledge to live up to your expectations of creating a government which is attentive and responsive to your needs, your concerns, and the development and progress of our country. We know that your vote was a vote for change; a vote for peace, security and stability; a vote for healing and leadership. We have heard you loudly, and we humbly accept your vote of confidence and your mandate...“We pledge anew our commitment to transparency, to open government and to participatory democracy for all of our citizens. Yet, we are humbled and awed by the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead –to heal our nation’s wounds, redefine and strengthen its progress, make democracy a purposeful, living and effective experiment, promote economic growth, create jobs, revitalise our health and educational facilities and services and quicken the pace of social progress and individual prosperity... My Fellow Liberians:We are moving forward! Our best days are coming! The future belongs to us because we have taken charge of it! We have the resources! We have the resourcefulness! Now we have the Government! And we have good friends who want to work with us... My Government will ensure that the creativity and industry of Liberians is unleashed in this incredible moment of history... We are making our beloved Liberia –home again... So let us begin anew, moving forward into a future which is filled with hope and promise... In Union Strong, Success is sure... We cannot fail... I thank you...Inaugural Address of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 2006 AD...The Emancipator of Women; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became president of Liberia in January 2759 AUC (2006 of the Galilean calendar). Yet politically, socially and in education the women of Liberia, have been more pivotal and influential than many countries, starting with Susannah Lewis who conceptualised the Liberian Republican flag in 1847 AD The Mano River Women’s Network for Peace is one of the many female philanthropy institutions which contributed to the first African woman president in 2758 AUC, along with gaining universal female suffrage 61 years previous to that –impressive given England had 260 years before its first female prime minister and 224 years later, we still await a female US president.. Irreproachable herself, a central target was corruption.“Corruption erodes faith in government because of the mismanagement and misapplication of public resources. It weakens accountability, transparency and justice. Corruption short changes and undermines key decision and policy making processes. It stifles private investment which creates jobs and assures support from our partners. Corruption is a national cancer which creates hostility, distrust and anger...”With a former Ivory Coast prime minister; Alassane Ouattara; she proclaimed the Open Society Initiative for West Africa –aiming for magnified civic society participation; accountability; transparency and development with interactive dialogues where ordinary Liberians could freely speak and air views –instead of leaving it to bureaucrats; politicians and NGO’s. In earlier stages; she had served as one of the few historic examples of existent ministers prepared to denounce the executive and other ministers for graft – unlike the complicit and compliant Northern Hemisphere. In the transitional government; she served as head of the Government Reform Commission. Women headed the police; Finance; Foreign Affairs; Commerce; Gender and Development along with Youth and Sports. The government involved many presidential and vice presidential candidates, which is unusual for any nation –let alone an African nation. In an equivalent gesture of peace and reconciliation; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission –that African Ujaama concept, with no European, Middle Eastern, Asian, Oceanian, North or South American equivalent, was also formed to examine human rights abuses between 1979-2003 as a more cost efficient and more efficacious means of rehabilitation than a war crimes tribunal. With this in mind, the president persuaded Sierra Leone to release Charles Taylor into the international special court“We must make collective restitution to those victimised, rehabilitate the victimizers while at the same time visiting some form of retribution against those whose violations qualify as crimes against humanity. This Truth and Reconciliation Commission is our hope –to define the past on our behalf in terms that are seen to be fair and balanced; -and to bring forth a unifying narrative on which our nation’s rebuilding and renewal process can be more securely anchored...”President Ellen Sirleaf JohnsonTHE NIGERIAN COLOSSUS AND SIR ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA:“From us resplendent shielders of our caliphate, to you; oh foreign British usurper...Know that neither I, nor my people shall consent, to any of your own people residing among us. I myself, shall never be reconciled to you, nor shall I permit any further dealings with you... We will resist your encroachment, whatever it may cost us and forfeit our lives rather than be subject to perpetual servitude. Henceforth, there shall be no exchange between us, save those between Africans and non Africans, as Muslims and non –believers –holy war –a Jihad, as the Almighty and as patriotism has enjoined upon us. There is neither power nor authority, whether by Divinity or by right, which can justify this occupation of our beloved continent and as Africans, we pledge to defend it, or perish in the attempt.The last Fulani caliphThe Fulani caliphate gallantly defended against its expiration by the caliphate, when its caliph died with his men 7 July 1903. The Yoruba kings had to consult others, show patience be compassionate, merciful and virtuous as electoral criteria. In addition, the father had to be deceased, for no chieftain should have someone above him to revere and prostrate before. The Oyo Empire established the impartiality of its judiciary –unlike the North Americans and British who appointed their justices directly from the executive. The Alafin was the ruler and spiritual source, 7 prominent chiefs composed the Council of Notables –lineage chosen (Bashorun,) the Kakanfo with his war chiefs comprised the war cabinet and the oracle and counter balance base of the Ogboni. The Kakanfo was prohibited from entering the capital and usually of low birth –i.e. a slave to prevent an aristocratic or martial threat.Nigeria is known for its oil, for its film industry (Nollywood), for its thriving entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to liberal democracy and critique as exemplified in is literature of Chinua Achebe and Wolle Soyinka the noted activist. It was strong enough to survive its civil war and conserve its Bill of Rights.The Nok culture of 253 AUC produced ironware, weaponry and implements such as spears and hoes, along with terracotta busts at an equivalent time to the Han, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Macedonians, Egyptians and Greeks.“It is no good blaming the British any more when things go wrong; these days are gone... we must now blame ourselves because we shall have made the wrong decision. And remember too that... the whole world is watching us, waiting to see whether we can rise to the occasion...”Sir Abubakar 1958...“At last our great day has arrived and Nigeria is now indeed an independent sovereign nation... This great country, which has now emerged without bitterness or bloodshed, finds that she must at once be able to ready to deal with grave international matters. This fact has of recent months, been unhappily emphasized by the startling events which have occurred in this continent... Today we have with us those representatives who have made Nigeria –of the regional government, of the missionary societies and of the banking and commercial enterprises... Today we are reaping the harvest which you have sown... This is an occasion when our hearts are filled with conflicting emotions... But do not mistake pride for arrogance... we are grateful to the British officers whom we have known first as masters, and then as leaders, and finally as partners, but always as friends.”Inaugural Independence Address of Nigeria’s First Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Balewa 1 October 1960Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa had the impossible task of unifying one of the most diverse countries in Africa –a job which a later successor Ironsi would continue with a NPC/ NCNC coalition. He broke off diplomatic relations with the French in protest over their nuclear tests in the Sahara. For six years, he devoted himself to his people, domestically and in foreign affairs, trying to consolidate the fragmented inheritance of British, French, German, Portuguese and Belgian cartography –as many others had to... He joined North and East in a coalition government; while the West acted as parliamentary opposition for the 1960 and 1964 elections. Until 1966, the military only received 5:6% of the budget -only 10000–and it only expanded principally due to the Biafra secession and subsequent civil war. He achieved independence for Nigeria along with Awulo and others, managing to retain amiable diplomatic and commercial relations with the British. Nigeria even broke off diplomatic relations with France over their nuclear tests in the Sahara. As in most independent African nations, citizens of Nigeria took over their own administration, society and economy. In 1966; the Nigerian military intervened to counter the deepening graft. Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu proposed the death penalty for embezzlement; rape; bribery and corruption: “Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 %; those that seek to keep our country divided permanently; so that they may remain permanently in office as ministers and VIP’s of waste; the tribalists, the nepotists; those that made the country look big for nothing before the international circles; those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their deeds and actions... I assure all foreigners that their rights will be continued to be respected. We promise every law abiding citizen the freedom from all forms of oppression, freedom from general inefficiency (brilliantly needed for a certain island archipelago in the Northern Hemisphere First World), and freedom to live; to strive and to excel to the best of one’s human capacity of endurance and potential, in every field of human endeavour... We promise you, that you will no longer be ashamed to call yourself a Nigerian...” His quest for an African solution to the mess the Belgians, British, UN and Americans of the Congo and his campaign to counter the strata of graft were both pre-empted by his early death. This African patriot sought to fulfil his people’s and Nigeria’s desire for recognition and acceptance in a world sceptical about Africa. Educated at St Joseph’s Catholic School and St John’s College in Kaduna; despite bring self-disciplined and a sportsman of prowess –he lead a boycott of sports in protest at colonial entrenchment of stringent espirit de corps –and rebelled there and at Sandhurst –being too autonomous to subjugate his independence, by also’ protesting the unjust changing of the exam structure and against sycophantic leadership/ dogmatic indoctrination as a substitute for thought provoking teaching. A voracious reader as with many of our more distinguished leaders –who valued –and value the guidance of words and ideas. In 1955, he joined the West Africa Frontier Force and due to his strategic commanding talents, received training in India. He was also selected for Aldershot in Surrey and Sandhurst. Major General Ironsi sought to replace the Federal structure with a National Republic and centralisation. His personal austerity and avoidance of embezzlement glaringly stand out –when he died; he left a bank debt of ?18500. Under the oil boom and economic boom, Nigerians received subsidised consumer imports, rice and petroleum. Nigeria won its civil war –against the Biafran secession between 1967 -1970 –reconstructing Biafra; thanks to the oil boom as Nigeria’s budget multiplied tenfold between 1965 -1975 and offering amnesties to the defeated; without vengeance. Biafra served as the cause against federation dominance and its independence was recognised by such disparate countries as Nyerere’s Tanzania, Felix Boigny’s Ivory Coast, Gabon, Nationalist Party South Africa and Kaunda’s Zambia. In particular, General Gowon demanded that foreign mercenaries were to be justly subject to the worse fate, while innocent Igbo civilians were to be spared atrocities inflicted by troops. “Every civil servant is now called upon to see his function in any part of Nigeria is serving in the context of the whole country. The orientation should now be towards national unity and progress...”A National Youth Service sent youths to areas other than their place of origins in an attempt to remove ethnic discord and gain work experience. In 1975, Nigeria introduced free universal primary education. Gowan created ECOWAS which partially accounted for the 6% GNP growth rate from 1960 -1980 and initiated the transition to civilian rule –vetoed by university intelligentsia. As an OPEC member, Nigeria was the only developing country which increased contributions to the World Bank and IMF along with contributions to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Developments. The Supreme Military Council under Murtala Mohamed removed 12 state governors and created 7 new states, appointing new candidates to provinces other than theirs to reduce corruption. A new capital was created at Abuja. Foreign reserves grew from Nigerian Naira of 327 million at the First Republic and independence to 5.65 billion Naira 2 decades later at the start of the Second Republic. In 1979, civilian rule was restored by General Olusegan Obasanjo with President Shehu Shagari wining the 1979 and 1983 elections. Foreign policy in Nigeria has always been secular based not religious.The first to gain post primary education from Shagari, President Shehu Shagari attended the elite Kaduna College in 1941. In 1953, he gained personal experience of education on a four month study tour sponsored by the British Council. In 1958, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of independence: Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and a member of the Niger Delta Development Board responsible for an oil refinery at Port Harcourt and a hydroelectric dam at Kainji. He briefly became Minister for Economic Development before transferring to the Ministry of Pensions, Establishments and Training. In 1973, he published a popular textbook: Song of Nigeria covering rural science, economics, history and geography in Hausa verse. From 1971 -1975, he became Minister of Finance and often head foreign delegations such as those to Libya. He persistently argued and achieved price stabilisation for tropical agriculture which is less productively flexible than its industrial counterpart. Throughout the political tumult and cycles, he survived.He vetoed the interference of non Africans in the African Development Bank. He challenged the EU precursor; the EEC as economically unsound according to the principles of comparative advantage and Adam Smith who called for specialisation and buying the cheapest products –without artificial subsidies; at the lowest prices. Instead, he proposed loyalty to sterling and the loyalty of trading arrangements within the boundaries of the British Empire and Commonwealth –Britain should bypass the EU. Given the nature of the unequal balance of trade and the United Kingdom’s disproportionate sponsoring of the ruinous CAP, his idea retains sense at present. In 1969, he sought to entice rural teachers to train by giving housing and motorcycle loans to them, whilst Sokoto State Commissar for Education. In 1976, he set up the Sokoto Development Authority which constructed a new market and was responsible for introducing books of subsidised school bus tickets (unlike London Transport). As President he aimed to resist the salary increase from $20000 to 25000; donating the extra quarter to charities. He prohibited legislators from having foreign accounts. In the 1980’s Lagos International Airport became civilised enough to boast retractable, element proof connecting planes to the terminals to prevent exposure to the heat or a torrent.“I dare to hope for the future of my Africa; although sometimes it is not enough...”Nigerian chief and entrepreneur Godfrey Amoyun. He recognised the value of agriculture in Nigeria and Africa –prioritizing the food autarchy programme with 15% of the Nigerian state budget. The National Accelerated Food Production Project and the Fourth National Development Plan; concentrated on agriculture in providing credit, equipment and support to small farmers, including subsidizing half of their machinery costs. During 1986-1992, Nigeria had expanded rural textiles, handicrafts, rubber, palm oil and crop production to become agriculturally self sufficient –impressive for over 200 000000 people. Chief Awolowo often served as a champion of Nigerian democracy –and for communities with their traditional leaders –closer to the people. –even when the Northern Hemisphere found it hypocritically convenient to favour military rule as Generals Gowon and Obasanjo found out The Nigerian government valued artists –endowing those such as Ben Enwonwu. “Any Western attempt to excuse deviations from African democracy only serves as another of the perpetually insulting colonial assumptions that Africans were too primitive and barbaric to conduct this beneficent and ennobling form of government.”Chief Awolowo.The NPN manifesto of President Shagari’s party pledged rural farming credit and living incentives along with the abolition of the Jongli cattle tax. Other intriguing ideas included OPEC support, a National Youth Council and state homes for the aged; destitute and disabled –granting them tax exemptions. It elevated the national Petroleum Corporation to cabinet rank, free education and medical services. The MPN under Awulo aimed to even modify the school year to correlate to rural children assisting with farming. It favoured free medical care, full employment and integrated rural development incorporating the youth. The NPP under Dr Azikwe pioneered public –private sector partnerships (before the UK under Tony Blair) –public only where private sector fails; along with National Service to mobilise the youth and progressive taxation. The PRP desired businessmen or technocrats not mere civil servants to administer public corporations, to provide owner occupied housing, along with free training for teachers, nurses and other medical practitioners. In 1977, Lagos hosted the second African Cultural Festival.“Although the Nigerian economy has grown appreciably in the past 2 decades, the growth has not always necessarily transformed itself into development. A more meaningful approach to the people and future of Nigeria; is to see development as people inspired, human centred and citizen anchored.”General Obasanjo, Farmhouse Dialogues, Africa Leadership Forum.General –and later civilian president Obasanjo set up the African Leadership Development Forum as a means of entailing a new generation of leadership as a civilian. Its Farmhouse Dialogues provided scope for criticism, dissent and proposals for reforming Nigeria. He had enhanced federalism –aiming to pacify ethnicity –promulgating laws which said political parties –needed national not tribal recognition and support before registering in 1979. He ended the Biafra secession –without calling upon foreigners. He surrendered power to the Northern Party of Alhaji Shehu Shagari –having worked on it with Murtala Mohammed since inception in 1975 via a new Constitution drafted by the finest legal minds and intelligentsia of Nigeria and the 1976-1978 Constituent Assembly. National –not ethnic or religious parties were then legalised and formed before they competed in local and then national elections –as promised in 1979. This serves as a glistening example on African statesmanship and political transition –commendable to any nation. He reformed the army –reducing it .They triggered Operation Deadwood which fired over 10000 usurious and nepotism filled employees, a Public Complaints Bureau and Corrupt Practises Investigation Bureau. They added a land use decree, reformed marketing boards; expanded the states from 12 to 19 and commissioned the new federal capital of Abuja –as a counterweight to the sprawling, engulfing conurbation of Lagos. A youthful and passionate assortment of academics was appointed to formulated ideas and solutions –from the highest positions of state power in the Cabinet Office Political Department. Other eminent experts –from all distinction and spectrums were independently commissioned to provide critical appraisals and constructive cost benefit analysis. Nigeria has recently launched its own space satellite –with its own space research agency –which isn’t too bad for a supposedly unsophisticated nation on a “backward” continent... University students rose from 1400 in 1960 to over 35000 by 1998 while the number of universities – 6 by 1978 has proliferated to 37 by 1998.“We are not asking for the moon... but for the bare necessities of life –water; electricity, electricity, roads, education and a right to self –determination so that we... the people of the Nigerian Delta; can be responsible for our resources and our environment...”MOSOP President Garrick Leton OGONI Rally, 1993 Any African patriotic and audacious enough to challenge both his/ her own government and foreign mercantile interests in this era of globalisation in the pursuit of justice and resistance to embezzlement; deserves commemoration. The Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa set up MOSSAP (Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni People) twenty years ago to protect the interests of those impoverished Nigerian Delta resident citizens not gaining from the ecological desecration and economic gain. He demanded $10 billion from Shell, Chevron and state Nigerian Petroleum Corporation within 30 days or face strikes and mass protests. When they refused, he launched it with tens of thousands participating. For helping the: “Ogoni’s to fight for their own salvation... because there is no government to deliver us...” he was arrested and convicted with death. Wolle Soyinka is noted for his pro democracy as well as his literary reputation. General Buhari enhanced one of the most powerful of Africa’s armed forces –upgrading the Military Academy to a university, with a new Naval and Air Force academy with an Army Bank to finance the new defence industries –such as the Bauchi armoured personnel carriers and explosives of the Defence Industries Corporation. The Defence Ministry expanded its research. His Cabinet reflected technocrats and non northerners occupying the vital ministries of Justice, Petroleum and Finance. In moral issues; it sought to act like the purifying Censors of the Roman Republic by enforcing the ban on the exporting; displaying; sale or importing of corrosive pornography. It concentrated foreign reserves on debt and the importing of essentials. The War against Indiscipline challenged inertia; seeking to repudiate stagnation. The death penalty became applied efficaciously to economic and anti social crimes including drug trafficking –which worked. When Britain refused to honour the international law of extradition (as it would later seek to protect the wife murderer –refuse to give it to South Africa), his Nigerian government sought to prosecute an ex Transport Minister Alhaj Umar. So they; “kidnapped” him and extradited him from London, when the pro graft British denied cooperation. Nigeria’s economy was so durable that General Babadinaga was able to break off negotiations with the IMF. General Abubakar was yet another African general who restored civilian rule –in 1999. His last act was to abolish detention without trial. (Decree 2) A second peaceful democratic election was held in 2003.Vernacular, traditional architecture consisted of cement –not mud, in the historic Yoruba town of Osogbo (Southwest Nigeria) with its sacred grove of their river goddess Osun –which flourished with the vibrant vitality of Yoruba spiritual art. The ataoja Matammi III promoted the town to host FESTAC –Africa’s central Arts and Culture Festival. The Igbo Ukwe traded with India as early as the ninth and tenth centuries as evident by the 1000000 or so carnelian and glass beads located. Ibadan became the home of the first African television stations as well as its first sport stadiums and the first Nigerian university. The Igbo women shared combat duty with the men in the military in the 1720’s. The Fulani were also aware of the equality of genders with their armed forces in North Nigeria during the 1870’s –up to 3000. The Hausa city states irrigated a 1000 years ago, trading cotton, kola nuts, iron weapons and dyed textiles as far as North Africa and Arabia. The Sokoto caliphate (founded by the scholar Usman da Foligo –a noted African jurists, lawyer, theologian, grammarian and exegesis –studied under the noted Malloum Jibral of Agadez Morocco) and Kano emirate retained their intellectual, political and economic separation even under the British. The kingdom of Gabu devolved from the Malian Empire in 1546 –thrived until 1867 as an example of this area’s order.The kingdom of Eyeo until 1774; had its popular liberties defended by tribunes of the people who acted as advisors. When the king no longer served the interests of his people, these people sent their tribunes with a gift of parrots’ eggs to symbolise that he should abdicate by a little sleep. He would then retire to his quarters and be strangled in his sleep by women. The councillors rose up in war to defend democracy in 1774, when the king refused to honour this and all perished for their valiant resistance. The Yoruba kingdom of Oyo and its potent cavalry dominated Whydah, Dahomey and other areas until the 18th century, subscribing to the popular mandate where the king, who neglected, ruined or betrayed his people and their interests had to yield to the order for sleep/ suicide. If he lacked courage, a friend was ordered to slay him instead. A clay model of the crown prince’s right foot was made for the kings of Oyo at birth. When it was presented to the ruler, he knew that he had to forfeit via poison and suicide. The Ijebu Ode reigned for a three year fixed term before moving on to another elected. The tolerance of these customary orders of accession remains stupendous. Several of these states long historically practised deme kratia before becoming a united federation in 1966. Many of these composite states would form the basis of the federated Nigeria –perhaps the most miraculous formation of all of Africa, in its diversity, which despite turmoil has remained a collective cohesion for 51 years of independence, surviving even the vicissitudes of Biafra and Abacha.CAPE VERDE/ THE GAMBIA/ GUINEA/ GUINEA BISSAU: “Always remember that the people are not fighting for ideas nor for what is in human minds... The people fight and accept the sacrifices demanded of them, in order to gain material advantage, to live better and in peace, to benefit from their progress, to make their lives go forward and for the future sake of their children. National liberation, the struggle against colonialism; the construction of peace, progress and independence are words devoid of any significance, unless they can be translated into a real improvement of living conditions...”Amilcar Cabral 1965.The role of Africa in winning its own sovereignty –and forcing external factors to acknowledge this, acted as the precursor to the African Renaissance. Revolutions on the continent; were pioneered by Amilcar Cabral of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. Born September 12th, 1924. In 1952, he founded the PAIGC as Secretary General in 1956. His assassination at the PAIGC office in Conakry Guinea 10:30 20 January 1973 by a defecting dissident member favouring the Portuguese, marked the cessation of one whose vision for Cape Verde and Africa, had been one of spirit and potential. Yet, his legacy lived on at first in the 6 year union of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau and then in the realised blueprints of the PAIGCV; as another symbol of those betrayed before they could have truly assisted Africa.“A few leaders may understand, from the start, the necessity to use violence both in self defence and as the only means of opening the door to a better future. But they remain powerless until and unless large numbers of people also feel and acknowledge it. Only then can the bitterness and hope, take fire.”“We are all necessary to the struggle but no one is indispensable... Today I am proud because I am certain that given the work we have done together, if I went, left died or disappeared, there are others in the party capable of continuing the struggle. If this were not the case, we would not have achieved anything yet. A human who has achieved something, which we or she lone can continue, has achieved nothing...”Amilcar CabralCape Verde perhaps does deserve its appellation of the Fortunate Isles by having a government at independence who concentrated on ecology; rural infrastructure and the food question; in addition to education, social and medical advances which truly affect the lives of ordinary people rather than grand foreign affairs. From 1975, a third of all investment was targeted to rural, depleted areas. It became a Party principle of honour: to avoid bureaucracy wherever possible; as siphoning resources; which the mobilised masses could use to facilitate improvements in their own lives. In extension of this; in 1978; they decentralised politics and introduced local government –denied by the autocratic Portuguese. The PAICV also understood personal attachment to materialism and property rights and conducted mixed private –state cooperative partnerships to supplement each other; two decades before Tony Blair’s UK government would pass it off as their own concoction. The PAICV concentrated on ecology with an elaborate obsession to afforestation. From 1977 -1985, 9000000 trees were replanted and the government has since aimed at an annual target of 2000000 trees. Investment in food security also received attention with pilot projects to use the fertile soil of Fogo volcano, 2073000 square metres of new terracing and15000 stone dams/ canals along with soil conservation. “Does history commence only when it has been written by the victors? Does it begin only from the moment of revolt, class struggle or revolution? To reply in the affirmative, would be to place outside the whole human history, the period of nomadic and sedentary agriculture, to cattle raising, the private acquisition of land and oral history... It would also be to consider –and this we refuse to accept, -that various human groups in Africa, Asia and Latin America were living without history or outside history at the moment when subjected to the yoke of colonialism and before colonialism...”Amilcar Cabral, 1966 Havana Tricontinental Conference.Unlike conventional revolutions emphasizing class, Amilcar Cabral and the PAIGCV chose to include all people –the nation and communities of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. Under the independence campaign, the PAIGCV still found the capacity to aid the people, medically and in education –publishing textbooks and constructing 159 primary schools by 1967, whilst fighting the war. Cape Verde under Aristides Pereira and the PAIGCV was not known for coups or dramatic historical occurrences, as has been so popularly prescribed elsewhere. They established a National Assembly to include the people, who reciprocated by nominating them for every single seat democratically. This valuing of democracy is obvious in the fact; that in contrast to many countries, one never needed party membership to serve as a realistic chance of being elected. Nothing was based on the PAIGCV as a party –people and not local political party members of a constituency participated and elected local councils, resident committees and judicial tribunals as examples of popular judicial participation, as an inexpensive; decentralised approach. Candidates were compelled to submit themselves for evaluation –no not by the state but by the people, justifying themselves in every village, town and major settlement within their constituency –more intense and accountable than within many Northern Hemisphere nations. Assaulting unemployment received high priority, as they realised that this was necessary for a sustainable economy. They also avoided grand projects –concentrating on measures that would directly help the people such as 54 new fishing vessels. Unlike most countries which are forced to submit to stringent conditions of the World Food Programme Distributors alimony programme; Aristides Pereira insisted on a food for work programme; which aided 30000 Cape Verdeans. The PAICV believed in self reliance as providing pride.“1: Educational reform, development of secondary, technical and tertiary education will be enacted!2: There will be rapid eradication of illiteracy; compulsory free primary education; and urgently needed training of technical and professional staff.3: Total elimination of the consequences of colonialistic culture and exploitation!4: In Guinea and Cape Verde, there will be stimulation of indigenous and Creole tongues and written scripts, as well as ethnic cultural development, protection of native literature and the arts!5: There must be use made of all the gains and discoveries of value made by human culture for the progress of the people of Guinea and Cape Verde and a reciprocal contribution of these people’s culture to humanity in general.6: We will stimulate the support and development of physical education and sports for all citizens of Guinea and Cape Verde and create physical education and sports centres.7: Religious freedom an; and the freedom to have –or not to have a religion (few countries anywhere afford such protection to atheism or agnosticism), will be respected as well as the sanctity and inviolability of all religious temples, shrines, mosques and churches; all objects of worship and all legal religious institutions –along with the autonomy and freedom of religious personnel.”1969 Major Programme of the PAIGCV!The PAIGCV reduced bureaucracy. In foreign affairs, it refused to let any of NATO or the Soviet Union build military bases. Initially, it reduced expenses by uniquely sharing embassies and a joint shipping line company. Its economy was influenced by the strategic Sal airport –gaining considerable revenue by granting landing rights to South African Airways. Despite the lack of resources, it managed a positive current account and budget surplus along with core public investment in housing and other areas such as the 1985 Agrarian Reform Commission which prioritised greater food security. In addition it believed in afforestation and ecological conservation (as Sankara did). 10 000000 trees were planted; so that this archipelago could reflect its emerald name. As outlined in the Medical Requiem chapter, the PAIGCV provided a perfect African example of how the majority of liberation movements prioritised health of their citizens. Education was to focus on the basics –and substitute colonial Portuguese history and culture for Cape Verde. Socially; they came up with poliavalenti –multi purpose, cultural, social and political facilities unique to the islands, where there had been no Portuguese equivalent. Media freedom has been enshrined for 36 years now –the Party even founded the Tribuna journal for prominent critics to dissent –on the grounds that: suppression equates to revolt and revolution –something the archipelago has never experienced.“We have to make our schools reflect the vision of the PAIGCV for Cape Verde and Guinea: -education and work! Work to maintain the school correctly, work for agricultural production to feed the students and our combatants, for physical exercise for our students, so that no one thinks going to school –means no more tilling of the soil. One of the disasters of modern Africa –is the following: Anyone who has a primary school certificate –or higher –no longer wants to take the plough or the hoe, to till the soil.”Amilcar CabralThe PAIGC favoured popular democracy –as shown in its National Assembly of Cape Verde –ever since it democratically won all the seats in the first elections of independence in 1973. Politically it has always favoured having a multiplicity of candidates and indeed; party membership is not even required to stand in elections. Candidates were expected to be nominated directly by groups of people –and their candidacy justified and ratified as they canvassed and toured all major settlements in their constituencies. It shared embassies and a transnational shipping service with Guinea –unusually and comparable to the cooperation and federal facilities of the Federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland under Sir Roy Welensky (1953-1963) and the joint university of Togo and Benin. In addition; it firmly preserved its territorial integrity by refusing to serve as the source for foreign military bases –European, Soviet, Chinese or American. Despite poor resource endowment; they have managed to invest in housing and other social priorities –maintaining a healthy balance of payments and current account –from the strategic Sal Airport. From 1982-1985; the First Development Plan modernised Praia and Mindelo –repairing its pivotal dockyard along with expanding the fishing fleet and mechanical repair workshops. This economic activity stimulated 7000 jobs. “Education in our new society should have a form and content entirely within accordance, with the decisions and principles outlined by the PAIGCV and should be guided with the objectives of achieving the following within future, new generations...-To convert the principles of the PAIGCV into personal convictions and habit of everyday life!-To provide training based on a scientific and technocratic conception of the world!-To develop fully, the intellectual, moral and physical potential capabilities of the individual and the collectivity;-To encourage the highest human, sensory perceptions, emotions and aesthetic tastes!-Forsooth in summation: to form a free, cultured person, a conscientious worker, who possess a sense of responsibility, and of personal and collective interests and who is capable of actively and passionately participating in national reconstruction...”1977, Report of the Supreme Struggle Council 3rd PAIGCV Congress, 1977. Cape Verde -after 400 years under the Portuguese, had a grand total of 13 doctors on the eve of independence in July 1975. 11 of these, were Cape Verdean. A decade later; there were 106 doctors and nurses had increased from 140 to 225. The ratio of doctors to patients dropped from 1 for every 23000 to 1 for every 2300. At independence, there were no lab technicians –this soon became 1 for every 530 people. From two basic hospitals in Praia and Mindelo, Cape Verde received three new hospitals, 15 rural health centres, 15 pre natal and 34 rural clinics and 7 health centres. A vigorous malaria extermination campaign –aided by exhaustive and mandatory controls at all airports and ports of entry, removed the plague in four years. Infant mortality rates dropped from 108.6 per 1000 to 73.5 per 1000 in the same time period. Male life expectancy increased from 55.3 years to 60.77 years. Female life expectancy increased from 56.9 to 62.9 years. Public hygiene was demonstrated by local volunteers. After 2744 AUC, President Antonio Monteiro and the opposition Movement for Democracy won both that and the 2749 AUC election. The popularity and success of democracy in this part of Africa –enabled the PAIGCV to rewin the 2759 AUC elections under Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves and President Pedro Pirres –separate prime minister and presidential elections, as success of an opposition movement (As validated in Rhodesia, Nigeria under Obasanjo and Sierra Leone under Siaka Stevens. How many other countries in their history have decided to have no army –not even a militia? The Gambia preserved democracy throughout its existence in its coalition government –though ignored in practically every African history which claims only democracy existed in Botswana; ignoring Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia from 1975 and Rhodesia –Zimbabwe –up to 1987; avoiding military coups and martial expense by avoiding this extravagance. Even a noted critic Dr Tufo was placated with a Parliament seat, a Cabinet post and the chance to practice reform and democratic dissent. The formidable administrator Sir Dauda Kairaba Jawara acquired independence February 18 1965, forming the People’s Progressive Party. Retaining religious and political concord through diplomacy; he extended this in foreign affairs to the Senegambia Confederation (1981-1987); which united Senegal and Gambia –especially after Sir Jawara was restored after an attempted Libyan takeover; by Senegalese troops at his request. Its flourishing economy has also done well.Politically; The Gambia first illuminated with the 1928 Bathurst Trade Union. The three main Parties were the Democratic Party under the Reverend John Fy, the Muslim Congress Party under I.M Garbarjama and the United Party under Pierre N’Jie. Sir Dauda Jawara was born May 11th 1924 and was educated at Ghana’s Achimoto College and the University of Glasgow where he served as secretary and president of the African Student’s Union. He became the first Gambian vet –and of all Gambian nationalists, the one who advanced to occupy the highest post that the British would allow a native Gambian, formed the Progressive Party in 1960, made up of the disenfranchised Wolof, the rural Mande and progressive intellectuals/ moderates. Both the Progressive and the United Parties won 8 seats, while the Democratic Party won three in the 1960 elections forming a coalition government. Sir Jawara narrowly won a majority in the 1962 elections with 18/ 32 seats. Since them; his party has included members of other parties and avoided a one party state so fashionable in Africa. N’Jie of the Muslim Congress Party became the official opposition. Several corrupt MP’s and ministers were purged for their venality –especially in 1984, to show that it would not be indulged. Sir Jawara also offered a political amnesty to the Gambian Socialist Revolutionary Party, which spurned democratic electoral channels. Gambia had no political prisoners at all by 1980.Socially, The Gambia has received historical acclaim in its awareness of a potential population crisis. The first acknowledgement of this African approach to demographics was noted by the Scottish explorer Mungo Park who noticed local citizen efforts to restrict the birth rate to 5 children. Banjul’s Charter of Human Rights in 1965 was among the first African attempts to guarantee these –and, The Gambia has honoured them for over 45 years. This small nation further stands as another African example of order, stability and continuance, denouncing the prevalent perspective of utter anarchy and disaster. Indeed, it survived the 1973 Sahel Drought with agricultural surpluses, which it fed Sahel refugees. Yet the lobotomised pillocks of the US Agency for International Development, destroyed yet another African success story of the Renaissance; with their confounded and unwanted philanthropic charity –dumping over 100 kilogrammes per inhabitant, ruining local agricultural incentive. Economically; it has yielded balanced and sustainable growth, diversified to tourism and avoided splurges or wasting resources on prestigious white elephants training teachers, nurses and vocational approaches which would aid Gambians.“It will fall to us to preserve for Guinea and for Africa, the honour of African humanity.... We shall vote “NO” to inequality and to a community which is merely the French union rechristened...” Of all the colonial spite and petty vindictiveness perhaps none can compare to the total pulverisation of infrastructure and officials obliterated from Guinea, thanks to the heroism and courage of Sekoure Toure whom dared to stand up to the “great” De Gaulle’s attempts to bankrupt and enact revenge on any African country who chose to assert its autonomy from France... From voting No, fewer than 20 out of over 4000 French expatriates remained and the former Governor Jean Risterucci confiscated the majority of even the limited infrastructure –down to office stationary and telephones. As with the British in Rhodesia; the Guineans in the French army were dismissed without pensions –which had to be given by the new government. It chose an honourable poverty rather than enriched slavery! For two years Guinea tried to re-establish economic and political relations and for two years, France obstructed itself excluding all assistance, investment trade and even inclusion in the franc zone. Realising that citizen vigilantes make the best enforcers of law and order, he encouraged citizens to observe each other for civic infractions. He also had the courage to expel the Peace Corps of the USA and house arrest its ambassador in October 1966 for not respecting a government delegation’s place on a US plane –when detained at Accra in Ghana, while expelling the Soviet ambassador for distributing propaganda and severing diplomatic relations with France for its involvement in a potential coup. Guinea refused to provide a refuelling base during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1961, for the Soviet Union. Internationally, Guinea provided a base for Amilcar Cabral and fought in the Congo to defend Lumumba but halted when the United Nations precipitated the bloodbath. Guinea’s Army followed the Roman example of being fiscally productive and being dedicated to the service and welfare of the public by constructing projects all over the country. “We for our part; have a first and indispensable need; that of our dignity. Now; there is no dignity; without freedom...We prefer poverty in freedom, to riches in slavery.”Sekoure Toure.He was born in the village of Faranah, on the River Niger January 9th 1922. At fifteen he became a rebel –expelled for leading a strike at his technical college. His school friends tutored him with what they learnt nocturnally while he became a post office clerk. In 1950, he became Guinea’s Secretary General of the French Labour Union (CGT). In 1955, he became mayor of Conakry and the following three years, was a representative in the French National Assembly. Preferring autonomy and flexibility, in 1957 he became General Secretary of his own founded General Workers Union of Black Africa (UGTAN) and Prime Minister. In 1962, he sincerely pledged to defend private investment yet identified that economic choices must reflect the desires of the people. A profitable state cigarette company was formed exporting the non African smoking vice to addicted outsiders. He avoided a personality cult and his party won the first democratic elections unanimously. He resisted the Portuguese invasion. Eventually; he fell to the 1977 market women’s strike in Conakry. President Lanse Conte and Prime Minister Traore in 1984 sought to reverse the economic mistakes and weaknesses of Sekoure Toure and freed political prisoners. Political parties were legalised and trade unions unbanned. “Guinea wishes to cooperate with all independent states in the world and honour their justified basis for the recognition of the right of all people to self- determination and the respect of sovereignty... We shall not join either of the blocks; we shall determine our own foreign policy; as Guineans; in action; unbeholden and not enslaved to anyone... And all those; who wish; on the basis that we have defined; to respect this and to cooperate with this; will be our good friends...”The heroism of Toure can be seen in his arrest of the US and West German ambassadors for interfering in local affairs and the expulsion of the Soviet. Until 1967, he was a member of the Senegal River Basin Commission. In 1970, he aided Amilcar Cabral and in response, the Portuguese invaded with 300 mercenaries –which he repelled. He installed the death penalty for theft and motor car accidents, realising the effectiveness of the Islamist deterrent approach to crime. In retaliation to the French ostracising; Guinea established its own currency in 1960; refusing to accept the Central African Franc. A National Academy of Languages was set up in1972 to prepare endemic textbooks. Political education was made mandatory, student representative councils ran schools and the university was split between the rural interior and Conakry. Grass roots participation was extended thorough the Puvoir Revolutionary Locale to promote political participation directly and youth were empowered, granted the channel to express themselves and their energy through the Jeunesse Democratic African Revolutionary movement RRDA. 2500 village councils were established for rural democracy. Every Guinean was a member of the PDG –thus it reflected the collective will of the populace.“For the first 20 years, we in Guinea concentrated on developing the mentality of our people. Now, we can move onto other goals...”Ahmed Sekoure ToureGuinea gave vocational training and enlisted 10000 by 1967 in voluntary civic service. Vocational classes received 60% of the weekly syllabus priority –in pragmatic agriculture, artisan, construction, technical skills etc. 1381 scholarships were created on merit. From 1973, there were 4000 new university students where there had been none 14 years earlier at independence. An adult literacy drive was launched; while women and the youth were enrolled in activism; the former expanded to the militia; the army; the regional and national assemblies; women’s cooperatives –and even the UN ambassador was female. The impartiality and separation of the judiciary was honoured. By 1962, female emancipation was certified by requiring female consent to marriage and raising of the age to 17. Polygamy was outlawed and the equality of inheritance and divorce granted. The power and authority of women –and the respect they commanded in Guinea was such; that when Sekoure Toure sought to close village markets in August 1977 –the backbone of the Guinea economy and dominated by the talented business acumen of its women citizens; -they rose up in protest –and the government recanted. A national vaccination campaign was composed in 1976.“Statisticians; carried away by a violent passion for figures and having nothing else in their heads except + and – signs; would not understand, would not understand the significance for our people; of the recognition of their freedom; their liquidation of their fear which paralyzes the restoration of their human rights; the liberation of its energies and the sovereign exercise of its historic responsibilities...”President Toure, 1967... In 1969; the internationally famous national ballet was formed –touring the US and Canada in 1973. In patronage to the Muses and their arts; as the PGD sponsored folklore; sculpture, theatre; painting and music; along with adding sports complexes –as the physical and cultural augmentation of all citizens; ought to be an aspirant objective of all civilised states. Pensions were given to retired artisans and artists. Sily cinema –managed by private trader expertise and music was exported abroad. A civil society (Syliant) interlinked all these facets of Guinean culture –self financed in revenue from grants; royalties; productions and commerce. To rural areas; agricultural training; mechanisation and sponsorship of small irrigation plot schemes was granted.24 years after independence; 19 hospitals; 61 dispensaries and 6 medical schools were present; along with a Higher College of Medicine; Central Pharmacy Facility and Institute of Traditional Medicine. An internal air service and radio transmissions united the country. Guinea achieved a doctor for every 70000 and a nurse for every 6300. Hospital beds rose from 1383 at independence in 1958 to 6383. Electricity production from 1958 to 1968 rose tenfold to 202,000,000 kilowatt hours. Improved radio services now broadcasted to rural areas. The former luxury of piped water reserved for the capital had been extended to all regional centres by 1971. “We shall not hesitate to sacrifice, if it is necessary; the individual, for the sake of society...”“The peasant, the worker, the driver; the intellectual, the bureaucrat and all Guineans, must utilise their intelligence, values and experience, to endure the hardships imposed by colonial conditions, to ensure their survival throughout the challenges of our independence and to adapt them to a brighter future...”Sekoure Toure 1978.Guinea Bissau under Nino Vieira, avoided controversy –being entwined with Cape Verde and the PAIGCV until 1981, as the host of the founding revolutionary base in 1956 –and the scene of the assassination of Amilcar Cabral. Again, it was not scoured or scourged by economic, social and political chaos. They concentrated on the usual targets of African states, 100 % adult literacy; an expansion of health services; a public nutrition campaign, agrarian reform; family planning; their own pharmacies; a revival of culture and community theatres. Guinea Bissau also showed its awareness of the ecological question by an afforestation campaign. An extensive road network and set of motorised boats for river transport opened up the interior to development. This progress was achieved without a single political prisoner of a military seizure of power. The economy diversified from sugar monoculture and grew under Prime Minister Carlos Veigna and President Antonio Mascarenhas from 1991 and honoured press freedom. President Kumba Yallah chose reconciliation with the armed forces.SENEGAL AND ITS SAVANT, LEOPOLD SENGHOR:“What can one say to a human who has said almost everything? He has told us that our future will be a common one or we will have no future at all... That we are brothers and sisters on this planet and should manage our resources and ecological curatorship collectively... Will this human be heard? Or will he be ignored like other prophets, in their own times...”Journalist commenting on Senghor.One of the first examples of a modern state along with that of the Asante; that might have progressed separately if colonialism had given it a chance was the 1790 Lebou Republic in Senegal which had gained independence from the French supported King of Kayar. It had its own Ministerial Cabinet, Assembly of Wise Men correlating to a Senate for experience and a House of Delegates which granted equal seats to representatives from each district, elected popularly. It granted freedom of commerce and to missionaries of Galileanism and Islam, even if secular. It was known for having little crime, fair laws and orders, a place where equality of marital status was secured Both Kayar and the French with their neighbouring slave raiding garrison on the island of Goree recognised its independence until 1857, when the French having established a mainland base in 1847 after land granted by the Lebou government. The last elected leader Laf Diop, died aged 24, gallantly resisting the French barbarians in 1857. Senegal has a long historic tradition of asserting its autonomy –even under the colonial French; it sought to provide a restoration of its own cultural and economic variegated identities. Politically, it worked hard to secure the first distinction of all French empire territories, to win representation with the precursor of Senegal representation and nationalism, the Parliament deputy Blaisé Dioye who served with merit from 1914 -1934 rising to be Undersecretary of State for the Colonies, securing the historically unappreciated but vital loyalty and recruiting of thousands of African troops and military support. Amadou Bambe, who refused cooperation and rebelled against them. Leopold Senghor, arrested by the Nazis during World War 2 for opposing them and the collaborationist Vichy regime (who surrendered France to them to pathetically save the bombing of Paris rather than fight), became the second appointed in 1948 and founded the Senegalese Democratic Block Party in 1953. Who was it that ensured legal equality and enacted legislation against French colonial discrimination? It certainly wasn’t an endemic Frenchman but a local Senegalese lawyer: Lamie Guye: -who sponsored and introduced the law abolishing distinctions between French colonial subjects and French colonial citizens. Yet, as with most African nations, full indigenous Africanisation –of all races, yet Senegalese citizens, within politics, commerce, the intelligentsia, culture and society would only arrive through the efforts of persistent Senegalese themselves with independence in 1960.“To build a nation, to erect a new civilisation which can lay claim to existence because it is humane, we shall employ not only enlightened reason but also dynamic imagination...”President Leopold Senghor 1980 One can advance from Africa –even to instigate pressures and influence –to be a part of government and culture –that is Europe and European. For one of Africa’s great savants along with Hypatia, Nyerere and Ptolemy, it was Senghor –as part of pan Africanism and of France! He voluntarily gave up power in 1980. Founder of the French Commonwealth: La Francophone, he even became another national minister of France. His party won all the seats for the independence elections democratically. The contribution of Senghor in reviving his nation’s culture; is commendable at a time where globalisation seeks to engulf individual identity for the banal dross of uniform conformity through monoculture. He established an endemic African school of art –to preserve historic examples while inspiring modern indigenous traditions. He offered stipends to artists like the Senegalese painter Ibu Ndiye, in addition to national arts festivals and art education provision for the creative and gifted in schools, along with the Dynamic Art National Museum. Negritude –his philosophy espoused origins of literature, poetry and art in Africa. He understood the need for a mixed economy, offering liberally generous concessions in the 1962 Investment Code. This protected investors against nationalisation; lack of limits against capital outflow mobility and the repatriation of profits along with 20 year exemptions from changes in tax rates for domestic and foreign investment in Senegal. Tax concessions, import tax exemptions and measures favouring import substitution industries were incorporated in this Code. Since 1963, an Economic and Social Council has been introduced to provide representation from all facets of the economy from farmers, artisans and the proletariat to state and private clerical to businesses and industrialists, all offering advice. He favoured caution and ability in Senegal’s economy; with a gradual replacement of foreigners by locals until the Dakar Chamber of Commerce-amid other prime sources; was headed by a Senegalese by 1970. Favourable credit access facilities were formed to aid local commerce. All this resulted in 4.4% industrial growth.“What all these distinguished minds want, whether they are Westerners or Easterners, is to superimpose an alien –European, Communist or Oriental civilisation upon us, to impregnate us with it, in the name of universality. Hence exotic people and former subjects such as ourselves; would be universally condemned to be the not the producers but the consumers of world culture, global imperialist civilisation and society...”Leopold SenghorElected to the French Academy as the loftiest of academic and cultural crags, scalable by Francophiles, he became one of only 40 “Immortals.” In 1966, the First World Festival of Black Arts was hosted in Dakar. He drafted the Fourth Republic’s constitution –especially the sections on the French Union –as its official French grammarian. He studied French literature in Paris, writing a thesis on Charles Baudelaire. Then he became a classics teacher –the first African to win the postgraduate lyceum teacher degree, in Paris and Tours. Born in 1906, he received a French government scholarship at 21 to complete the above study. In 1945, he became a Senegal deputy in the French Constituent Assembly; forming the Senegalese Democratic Block a year later. In 1947, he founded the literary journal with Alioumanne Diop: Presence African! Senegalese culture expanded with other pioneers of Negritude such as David Dia, Birago Diop and others who rejected European cultural assimilation.“While softened and enriched by Latin, Greek and French borrowings, its pronunciation has kept the roughness of German and its literature, the disorder of the Teutonic mind.”Leopold Senghor on the English tongue.Austere enough to live within his means, upholder of Senegalese democracy, stepping down peacefully in 1980 and allowing other parties from 1976 and espouser of the “Negritude” pan Africanist philosophy which derived from the elevation and celebration of ‘Blacks” and their impact on history. At a Catholic seminary, he rebelled against the spirit of school tyranny and championed popular interests and better conditions, sacrificing the priesthood for his fellow scholars. As a Roman Catholic, he persuaded the Muslim majority and their imams, with an alliance with the marabouts, to peaceful cooperation rather than the Inquisitional Crusade of the USA. Moderate, he adheres to grass roots support; which is what any conscious entity which styles himself a leader, should aspire to. Youth empowerment through consultation, appointment and the focussing of resources on secondary and university education rather than primary, secured their radical support, along with that of the intelligentsia –free to be artistic, dissent and be self evocative. For without that ability to express yourself, he realised; revolt blooms. Culture becomes, bland, soporific, banal and monotonous. To gain the support of fickle and volatile students, is a movement that both he and Mwalimu Nyerere managed, as true intellectuals –yet most leaders seldom attain. He attained truth to his convictions, serving as a serene, placid and imperturbable paradigm of the African virtue of patience. He endorsed three parties in 1976 and preserved democracy, allowing a fourth in 1980, releasing the former Prime Minister Mamadou Dia in 1974. In foreign policy, Senegalese troops were sent to aid the United Nations, during the Lebanon war in the 1970’s. Domestically, Prime Minister Dia granted regional assemblies and local municipal government. President Leopold Senghor presided over the Administrative Reform Decree of 1972 which enabled elected rural councils with their own budget for community projects, zoning permission and economic power over markets and businesses. To prevent usurpation, chiefs and non rural occupation holders, were prohibited from holding office in them. He also vetoed the usage of regional/ municipal budgets on expensive extravagances such as overgenerous personal allowances and expenses or ostentatious projects such as luxurious offices and intricate City Halls. Senegal is also commendable for its devotion to scholarship from the pre independence Ecole William Ponty to the formation of the Ministry of Technical Education in 1960, the National School for Young Girls, the National School of Public Works, the Female Apprentice Centre, the Agricultural Centre and the National Centre of Training and Action –for teachers and adults who wish to advance it. Senghor died in 2001. “Our renaissance will be more the work of African writers and artists; than of politicians. We have seen from experience; there can be no political liberation without cultural liberation...”Abdou Diouf, a former Cabinet director, planning minister and government principal secretary –his democratically ratified successor –even allowed opposition parties –half the broadcasting time during elections on the state broadcaster-, try that elsewhere. Senegal has miraculously –like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda; -avoided issues of religious sectarian division. In a country with a Muslim majority; -its first president Leopold Senghor –was a Roman Catholic who was supported by local Muslim imams and muftis. Even though his successor Abdou Diouf is Islamist, he continued the centuries of religious toleration with his First Lady Madame Elizabeth Diouf –a Roman Catholic. Abdaye Wade a prime opposition member under Senghor and Abdou Diouf, of the Democratic Senegalese Party, then followed as president.One of the modern scourges from Gaia seeking to restrain the propagating afflictions of humanity on her finite resources and as vengeance from the Furies from humanity’s environmental sacrilege: is that of HIV AIDS which is arduous to avoid if one is committed, lived and embraced Africa as a unparalleled threat to the potential of this continent’s people in promulgating the African Renaissance. Curiously, one remains personally familiar with a civil servant who dedicated herself, heart mind and soul to Africa –though not born there –like so many others –observer over the dearth of an African and world city who proposed an African envisioned approach to this quandary –along with so many health initiatives to the UN and recognised elsewhere. But that is another section... Senegal actually recognised the problem from 1988 –and ingeniously resolved it as a cardinal imperative such that they could claim an official rate of 0.95% in 1994. They instigated a National Aids Plan, advocated a strict sexual code, stopped glamorising its media and sensationalist approach –in those infected getting publicity, regulated the prostitution sector with compulsory hygiene, regular Aids tests and protection, while publically discouraging it and advocating sanitation and circumcisionIn Dakar Senegal’s Grand Yoff District, a local community currency was conceived to provide local credit. The Doole group established a Popular University, where students can learn entrepreneurial, agrarian, language and computer literacy skills in exchange for paying credits, which are reinvested in a community centre, afforestation and expenses. ENDA launched a voluntary literacy drive in Dakar. Local moneylenders extend credit on the principle of trust and will accept the risk of deferred payment unlike un-African international banks that will make unwise investments and then bankrupt their customers –or refuse to extend credit to small entrepreneurs in Africa. Rufisque Senegal; follows Mozambique’s Dondo, in municipal governance and expenditure being determined directly by the public who know what they .need more than politicians. From 1848; the Senegalese in Dakar; won themselves the right of electing 4 deputies to the French Republic National Assembly.“Work is a part of religion...”Amadou Boumba Senegal stands as an example of an African nation which not only recognises toil, energy and effort, but also celebrates and pays due reverence to it. This is not only encountered in officials and voluntary examples/ movements but in the cult by Amadou Boumba which accepts the nobility of labour as the essential African virtue. We, above all other continents, know how to work, what it means to work; without reward or praise... he made it the key to Elysium or Paradise; that would be recognised in the Afterlife. Dakar’s mayor in 1990 sought to revive civic pride through the emanation of personal example –in voluntarily cleaning the streets himself. The national triggered Setsa movement was another voluntary movement inspired to clean up the urban environment of the capital –of citizens who voluntarily dedicated their toil and time to do so.The Senegambia Confederation united the two nations of Senegal and the Gambia, commercially, politically and culturally –even extending to assisting the lawful coalition leader Sir Dawada Jawara in regaining office, after an attempted coup. The Trans- Gambia Highway and Gambia River Development Organisation were regional projects of cooperation to strengthen trade. Politically, a confederal cabinet was created in January 1983. A joint Parliament with 20 Gambians and 40 Senegalese delegates was formed.UJAAMA AND THE PEOPLE:“A human is a human, only in relation to other humans.”Bantu aphorism.“Poverty is not being without clothes. The person who is truly poor is the one who has nobody...”Wolof Proverb “If your elders take care of you while you are ill and struggling; you in turn must take care of them; when they are old, ill or suffering...”Nigerian aphorismThe spirit of the community and of loyalty to one’s kith may be dormant or deceased in other continents that have experienced the transfiguration wrought by globalisation but it has thrived for aeons in Africa. This extends to the concept of distant relatives being embraced as brothers and sisters. Traditionally, chiefs were responsible for orphans. Politically, Africa often chose unanimity rather than majority verdict to avoid dissonance from kgotlas to the formation of one party states. Africa has its own historic formation of the welfare state and support for elders that independence and globalisation combined with exposure to Western traditions of alienation from their families. They recognise the symbiotic relationship; the value of elderly experience and wisdom along with a sense of loyalty to one’s kith as surpassing one’s loyalty to civic society or the state... They care, empathise and respect those venerable, who are worthy of homage. Examples include Nana Api –a sociology lecturer at the University of Legan, Accra, Ghana; a former president of the Africa Gerentocratic Society and founder of the local NGO Help Aid, who concerns itself with the aged. It also epitomises gratitude for things that they have done, for being there and assisting to raise them. Is this conventional African perspective, superior to those spoiled modern Westernised ingrates; who have nothing but derisory contempt for age or infirmity? This is in line with our version of the Renaissance, one that not only embraces culture, science, history and ecology but also society and Ujaama –family or community... There still remain approaches such as these that Africa could teach the world!“The hand of the child cannot reach the shelf nor can the hand of the elder get through the neck of the gourd, on the shelfAkan proverb“When you know who his friends are, you know who he is...”Senegalese proverbIn recognition of the community and ubuntu as being more effective than that of the state in Africa; both the Poro and the Sandigo of the Ivory Coast have associations that seek to solve community problems whether grazing rights or crime –more effective where the perpetrator is more easily identifiable and is not harboured by kith or society. They also honour toil and agriculture via hoeing and cultivation competitions where the winners receive staffs adorned with carved birds of flight. The Ogboni of Yoruba, Nigeria also have a system of female and male elders that settle community disputes as a preferable alternative to a Western formal court system who rely on eloquence of defence rather than the personal character of the accused defendant and the accuser. The Woyo people of Cabinda Angola use art as a means of communication, for example a wife will carve her public complaint symbolically on a pot lid and bring out the pot to others. The husband may equally reciprocate –that of a bird eating an insect –proclaims I am faithful and I do try to understand but I am my own person and seek the rights and respect of being true to myself as well...“Africans want change because there is so much suffering here. But Africans are above all else, devoted to their ancestors, and they do not want to betray that by becoming something that they are not”Inkhosi (Chief) Patekile Holomisa, Chair of the Congress of Traditional Leaders in South Africa“A chief, is a chief: -by the people!”Pedi proverbAfrica also retains a spiritual awareness and piety that the Secular West has denounced. One only has to see this in our awareness of the spiritual and the guidance it plays –whether in reflecting upon ancestors (shared with the Romans, Greeks and Chinese) or in faith; that what will be –will be; in higher powers or forces... Whether this transcends into religion; into elaborate funeral practises –Afterlife beliefs or into environmental literacy... it aids our claims to be inducted into an alternative, all embracing Enlightenment and Renaissance; one that does not confine us to the strictured parameters of non African development –one hosted for thousands of years, ever since these ways originated here...“Congolese! Show to the Old World who claims to be more refined, cultured and civilised than our benighted continent; that our ancestral African hospitality is not a vain word and that you are more human(e) than those in Europe; who think that they may submit people to the consequences of conflicts between African states and external political, social and finance groups...”Zaire President Joseph Desire Mobutu/ Mobutu Seiko. “When did the International Monetary Fund become the International Ministry of Finance? When did, we as African nations agree to surrender to it, the powers of decision making?Julius Nyerere 1980Philanthropy is less self motivated than externally, without condition. The poorest countries in Africa have helped beyond their means, other countries in their need. While Britain was suffering from OPEC, a stagnating economy, trade union militant strikes and chaos, Idi Amin of all people created a “Save the UK fund” as Uganda’s booming economy was exporting in surplus. The Portuguese community in Mozambique ignored their fellow Lusitanians tormented by forest fires in 2756 AUC, unlike the poor citizens of Mozambique whom donated generously. In current Rwanda; they practise “muganda” in reconciliation and fraternity; where every last Saturday of each month; they go to clean the houses of their neighbours; local environment or volunteer in their local community; voluntarily. The example of “Madiba” or Nelson Mandela now has the internationally recognised day to commemorate this world expression of ubuntu. To mark his birthday on July the 18th each year, 67 minutes are dedicated not to one’s selfish indulgences but to selfless others and to the community, in this human spirit. For, though not everyone can devote money, we can all use this chance to dedicate ourselves to making a difference, via the most precious and irreplaceable gift of all: -that any African and every human can choose to give: finite time of Chronus. From the president, ministers and members of parliament to members of civil society to the poorest of the poor, we can all contribute that trove. That remains something unique to Africa –the willingness to help, not for remuneration but for ubuntu. Other examples include the rural Mali village that donated storm damage relief funds to a fellow town in Quebec, Canada.A Nocturnal Vigil often held at funerals is evocative to release the mourning lament and to watch over the transpiration of the soul and spirit. Veneration of ancestors and the elderly, in contrast to the defiance of rebellious youth constrained to nihilism of this global society. Legitimate chiefs sanctified by the people and proposed by George Ayittey as the only true enshriners of the community’s will –accountable and answerable to them –in African historic democratic tradition, were assured of protection and respect from those part of the Rhodesian government in the Constitutional Council as members of village courts, assemblies, Parliament and the Senate. They have been recognised and given constitutional protection by the National Party and ANC governments of South Africa; by the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and SWAPO in Namibia, by the RPF in Rwanda, in Senegal since Senghor and the Botswanan government“I am human... I am a self-defining value. I can make of myself whatever I choose.”Zulu definition of ubuntuOne only has to look at ubuntu as espoused in the Arusha Declaration and the South African/ Rwandan Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The system of forgiveness remains more African than external. One of our strengths and weaknesses as people includes granting mercy and forgiving our leaders, foreigners and each other. It is a modern thing to gratify and glorify a charnel house and those who enact atrocities as glamorized in the sensationalist media and global culture but Africa has examples of those who ostracised even returning fighters from war; without first atoning for the blood spilt before they would forgive them: the Angoni north of the Zambezi, the Nandi of East Africa, the Bageshu and Wageia of East Africa. On another note; there are a couple of main reasons why many African countries followed socialist doctrines –even the capitalist orientated ones who concentrated on social improvements; one is of course the fact that Arab and western countries did not contribute or assist in the wars of liberation –aiding the old colonial powers while denouncing those such as Gaddafi and Nelson Mandela as “terrorists.” The other is the alignment of socialism to our humane philosophy that concentrates on educating and improving the health/ society of our fellow citizens...“One can only speak about the burden one is carrying.”West African proverb.In no other continent has the inverse relationship between toil and effort on the one side and reward on the other been so glaringly blatant. They do not tolerate slackers and inertia, showering them with welfare benefits as the West. African women probably work harder per generic example, than practically any other category in the world –and proportionally are the worst off in reward... One of our main issues is that we lack confidence in our own abilities as Africans; that we know the toil of work, yet we have been downtrodden for too long and have been ostracised, castigated and spurned by the planet. Not enough recognition and appreciation of our sacrifice, effort and willingness has been committed to by the planet. There is the issue of trust and cooperation from communal effort savings pots to found businesses as in Senegal’s tontine insurance scheme where all contribute and the total amount revolves to one person for investment and them rotates in turn to other members –requiring a degree of candour and trust absent in equivalent non African enterprises.“Hard work is the root of all development.”Julius NyerereParagons of sloth and vice are not eulogised and slavishly worshipped as heroes as they are in the West –criminals and psychologically screwed up celebrities –as Hollywood portrays. If there are such things as personality or party cults and the liberation movement receives support, it is because Africa values and rewards loyalty... it honours those –who despite potential myriad flaws achieved political emancipation of Africa –and sought cultural, social and economic independence –from China, Russia, the Arab world or the West... One cannot deny the advances in literacy, education, medicine and in society of Africa. After this, if they are still blind enough; not to heed us and treat Africa with the respect of equals; in this age of Africans“Let others go to the moon and beyond. We must work first, to feed ourselves!”Julius NyerereIf there... is to be hope for the world; if there is an alternative to the dehumanising infiltration of global secular, materialist, monolithic imperialism... it can only arise in the ubuntu of Africa... But this, can only arise if the other continents; quit deriding us ad give us the chance to assert; that we are capable architects of order, stability, enlightenment and progress... that we can offer solutions to the ecological, technological; religious, social, political and economic afflictions of our era; if we Africans are heard too and treated with even a glimmer of the semblance of humanity; that we have granted to others.. Then; -and only then: can the world advance! Only then: is there hope for the entirety of the world... once it has embraced the African perspective of history and the community; along with its entwined planetary ecology... “Africa now wants to stand on its own two feet... The fight against poverty amounts to begging and submissiveness, leading to “reforms” that make us even poorer. The more the “North” cooperates with the “South,” the worst off we become...”Yaguine Koita, former Mali Minister of Culture to French President Jacques ChiracIf there is to be a future in Africa –it cannot emerge from old, flawed models from external entities that have failed. We have the potential –and individuals from Nyerere onwards have realised this. If there is hope in Africa –for Africa –it lies in our own people –not outsiders. It lies in grass roots participation, in communities and in individuals –whether intelligentsia, entrepreneurs –or ordinary people willing to espouse the will and the determination for change, reform and the African renaissance. It lies in the elderly –who have not been in power and seduced; who grant us the experience as observers of the dreams of the struggle but also the mistakes of the past. It lies in the youth –who from Soweto in 1976 onwards have shown themselves willing to intervene –despite the odds... One of the greatest things about Africa; is that it has shown not only its remarkable properties of revolt, rebellion and resistance in an attempt to counter its mistakes and challenge oppression, rather than humiliate themselves in submission. It is a refusal to accept things and the unnatural order of reality, retaining integrity and individuality –rather than mindlessly conform; but also its physical manifestations of revolution –as epitomised in Libya recently –but in many places from the Ivory Coast to the Congo to Mozambique, from Cape Town to Cairo; that marks Africa as being great. It is that energy, which the world could imitate rather than allowing its youth to degenerate and the world to stagnate –the desire to act –which is our priceless contribution to the world –to counter globalisation... The spirit of defiance and action... separates us from most –few African countries that haven’t fought rather than accept their fate at some stage of their development –up to the present with Mauritania, Namibia, Eritrea and the newest independent country of South SudanFor Africa has countered the horrors of globalization –without sacrificing most of its uniqueness. Even as it converges in the federation of the African Union, it has not obliterated multiple historical and cultural identities into one bland universal one as the European Union has made the huge mistake of doing. South Africa is one of the first countries of the planet Earth to protect monuments and places associated with oral culture, sacred trees, enclosures and streams: i.e. that of the Zulu’s in Dukuza, home of Shaka the Great, Kwa-Zulu Natal.“I am; because we are and; since we are: therefore, I am...”John Mbiti, Kenyan theologianFriendliness and courtesy should not be remarkably African –yet Africa experiences the xenophobia and the scorn, nor should eloquence and correct articulation be more prevalent in all our generations than those of the Northern Hemisphere and its modern cultural decadence. “Hakuna Matata –No Worries! The ability to focus on the present and seeking to live –not merely to exist, when lesser people would have submitted to tyranny, depression, poverty, disaster etc, the impervious resilience, the tenacious resistance and the will to survive, is also impressive from a continent, often speckled with disaster. The willingness of our continent; to adopt; adapt; improve and assimilate; to survive every vicissitude that might befall us; to survive the ostracism and contempt of the rest of the planet Earth; marks our people as special from others. The expulsion of 1000000 Ghanaians from Nigeria in 1983 was ignored by the world –because there were no aid organisations or publicity involved. Africa’s strong community links was able to absorb this influx of people and prevent them from disaster –without outsiders, thanks to our sense of humanity not self interested philanthropy of virtually all aid organisations that cripple our continent’s independent fortune, potential and destiny... When Africa helps its fellow countries –it does not do it for profit, oil, publicity or neo colonial dependency; it does so because of our ingrained, indigenous Harambee and Ujaama philosophies!The African sense of mob justice is historical and appropriate given their past suffering and has enacted many changes. It is a concept that those such as FRELIMO, the PAIGCV since Amilcar Cabral, TANU under Nyerere, Rwanda and the PNRD under Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings would apply in practise as an alternative local system to the time consuming ways of formal courts which favour the rich not the poor. Zanzibar even banished lawyers –in defence and in prosecution as incompatible with true justice –conflicting with the true character and integrity of the characters involved –relying on rhetoric and fiscal resources.“Harambee!”- Resilience and self help –learning how to struggle, endure and survive... as many Africans have learnt to rely on family, society, faith –but most of all: themselves –to reduce autonomy and dependency on the state. They prefer to concentrate on surviving and enjoying the present. Africa has always been blessed with the willingness to offer the most valuable commodity of time: to others who need it... The other, more “sophisticated” nations; are too parsimonious and are skilled only at wasting other people’s time, while jealously guarding their own to the degree of charging for it and for various things –even courtesy; that we as Africans –in our weakness and in our strength, take as natural!For every argument that our detractors and traitors utter against Africa, there exists counterarguments! It is only where the West intervenes, without attempting to understand us as Africans and our perspectives on humanity and on history; that inevitably problems arise from ignorance... Either they are able to and want to resolve the problems of Africa and cannot; or they can and do not want to; or they neither want to nor can; or they want to and can! If they neither want to nor can; this is impotence, which is contrary to their preaches of progress and an inconsistent set of reasons to follow them; if they can but do not want to, this is wickedness, which is no less contrary to their broadcasted nature; if they neither can nor wants to; this is wickedness and impotence; if they want to and can –which is the only one fitting for their perfidious knavery and propaganda to be true, then whence comes the multiplied chaos and evils within Africa which they purport Africans to be ineffective at resolving? No, it is only Africans that have the insight, the tenacity and the resilient endurance that centuries of suffering, being ostracised and derided have promulgated. But the capacities exemplified in this chapter on Ubuntu and Ujaama, shows that we as Africans can prevail against sceptics, provided we all are willing to ensure the continued presence of the African Renaissance.“When the missionaries arrived, Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible...”Jomo KenyattaTwo Africans have been UN secretary generals –the Ghanaian Kofi Amman and the Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Several have been Nobel Prize winners. Those of Peace –Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Albert Luthuli and FW De Klerk –all of The Republic of South Africa; have contributed far more to peace, mediation, diplomacy and indeed... the history of the world; as Africans... in contrast to the overrated upstart –the current US incumbent who won the Peace Prize and contributed it. For Literature; Alan Paton; Nadine Gordimer and the Nigerian Wolle Soyinka amid others transcended literature to become political as well as literary; activists.Markets and democracy are not quintessentially Western –they exist in Africa but they are not a part of it. Upon independence; both had existed for centuriesIn order to understand Africa, one must first understand the African psyche: There are often three or four main kinds of African leadership: the visionary Mwalimu or sage revolutionary from Nkrumah to Senghor to Mandela; the corrupt but capable such as Robert Mugabe, Felix Boigny, Mobutu and others; the brutal but honest (these include the inept such as Idi Amin –not corrupt, just over-reactive as well as the military reformers from Rawlings to Valentine Strasser) and the hopeless that combines autocracy and incompetence: such as Nguema and others. Yet, for all their flaws, they are at least not mediocrities and many of them display far more subconscious awareness of the psychology of their people and the outsiders they manipulate, to retain their power or their influence for decades. Since independence, it is African leaders who are so commonly and blatantly more politically intelligent than the majority of world leaders failing to understand their capricious electorate. Many also know when it was advantageous to abdicate their position –especially in the 1990’s and remain intact. Even Woodrow Wilson, Clemenceau, Churchill and De Gaulle all lost elections after the world wars, too inept to understand their own citizens...Hitherto, one of our greatest strengths and one of our greatest weaknesses is to dwell upon the past and the present so much rather than the future. As Africans, we now need to prioritise the future... The only way to advance is if we consider the implications and consequences, if we prepare... Only then, can we liberate ourselves... One way of doing so; is to ensure that we utilise our endemic wisdom; that sense of humanity and community that globalisation is long abandoning... Consider the Mangbete of the Congo; whose leaders –ruling with an advisory council of those not of the royal lineage or tribe, in consensus were required to participate in warfare; in sport and in training exercises as a personal example; one who would lose his throne and responsibility to rule if he did not display the African virtues of “nakira” –skill, foresight and intelligence; of patience and fortitude and that African quality “netaate” –or ability to be someone and to remain steadfast to yourself, not another... As a monarch he had to possess personal style and body rhythm to music They were great propagandists and orators; without formal training yet knew the necessity of passion; emphasis; vocal pitch; fluency; variability of tone and rhetoric...Africa has taken it upon itself the noble quest to ensure female as well as male emancipation, ever since Sankara sought to make males and females swop traditional roles for greater social cohesion and mutual understanding between genders. Inspired by Rwanda from 1997 a third of all local government seats and from 2005 having a majority of female MP legislators (45/80) and in 1994, a third of South African first universal suffrage, multiracial Parliamentary seats in 1994 were won by females; SADCC has dedicated itself to 50% women Parliament delegates by 2015. The new constitutions enshrined this equality of commercial, social, legal and political rights, from Namibia in 1990, South Africa in 1996, Malawi in 1994, Uganda in 1995, Rwanda in 2003, Burundi in 2005 and Swaziland in 2006. The right to equal land access, opportunity and property rights has been championed by many women lead movements; including the Rwanda/ Kenya/ Zambia/ Uganda Land Alliances (all separate despite name), the SA/ Namibian Land Commissions and others. Mozambique adopted it in 1997 with Zimbabwe in the Estate’s Act and Tanzania granted this along with the equal right of co-occupancy in the 1999 Village Land Act.It was Africa which inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s approach of passive resistance as an effective means of protests, after being thrown out of the first class segregated train carriages at Pietermaritzburg’s Central Railway Station and via his attempts at resisting influx control against Indians –as a lawyer in Durban. His philosophy in turn; sponsored a common African approach of choosing militant pacifism as an effective means of opposition. This was espoused by many Africans; from those such as Nyerere, Senghor, Lumumba, Kenyatta and Felix Boigny; using legislative and formal political means of gaining independence by extracting concessions from colonial authorities –leading to full independence; to those such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kenneth Kaunda, Albert Luthuli and Kwame Nkrumah –following “Positive Action” –passive resistance; the success of which influenced those such as Nehru. Since the slave revolts of the Zanj; Africans have refused to stomach enslavement and show that they value liberty more because they have earned it; than those who have never had to struggle; abstain or make an effort but just expect for things to be wilfully given to them. They consisted of Africans who refused to be enslaved by the Arabs in the Persian Gulf and its hinterland. The first revolt happened in 689 CE in the swamps by Basra at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers but the several thousand were crushed. The second took place five years later and needed 4000 African troops to put it down. Finally; the third took place in the mid ninth century and involved over 15000 ex slaves under the charismatic leadership of Mahalabi. Those of Africa have two phrases to describe the white person in Africa: who is a true African: Muzungu (Swahili) and Mukiwa (Shona). Those of the outside –have only curses for our presence –and could never understand the empathy and inclusion which exists there. Like Sir Ian Smith and generations of expatriates, settlers, citizens and muzungus existent here –we aspired to be loyal to Her Majesty and the old virtues of the past and Empire: And yet both white and black Africans who have paid with blood, sweat and pain remain African; with it in their spirit, minds and hearts; wherever their body is –far more than those “African Americans” who left Africa 300 or 400 years ago... and never looked back –nor know anything about Africa... Being more British than the British –equated to contempt and ostracism; so let us keep those virtues –but let us become Muzungu! That is why part of my kith remains here –while many of those who sought to emigrate –have returned, in full expression of their greater confidence and recognition of this truth. Though my ancestry, education, upbringing and passport status may span two continents; I embrace my vocation as an African patriot in the African Renaissance and my willingness to rebel and challenge inertia –for that is the mark of the best of Africans: not waffle, disdain, cynicism, hostility, xenophobia –to its own citizen patriots... My sobriquet: “Mbazo!” –the Axe was something bestowed on me in recognition of this... For those that cannot be inspired to compose a panegyric, to offer ubuntu and service to the community and to Africa itself, for those that cannot be bothered to learn a local language, vigorously participate in a liberation movement or politics, who cannot be devoted in service –but most of all: to defend their homeland... they are not Mukiwa... If they were in the North, they would be derided –but here... they receive nothing but friendliness and warmth: That –is the spirit of this epoch, unique to Africa... That is the spirit of humanity and ubuntu: That is what outsiders’ lack –and what makes us, of all continents... the most socially enlightened!“We, the people of Tanganyika and of Africa... would like to light a candle and put it on top of Mount Kilimanjaro; which would shine beyond our borders, giving hope where there is despair, giving love where there is hate, giving wisdom where there is only ignorance and stupidity, and giving dignity; where there is only humiliation...”Julius Nyerere 1960A MEDICAL REQUIREM:“Let what seems to be first –be so called; -even if it is not really...”Hierophilius“A doctor can be defined as the mortal able to distinguish the possible from what is not possible.”Hierophilius, Alexandrian physician. “Without health, wisdom cannot develop, skill cannot manifest itself, strength cannot compete in the struggle, wealth is useless and reason unavailing.”HierophiliusA 12th Century Papyrus contains prescriptions for ailments afflicting pregnant women, while another diagnoses gynaecological problems. The Medical Papyrus X suggests aphrodisiac remedies. The Edwin Smith papyrus denotes tinctures for head and thorax injuries. The 18th Dynasty Eber papyrus is the first historical account linking the palpitation process and appreciating pulse movement. Boil and cyst surgery medicine first features in the Ebers Papyrus. Ancient Egypt bequeathed copious accounts of medicine to the world. It also bestowed prototype medical tools including suction devices, pliers, forceps, scissors, tongs, hooks and knives. The Alexandrines also cultivated medicinal lore with Hierophilius, our equivalent of Hippocrates and Galen. The value of human vivisection was discovered by Hierophilius and the Alexandrine schools of medicine, which preferred pragmaticism to abstract and abstruse theory in enhancing understanding of anatomy and physiognomy. He located the brain as the centre of the nervous system, examined the mechanism of the liver and distinguished four funics of the heart. He established classification via magnitude, strength, rate, rhythm and pressure and the pulse involved the dilation and contraction of the arteries, with the heart and arteries as an integral epicentre of the cardiovascular system. Convicted criminals were used so as to provide a purpose to their death, which they had surrendered and refused in life. Three centuries before the English physician William Harvey, the Egyptian physician Ibn al Nafis located the pulmonary circulation of the blood. “Always bear in mind that health is our greatest treasure and blessing... it is the main strength of our combatants, militants and citizens... Therefore, with this, we propose that the PAIGCV establish the following:I: Considering placing health dispensaries in every guerrilla base, improve existing ones and always include the provision of health workers, sanitation, hygiene and public education...II: Put at the head of health services –responsible workers trained as medics; who are conscious, ethical, good, enthusiastic, capable and devoted to caring for the sick and wounded.III: Make efforts for the great majority of sick and wounded combatants to be treated with courtesy and to have the necessary, medication, treatment and conditions necessary to ensuring a swift recovery...IV: Meanwhile, little by little and in accordance with real potential, without prejudice in assistance to combatants, develop health assistance to the people in liberated areas. Do not create illusions among the population who must understand that we can only give worthwhile care after the liberation of our land and on the basis of the work and taxes that all will have to pay in order to construct our country on all levels...V: Be constantly aware of what we can and should do, and do not try to do that which is impossible in the current phase of our life and of our struggle...Amilcar CabralThe PAIGCV serve as an exemplar of an African country’s approach to solving healthcare problems wrought by colonial and independence history. To the fullest extent possible it utilised local remedies rather than importing expensive foreign drugs. Dr Judith Lima set up a pharmaceutical plant to reduce the cost of expensive imports. The state now exports medicine, medical equipment and supplies to other African countries such as Angola. It mobilised the community in health brigades –providing rudimentary health training in nutrition, hygiene, sanitation and first aid, as an efficacious and quicker alternative to training full scale doctors. Considering at independence; the Portuguese left Cape Verde with one hospital and 4 clinics, with a grand total of 13 doctors, 6 chemists and 140 nurses –some of whom left with independence, the health achievements of this African archipelago are phenomenal. It beats the World Health Organisation target of 1 nurse per 5000, with 1 for every 1330 people and that of 2-3 hospital beds per 1000 people, with 1 hospital bed per 500. It also beats the target of 1 doctor per 10000 people with fewer than 1800 people per doctor. By 1985, 13 doctors had increased to 130 and nurses had increased to 225, plus myriad health brigade workers. 8% of the Cape Verde budget was dedicated to healthcare. In 1977, family health planning was adopted. Preventative measures were sought through education“The well nourished child is less sickly and better resists disease. The well nourished child does better at school. The well nourished child aids productivity, costs the country less in money and in medicine. Feeding a child properly costs less than to treat illnesses caused by a poor nutritional diet...”Amilcar CabralWith 50 provincial hospitals, many village clinics and dispensaries along with an international academy to medical scholarship in tropical medicine, infectious parasitic diseases and injections, their health quality gained from independence. With one of the highest rates of 1 hospital bed per 250 people, this was certified. From 2 doctors at independence, Gabon accelerated to over 300. It also soon exceeded the World Health Organisation target of 1 doctor per 5000 people, with 1 doctor per 4000. Demographics and population control did not need foreign intervention, with family planning and maternity clinics set up. Free ante natal care was also introduced, with half pay maternity leave and child birth support grants. A welfare state soon materialised, with permanent invalid and disability benefits and old age pensions to all from 55 onwards. CNGS extended not only to the public sector but traditionally non covered roles such as foreign workers, self employed and those in poverty earning less than 50000 CFA francs. Hospitals were free for the unemployed, while salaried only paid a nominal 25% of the costs and prescription charges –free provision would have created the moral hazard of wasting resources. The public sector could send their bills to the National Treasury.Dr Nkosazana Zuma, the health minister in Nelson Mandela’s coalition cabinet, over 13 years ago, pioneered that which such supposedly advanced nations such as Switzerland, the UK and Germany, have still not achieved: The full public prohibition –and enforcement against smoking, tobacco advertising and social perception of it as popular... Those of Africa have resisted being addicted to something with no redeeming features at all –it doesn’t even taste good or feel pleasant to induce. One only has to attend any European university, Swiss airport –or English school (public or comprehensive or grammar) –or suburb, street or pier with 9 and 10 year olds asking for this depraved narcotic... only to choke on this tumultuous, engulfing presence; in full view of non Smoking signs and fallacious and erroneous notices detailing the banning of smoking –which we as Africans would have the ingrained and archaic courtesy to comply. So much for the Europeans’ vaunted “Health and Safety!” On another note, opticians are far more courteous –and punctual, not making you wait for an hour for appointments, in contrast to the UK. Nor do they charge you for a brief insertion of a contact lens (costing under half in South Africa than it does in the UK of ?240 per year) –from where it is imported) taking an average of 20 seconds for a fiver or for quick examinations -?30 -40 if something is bothering the eye –or for “personal” compulsory service.Dr Christian Barnard (born in 1928 and graduated from Cape Town University as resident surgeon at Groote Schuur –and his often un-noted “black” assistant, pioneered the world’s first heart transplant with the pioneered artificial heart valve. Later, the first operation involving the extension of this to a brain dead person at Groote Schuur in 1967 was achieved. In Dakar, a 2005 African Parliamentary Committee publically endorsed the prohibition of female genital circumcision –without prompting by outsiders. South Africa’s continued excellence in cardiology among other fields, is resplendent in Professor Bongani Magosi –Groote Schuur central cardiologist since 2006, the head of the University of Cape Town’s medical facility, the President of South Africa’s College of Surgeons, Vice President of the Pan- African Society of Cardiology and immediate past president of the South African Heart Association. Receiving a first in medicine from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal, like so many through exertion, he transgressed poverty from Umtata in the Eastern Cape, he interned at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone Hospital before becoming a full doctor. He remains only one of the few South African’s to receive a prestigious postgraduate Nuffield Fellowship to study medicine at the University of Oxford. His Doctorate concerned innovative research in the genetic determination of cardiovascular diseases. He has contributed to the South African part of the world medical history by concentrating on researching heart diseases which affect the poor –not the affluent –involving cardiomyopathy and tuberculous pericarditis via molecular and population based approaches. A Fellow of the European, African and American Societies of Cardiology and of the British Royal College of Physicians, he was also honoured in 2009 domestically, when President Zuma conferred South Africa’s highest honour: the Order of Mapunguwe in Silver. The last medical officer of health in the Citadel of Elephants, where this treatise was first envisioned amid the academic enclave of which one was educated against pro African lore in favour of the Old World.... composed health strategies recognised by the UN including a local government AIDS initiative to peer pressure, educate and counsel its municipal employees. It came up with education, treatment programmes and supporting NGO’s concerned with affected children/ orphans. One’s home city of Pietermaritzburg – once one of the best governed places in Africa and with one of the highest concentrations of culture, heritage, academia etc, one has been immersed in per capita–from schools with top Cambridge level scholars to the one of five legal SA deposits, Carnegie Library, theatres, art galleries with Old Masters etc –for an African city... had the lowest infant mortality rate in the world in 1936 –according to its Medical Officer of Health: Dr Anning and pioneered comprehensive municipal health statistics since 1895. It has even provided rotating surgeons –in the quality of one of its private hospitals that provide medical treatment to places as far as Bournemouth. Even that laser eye surgery –which can in the UK only be done by a few such as the expensive physicians of Hartley Street in London –certainly not on the NHS –is achievable in a small African provincial capital city. In fact it is only appropriate: as if it weren’t for the “primitive,” backward” “barbaric” “Third World” African country of South Africa; the surgeons of Beverley Hills, Hollywood and Hartley Street would be using a scalpel to deal with the delicate cornea and myopia. Former President Nelson Mandela’s personal eye surgeon Dr Percy Amoils invented the Epithelial Scrubber in 1995 –which remove the epithelium. An improved version of his; the Micro Pencil can reveal the cornea via a cruciform shaped incision and allow easy healing.Many other African individuals and groups have contributed without recognition, including Dr T.O Lambo –a psychiatrist at Nigeria’s Aro Hospital for Medical Diseases, who has created an innovative, cost efficient and African approach –involving the support of local communities in combating mental health –via sympathy and assistance. In recognition of this, this African doctor was elevated to the post of Deputy Director General of the World Health Organisation. Researchers at Tygerberg, Groote Schuur, Makerere University and the distinguished Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda have all achieved planet shattering medical discoveries. In the 1990’s the quality of the AIDS research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute was so high under Dr Davey Kosech; that it came close to locating a cure for the disease with the KOMRON drug. The world’s largest hospital, yet to be surpassed but constructed under apartheid, is that of the 3000 bed Baragwaneth Hospital in Soweto. Sibongile Zungu is that rare example of a physician who forsook a European background and lucrative private practise in South Africa or abroad; to became a local Zulu chief, mother and rural physician. The South African Traditional Doctors’ AIDS Project and AIDSCOR in Zimbabwe both aimed at training rural sangomas and herbalists in aids awareness education to reduce the disease.Many independent countries in Africa have made strides in the imperative provision of healthcare to their people. North Africa –Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Libya have all approximations of a welfare state. South of the Sahara, in 2011, South Africa has become the first modern country to formulate a comprehensive and universal National Health Scheme and Insurance –for universal health service on the inexpensive Cuban model, dedicating 8% of the GDP –impressive given the diminutive tax payer base. Of course; if the French hadn’t intervened: Madagascar would have had that honour –to be the first in the world –in the 1870’s (as cited in the Archipelago chapter.) Mozambique too is also thinking of introducing it“We, the participants of the Nairobi Conference on Medical Plants, Traditional Medicines and Local Communities in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities of the New Millennium do hereby confirm our commitment to the collective goal of Health for All through the primary health care approach and the principles of conservation with sustainable development outlined in the Convention of Biological Diversity... Whereas... traditional medicines are often the only affordable and accessible forms of healthcare for the African rural population; and local health traditions –many of which; are oral in nature and therefore being largely undocumented: are being lost;And, traditional health systems have not been replaced by the Western system because traditional healing is deeply embedded in our wider belief systems and remain an integral part in the heritage, essence and lives of most African people...We therefore call upon the Presidents of all African countries to declare the period 2000 -2010 –the decade of African Traditional Medicine and commit their governments through the appropriate ministries to:I: Formally recognise the value of Traditional Health Systems alongside modern health systems in national primary healthcare in the fight against HIV AIDS and other communicable diseases.II: To identify compelling scientific methods to evaluate and standardize traditional herbal remedies in order to promote their safe, effective and affordable usage;III: To develop comprehensive strategies/ policies for the conservation, management and sustainability of traditional medicinal plants;IV: Identify legal strategies which protect the Intellectual Property Rights of knowledge holders; formally recognising the value and contribution of ethno-vetinary knowledge in livestock healthcare;V: Establish an annual recognition week that acknowledges the important role that women play in domestic healthcare through their knowledge and use of medicinal plant species;VI: Work with the World Trade Organisation to identify a process which effectively regulates the international trade of African medicinal plant species –and protects individual countries’ rights and resources;VII: Establish a partnership of countries to protect and enhance this aspect of African cultural heritage!The Nairobi Declaration of May 19 2000.An alternative spiritual approach which identifies that many afflictions are psychological or spiritual such as the shamans of Asia, are the sangomas and healers of Africa. Recognising the efficacy of placebos, they are able to induce healing in the body. They also appreciate Gaia as a source of natural cures. The sausage tree kills skin cancer cells. A Madagascar periwinkle relives leukaemia and a Nigerian shaman came up with the rauwolfia root drug that reduces high blood pressure and is Earth’s first commercial natural tranquiliser. The Bantu discovered the Salix capensis bark which yields saline –the natural component core of aspirin and was used for musculoskeletal pains. Kaolin was found as a cure for diarrhoea. The Zulu’s have medicinal knowledge of over 700 plants. Faith healing via the placebo effect and hypnosis, has had noted success; as researched by Emmanuel Millige Zombe. The Mano of Liberia long knew of the need for isolation of infectious diseases –with a quarantine bush for the ill. They also used a partial lung collapse technique to treat pleurisy and pneumomics and traction methods for fractured limbs. Uganda’s Bangora performed autopsies and caesareans while the Likonde of Central Africa; knew of anaesthetics and antiseptics independently; only two years after Dr Lister discovered them in 1877, and far earlier than in Europe. East Africa knew of ways to stitch intestines damaged by spears or arrows for centuries. The Algerians and the Gasii of Kenya also knew; without Western instruction about controlling head pains with trepanation, using herbs for antiseptic –either the scraping or the sawing techniques by the ommobari omotwe (physicians).Perhaps only in Africa, have professional members of the intelligentsia –especially traditional healers as well as physicians, been rewarded with leadership of their country and their policies –up to minister level such as Dr Zuma in South Africa –and presidential level: Dr Felix Boigny, Dr Eduardo Mondlane, and Dr Hastings Banda, while other leaders in Africa have made public health, one of their most imperative concerns, where leaders in emergent Asia and the old obese and degenerate incumbent citizens of the European Confederacy and the United States of America, have not... Shamans have also been rewarded for their healing advice and role as priests, with leadership in Africa, as an example of meritocratic rule. They were also often felt to be the most virtuous and principled of sovereigns –concerned for the welfare of their people rather than a hereditary monarchy or a self-seeking clique of old boy public school network, plutocratic politicians masquerading as the people’s democratic will. Examples include the Unlike multinational corporations which favour the additional revenue of an ongoing medical treatment; African governments, societies and governments favour cures and solutions –actually extinguish diseases... South Africa sponsored legislation calling for cheap generic copies of medication drugs.The role of voluntary African organisations and NGO’s from those such as CINDI in South Africa who work to shelter and educate poor orphans and children making them independent and protecting them rather than poisonous aid donors –who “adopt” them to feel better or give begging children money to inhale glue. They do so, despite attempts by outsiders to undermine them and precipitate further health problems. ADENA in Senegal trains villagers as a local initiative in disease prevention, sanitation and health and there are many examples of organisations such as these by Africans, for Africans, who understand what Africans need in health, rather than promulgating an artificial dependency. Even an island archipelago as unblessed as the Seychelles, still concentrated its resources on what matters a lot medically: that of family planning and children’s health. The nutritional needs of schoolchildren were provided for with a free, healthy and balanced lunch, at a time when the “Milk Snatcher” Margaret Thatcher stopped the programme and brought in the “free choice of junk food” and its subsequent sentencing of following generations of youth and adults to obesity in the UK –the same thing occurred in the liberal USA –granting dietary choice to adolescents of all incompetency! In a country that was officially over 90% Catholic, the population stabilisation policy actually worked. Free family planning clinics, availability of the pill and usage of sterilization facilities at Victoria Hospital, legalising of abortion on medical reasons and sex education made compulsory for over 12’s were part of a coordinated response to this issue –still recurrent in Europe with its extravagant child welfare provision. A National Council for Children mobilised them, free compulsory day care was provided between the ages of 4 -7 for working parents and voluntary crèches between ages 1 -4. A school and a hospital for the blind and handicapped were also established.Tanzania set up over 5000 rural health centres, each run by barefoot doctors with rudimentary medical training. They were encouraged to use rural herbal remedies. Traditional healers provided medical research and advice to produce new treatments and a Book of Herbs was published.“If you go into a field and see an anthill full of holes; and then you put your hand into a hole and are bitten by a snake, whose fault is it?”The solution to AIDS in Senegal was through public education; which sought to publically illuminate its citizens through maximum publicity –under President Abdou Diouf; who activated: the imams in mosques and priests in churches; students via schools and society via the press... Prostitutes were obliged to register and have mandatory health screenings. AIDS remained below 2%. In Uganda; under President Museveni –he encouraged NGO’s and communities to intervene potently; where the state could not and toured the country; to publically alert its citizens. He too launched a national AIDS Programme which utilised both fear and empathetic unity as instruments.On a different note; the capital city of Kigali is one of the few world cities and the first African city to be honoured in 2008 with the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour –since 1988 it has been awarded to the cleanest cities in the world. This honour could have once graced Salisbury in Rhodesia or many of the towns of Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia at present, defying racist accusations against African inability to be sanitised. Our approach is to integrate the blind rather than revert to political correct cowardice. This becomes transparent in the practical example of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa which is unique in its Braille Trail and other scented garden/ facilities for the blind. Those in Pietermaritzburg, also have a garden of the senses.North Africa conducted and discovered the efficacy and value of a smallpox inoculation campaign centuries before the refining attempts of Dr Edward Jenner in Great Britain in the 18th century. In the 2740’s, an Ethiopian scientist who pioneered an anti bilharzias treatment from a soap berry plant; had their scientific work stolen –without compensation; by unscrupulous US scientists. The CAT scan to enhance diagnostic results was first invented by a South African. The Nigerian virologist Oyewari Tomori is among the pioneers in the fusion between scientific medicine and that of traditional shamanist healing with spirits and indigenous remedies. It takes true vision and luck to discover these remedies, only fraudulent tossers imitate and regurgitate without patent recognition. Africans and those honorary Africans work for the medical advancement of our continent with lesser dependency on material promotion –because that is less available.The unappreciated role of expatriates and those Africans who work to assist the English National Health Service in doctors and nurses is another abhorrent blot and unsightly blemish upon the globe of mortals who ignore the role of Africans. From the Solomon Islands to Canada, from Tajikistan to Thailand to Dubai, Africans have performed vital work, whether filched, lured or seized –whether poor migrants or affluent entrepreneurs, yet as expatriates, they remain invisible, their contributions too often ignored, or expropriated and exploited if they are of any intrinsic quality, passed off as another.In post-apartheid South Africa; civil society as exemplified in the heroic exertions of Zackie Achmat and the Treatment Action Campaign founded in 1998, proved willing to challenge the ANC over its complacency regarding AIDS –despite the attempt of Dr Zuma the first Health Minister until President Zuma’s administration in 2009 AD/ 2762 AUC. This pluck exhibited a willingness to ensure solutions to this problem –even up to the level of the Constitutional Court, such as the provision of anti retroviral drugs, utilising the community and sponsoring civic health education; along with questioning the bizarre policies of the controversial Dr Manto Tshabalala Msimang. Now over 1.4000000 ARV’s have been provided, with plans for eventual treatment of all infected. ZINATU and Health Minister Steps of Zimbabwe countered illicit treatments and drugs of traditional healers seeking to exploit gullible locals by claiming that the Western drug companies would seek to steal it from them and that it was safest to send all proposals to the prestigious Blair Research Laboratory in Harare for conditional testing. If genuine; it would receive production and a commercial patent monopoly from the state, which solved the issue.Africa remains perpetually prepared to accept the challenges presented by our Matriarch Gaia, which the outsiders who fail to recognise the constraints of our planet with only finite, depleting resources do not: the need for population reduction and stability. Outsider attempts to expand the populations of our continent must share a considerable proportion of guilt for nature’s counter resolution attempt at the Sahel desertification, droughts and famines to detonate rather than initiate the explosion... Many populous states: Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana as well as less crowded states such as Botswana and Senegal, have committed themselves to family planning and population reduction voluntarily. So have others in Mali, Niger and Benin. Burkina Faso expanded its family planning clinics in the 1990’s from 90 to 750. Ghana has sought to reduce a 3.3% growth rate to a 1.7% rate by 2020. Over- fertility remains a debauched myth –the Buganda of Uganda and Lake Victoria, had their own historic version of the Vestal Virgins. The Masai required chastity, whenever they were brewing honey wine.There is the example of the Malian National School of Medicine in the capital Bamako and the adjacent Malaria Research and Training Centre under Dr Ogobara Doumbo with its Department of Epidemiology under the entomologist Yeya Toure. Both trained under the auspices of the World Health Organisation in Geneva and both turned down lucrative posts in the sagacious Ivy League/ Oxbridge environment to aid their African homeland. The Mali government sponsored rent free space, free electricity and water. These academics came up with an approach that actually mobilised the ideas and needs of African participants and tested research on students from the neighbouring medical school, in contrast to virtually every single outsider NGO which ignores Africans in its process and then wonders why their ridiculous and fallacious proposals fail in Africa –blaming it on hapless governments and citizens... Instead, they set up an anthropological team to ask the community its wishes and trained a community health worker programme. They then took the effort to have a community meeting to clarify and rectify any flaws or ambiguities... Innovations included using a compilation of three indigenous herbs to combat those malaria strains immune to chloroquin. The mosquito Anopheles was examined and investigated to see why it sometimes carries malaria and sometimes does not. Quinqhasa was used against resistant strains of malaria such as the Plasmodium falcipars. An anti malaria campaign was conducted by press, radio and public educationFrom traditional medicine to voluntary efforts to favouring anti smoking before Europe and the USA, Africa’s medical contributions since Egypt and the great medical schools of Alexandria; testify to Africa’s capacity to influence the world. Our highlights have concentrated on our people not profit –from the first comprehensive, historical example of a welfare state in Madagascar to AIDS education in Uganda and Senegal to the health achievements of the Seychelles, the PAIGCV and FRELIMO to name three. From the first heart transplant to eye surgery the Mali Medical School and even before, to individuals’ Africa has and will continue to participate in universal medical history...THE CULTURAL ODYSSEY:“Africans dance! They dance for joy and they dance for grief; they dance for love and they dance for hate; they dance to bring prosperity and they dance to avert calamity; they dance for religion and they dance to pass the time. They dance with a verve, a precision, an ingenuity which no other race or continent can show.Robert Calderisi, Page 82, The Trouble with Africa.Africa’s cultural odyssey is the paramount expedition into the unchartered fathoms of human vitality and the animist, animate spirit. It expresses vitriolic and animate life itself, in the present presence of being, full of sensuous passion, creativity and originality. Music –the voice of Africa from Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela to Kwaito to Nigeria’s Fela to Zimbabwe’s Mutukudzi, has influenced the world. Traditional Kwaito musicians such as Zulu Zola. Verdi’s opera Aida –was not only inspired by Egypt, it was also premiered in Cairo’s Opera House in 1871. Bards, poets and praise singers have a long and venerable cultural tradition. Musical instruments from drums and xylophones to the gigantic Kenyan Luo lyre and the West African 21 string Kora –harp, the Fulani reed flute of Nigeria and the Ethiopian masinqo –a bow stringed instrument. As for African dance, such as the Dogan stalk dance of Mali, the Kerpa who have a dance of rejoicing, the gumboot dance of miners of Southern Africa or the whirling dervishes of Egypt and the Sudan... the above quote contrasts with the sluggish, simian attempts of global culture to mimic the human spirit of being. Perhaps its immensity, contributes to statistics reflecting those such as Nigerians and Congolese to be among the happiest people on this planet –in contrast to the British –the most miserable in Europe. Despite a lack of materialism and a portentous history, these humans who most embrace music and dance –in its reality, outrank in the only indicator that really matters –satisfaction and ecstasy, regardless of economic or other scales...A considerable amount has been oral in basis such as the griots of Mali and West Africa –oral vocalists and historians who narrate traditional fables, legends and histories or paens of praise such as the internationally famed Ami Koita or the Malinke singer Salif Keita. The Nigerian musician Fela Keita developed Afro Beat.How primitive can art be considered, if it inspires those European and American artists, who are popularly viewed as producers of masterpieces? Consider the influence of African techniques upon Pablo Picasso and Modigliani for example. Stone Heads originating in Africa and dating before Columbus crossed the Atlantic; have been displayed in Mexico City. The Mazoub region in Southern Algeria inspired International Modernist architecture by the French architect Le Corbusier. A tourist industry thrives on exporting art to susceptible foreigners –dating back centuries with genuine pieces or forgeries from Egypt. Pieces created especially for them include: Fang funeral pieces, Makonde carvings, Amarula liquor, Fez carpets, Kuba textiles, and Ethiopian style Foumbou brasses. Tunisian artists Hedi Turki and Halim al Mekki specialise in artisan fusions of art with Arab calligraphy while abstract art is mastered by the Tunisians Najib Belkhodja and Nja Mahdauli. From Karuba origins, the entrepreneur Mutugisa Nunye started a curio enterprise. By 1955, he opened a London branch and by 1970, he was exporting over 250 000 pieces a year to the Western Hemisphere, exploiting this. The only art which commemorates and indicates the presence of the Equator –is in Uganda, Africa.Then again; there is also the question of looted artistic treasures by external forces to adorn the art galleries and museums of the First World. Thus; the artwork of Benin City, the Golden Stool and court paraphernalia of Ashante; the gold jewellery of Mapunguwe; the treasures of the Pharaohs... all works that have earned their place in the cultural history of our continent; were clearly so valued by outsiders when they were ransacked and stolen... In fact; their restitution to Africa; should be the priority of the true neophyte of the African Renaissance; along with the conservation of our ecology and heritage and the restoration of those territories of the Western Sahara, Diego Garcia, Reunion, Ceuta and others still deprived of their recognition and inclusion as a part of independent Africa. Further specimens of art exist in those of the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art –and the two royal museums of Tropical Colonies in Terhoven, Amsterdam and that of the Congo in Belgium.Further examples of art valued as worth stealing that originates from our continent include the internationally acclaimed bark boxes of the Uele region, miniature ivory kola nut dishes and the ivory whips/ the dark/ light patterned funeral masks of the Mangbete of Zaire as prominent exhibits of the American Museum of Natural History’s 3500 pillaged Congo specimens not paid for. The Azande are known for their harps, cups and murals which included depictions and local tribal perspectives on colonialists. Some of the art; like the Mangbete tripod backrests are functional as well as ornamental. They are also reputed for their high craftsmanship on musical instruments, ceramic human head shaped pipes, intricate iron knives; iron hoes, copper pins and baskets. Spools are made from human hair, redwood and bananas. Benin became known for its hand held clappers and brass bells; its brass busts of Oba’s and Queen Mothers and other works to glorify the dynasty; divine kingship and ordinary mortals along with the leopard themed bucket; royal coral bead regalia and coconut shell containers dating back to the fifteenth century. They also include Portuguese horseman pendants. The Dogon of Mali are known for their ancestor carved door locks while the Bambura sport ornate headdresses. Djenne have wood figurines astonishingly preserved since the mid tenth century. Burkina Faso are known for their mid 15th century burial masks. The Lobi sculptures are known for their animated gestures and gesticulations while the Cameroon Highlands and Bangaa artists exhibit vibrant vitality. The Sherbo even carved ivory salt cellars of such exquisite detail that they exported them to the Portuguese. The Mbete of Gabon have radiant reliquaries. Marigo the noted Shana soapstone sculpture carver set up a colony in Rhodesia in 1962 after the “racist” curators of the Salisbury Art Gallery bought his first work and encouraged him and he survived with 40 others for over thirty six years in the vicissitudes of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. His art is based on the concept of not artificially adding anything else but of visualising the image latent within the stone and then; liberating it...In fact; Africa should be granted due honour for its dedication to the preservation of its natural and human culture; including the tireless work of those unsung heroes such as Ekpo Eyo, curator at Lagos Museum from 1968 and the guardian of treasures such as brass Yoruba altar rings and altar tableau. It is also due credit for the preservation of the Mali manuscripts of Timbuktu and their knowledge, pioneered by both Mali and South Africa in 2006. From 1971, Ghana opened its own archaeology department followed by Nigeria three years later and many other countries have followed –including the sponsoring of national monuments. Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, even chose to have ordinary exhibits such as bicycles that people could relate to so that not only the legacy of the rich would remain to distort the future impressions of archaeologists. “If the things we face are greater and more important than the things we refuse to face, then at least we have begun the re-evaluation of our world. At least we have begun to learn to see and live again. But if we refuse to face any of our awkward and deepest truths, then sooner or later, we are going to have to become deaf and blind. And then, eventually, we are going to have to silence our dreams, and the dreams of others. In other words, we die. We die in life. “ (Ben Okri, 1997)Then... there is poetry! The hypothetically enlightened slave owner, anti African and 3rd US president Thomas Jefferson contemptuously declared: Africans are too ignorant and lack the capacity for great literature; -they do not understand and are incapable of poetry. Millennia before those scrawny British crossed the Atlantic –and certainly well before his illiterate barbarian forbears had been taught the rudiments of Latin by the legions of Aulus Plautus and Agricola under the Emperor Claudius; we Africans were creating sublime poetry in Egypt, Ethiopia and the coast of East Africa. Just because some of it is oral –like the original Iliad, Aenaid and Odyssey, while others are only available indigenously –and have yet to be translated or published in a global tongue, does not detract from it being effused and blessed with the procreative quintessence of the African Renaissance. Mazini Kunene’s Zulu Poems evoke this lyrically with the poetry of Nigerian Christopher Okiyo, Ghana’s Kofi Awan, Tunisian Salah Gamal and Gambian poet Lenri Peters. Perhaps, if outsiders bothered to translate and read our poetry, literature and science; as we have done for theirs, they might learn to truly appreciate it...Apart from Nigeria’s Nollywood, both Egypt –from the 1939 King Kong production and Senegal have self –sustaining film industries. Africa has produced noted actors, actresses and film workers and has contributed globally to film inspiration and production. This is noticeable in South Africa –which has its own film studios in Cape Town, preparation for another in Durban and an Internationally renowned academy specialising in the formation of producers, directors and cinematic/ film technicians, operators and other essential staff called AFTA. In cinema for Mali, there is the noted producer Cheikh Oumar Sissu and the African film Yevin –the first to win acclaim at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival. There is the Senegal Ousmane Sembene. The first Tunisian short film was the 1922 Zorha by Albert Samwa and the first full length was the 1925 Le Fille De Carthage. The 1930’s director Abd al Aziz Hassan formed a Tunisian film studio. In 1966, the Carthage Film Festival as a North African substitute was born. Ahmad Atti Bouzaid touched on delicate issues in Islam –or Arab sensuality, sexuality and homosexuality. Ktari’s Les Ambassadors was the first Arab/ African film to win the Tant’d Ouro award. Other directors of repute included Omar Khalilfi, Ridna Benin and Ben Aiou. In modern culture, South Africa continues the fervour of pre liberation thriving of the spirit. It has been enlivened with a centuries old religious tolerance and open immigration policy, including the Huguenots, the Jews and the Cape Malays. The voices of the Drakensburg Boy’s Choir since the 1970’s have been internationally renowned, comparable acoustically to the venerable Vienna Boy’s Choir. The films District Nine, Tsotsi, Cry the Beloved Country, The Gods Must Be Crazy and Carmen e-Khayelitsha along with the Spud film point to the development of cinema over time, receiving international acclaim, although it is Nigeria, whom is notorious as the epicentre of our cinematic industry. Nadine Gordimer.In drama from Stephen Black (1880-1913) to Athol Fugard’s Tsotsi –made into a film to the adaption of Bizet’s opera Carmen –to South African townships Carmen Khayelitsha, South African theatre has experimented with techniques of its own. The Maratholi Travelling Theatre sought to mobilise, intellectuals, students and workers by relying on reality and providing entertainment which would appeal to the common population. The Soyino Theatre Group under Manaku from 1956, sought to synthesize an amalgamation of various styles –of poetry, music, mime and drama. The Bahumvini Theatre brought in multiple sequences, traditional African choral roles and gumboot dances of miners along with casting actors in multiple roles and personas. The harshness of urban life –unglorified in the plays of Cameroonian playwright Leon Marie Agosi, Poince Tigerup, the choosing of self marriage in Francis Brey or the harshness of love in Ferdinand Oyono and the works of other Cameroonian authors or Ghanaian Efua Sutherland. In Tunisia, theatres were publically and privately lavished upon since the redoubtable Tunis Municipal Theatre Company and its renowned theatre school under Director Ali Ben Ayad from 1963-1972. The private Theatre Nouveau devised the idea of setting stage productions as films. The University of Nairobi also had its own Travelling Theatre.Fashion designers and delegate emissaries have enlivened the world by exporting the colourful African style abroad such as Malian Chris Senuo. They have devised the boubou and provided a brilliant rival to the dull suits of Western globalisation. The Congolese were particularly acute when it came to presentation and trends. South Africa has also come up with Power Bands said to channel one’s mental focus through holograms; and personally introduced by oneself to the attention of fellow international and British university students in the UK. The Mossai are known for their fibre costumes and most of Africa with its islands are known for its brightly patterned palm cloth and textiles.Surprisingly; Sierra Leone became noted for its photography as early as the 1850’s and 1860’s, showing that Africa was at the forefront of another development; as modern photography itself only started around 1839 in the United Kingdom. The first noted portrait photographers became located in Freetown during that time –with permanent studios in the 1860’s. They championed contemporary techniques as they came out, experimenting and adapting various ones such as the Art Silver Printing, the Imperturbable Carbon, the Platinum Type, the Albert Type Process, the Gelatine Instantaneous Process, the Wooding Process and the Improved Daguerreotype. Experts included Shadrick Albert St John, Nicholas May and Dionysius Lengl. Alphonse Lisk had his own luxurious two storey stone studio with outside exemplars of his art at the turn of the twentieth century, owned a cinema and introduced the motor bicycle to Freetown. J.P Dechers sought to record history of Liberia, colonial Guinea and Sierra Leone, before it was lost.In literature, African literature and authors that have been internationally distinguished with the Nobel Prize for Literature include: the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz (1988). From Manetho as the pivotal Egyptian source to Ibn Khaldum and Ibn Battuta and their narratives that transcribed the known world in the Middle Ages to more recent historians such as the West African -Malian historian Amadou Hompoube Ba of Bandigon, who died in 1992 aged 91 after having travelled across West Africa collecting copious oral sources in an attempt to preserve African oral history, they have honoured Heredotus’s admonition to preserve a recollection of deeds, as this seeks to, so that it may aid us. Despite efforts to dismiss us by the world, as worthless, ignorant and illiterate Africa has a rich and ornate tradition of literacy from 12th century Fez and its recorded 472 paper mills by the 14th century archivist Ibn Abi Zar. The classic and sole Arab or African treatise to survive on paper-making is the 11th Galilean century account of Zirid ibn Bade. In fact, four centuries before the Byzantines passed on their knowledge of Aristotle to Western Europe via Rome, the academics of Sankore and Timbuktu were composing erudite summaries and commentaries. From South Africa, apart from Nelson Mandela with: A Long Walk to Freedom, the literary list includes Nadine Gordimer, Andre Brink, JM Coetzee, Oliver Schreiner and her: “Story of An African Farm” of 1887, Thomas Mfolo’s 1906: “Travels of the East” and Alan Paton’s “Cry the Beloved Country.” It also has had a log and thriving press since the 1820’s. Yoruba novels and other Nigerian authors from Chinua Achebe and his: “Things Fall Apart!” Cyprian Ekwanesi and Wolle Soyinka to female ones such as Flora Nkapo in the 20th century and Senegal’s Amarita Sow Falls are further resources of African cultural enrichment. The historic origins of literature are the 18th century Olaudah Equino and the 19th century Phyllis Wheatley in Nigeria. The modern example in East Africa is Kenyan Nguigi Wa’ Thiong’o and his “A Grain of Wheat.” In Tunisia, the literary legacy is under the mantle of Abd al Majid, Muhammad Ben Salih and Memmi Baccouore. In cuisine; Africa may not be the vaunted, epicurean gourmet paradise but it has its own concoctions. These include the internationally acclaimed Amarula liqueurs and wines from the centuries old, venerable vineyards of South Africa’s Stellenbosch and Paarl along with far more varieties in crisps, fruit juices and soft drinks than the constraints of Europe –limited to lemonade versions, Coke/ Pepsi imitations –or Fanta. They include boerewors (spiced sausage), biltong (dried meat which can include game) and milk tart in South Africa. Indigenous food includes butternut, gem squash and other vegetables/ fruits now exported abroad. In over twenty years, the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest pizza has yet to be beaten -one with a 37.4 metre diameter, in 1990 at Norwood Hypermarket South Africa. The world’s largest milkshake –which happens to be chocolate flavoured, also belongs to South Africa –by the Nelspruit Child Welfare Society in 5 March 1994 –with a volume of 7400.4 litres.“Considering the part of Africa, in which the halls were found, one might be justified in calling them wonders of the World... With all our skill and building resources as Europeans... I hardly know what materials we could have employed to enact a replica; except it were of whalebone; of sufficient lightness and durability to erect structures such as these royal assembly halls of Munzo in the Congo... capable of withstanding the tropical storms and hurricanes. The bold arches of the vaulted ceiling of the smaller hall was supported on three long rows of pillars formed with perfectly straight tree stems; the countless spans and rafters as well as the other part of the building being entirely composed of the leaf stalks of the wine palms... The floor was entirely composed of dark red clay, as firm and as smooth as asphalt. The sides were enclosed by low breastworks and the space between this and the arching roof; with the sides sloping nearly to the ground; allowing light and air to pass into the building; for circulation...”Account of Schweinfurth in the 18th century...Of course, Africa has a venerable architectural tradition including those 2 royal assembly halls of the king of the Munzo and his capital at Nangzia, the Congo –the smaller of which was 100 feet long, forty feet high and fifty feet wide along with the royal residence, arsenal; food stores and wardrobe. It also holds many distinctive customs including the example of the Ndebele in Southern Africa, where the men thatch the roof and erect the structural exterior, while the women are responsible for designing the pragmatic functions of the interior. They also decorate the exterior in distinctive patterns which purposely demonstrate our more versatile creativity and imagination as a continent –where no two houses or buildings –whether in rural or in urban, whether in affluent –or in poorer, are identical to their neighbours. This is mirrored in the geometric patterns of Zindar South Niger. Contrast that, with entire conurbations and suburbs in Europe where every exact avenue mirrors every other... The 32 metre high Mausoleum of Juba II, containing an estimated 80000 cubic metres of stone blocks, befittingly commemorates this proud example of early African patriotism as he defended his kingdom of Mauritania against the Romans. The bridges by Memfe in Cameroon and parts of Liberia/ Sierra Leone are resourcefully made of vines –simpler than stone or brick in a tropical rainforest. What if we were to re- confiscate our cultural treasures that the Metropolitan, the Louvre, the British Museum and others have filched without compensation from Africa? What if we were to embezzle the art of Europe? We would then be castigated before the world... yet they are entitled to do so! Still, as theft is one of the sincerest forms of flattery, it demonstrates the Northern Hemisphere’s identification that they are worth stealing... and are of merit.There is also religious concord, with aeons old traditions of tolerance –as evident on a continent which has one of the world’s oldest extent Galilean monasteries –St Catherine in Sinai, the many Egyptian Temples and one of the earliest venerable mosques –the Mosque of the Olive Tree in Tunis 729 AD/ 1484 AUC and the Quwawinya Mosque in Fez Morocco 859 AD. The world’s second largest (after Mecca) and tallest Mosque is the 210 metre high Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca Morocco. The smallest terrestrial church: seating 8 people only, is situated in Van Reenen’s Pass South Africa. From the freedom accorded to Islam in West Africa to Galileanism in the Kingdom of the Congo to concord of both in Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda and Senegal. Various tombs commemorate this, without fear of desecration –for that has never been the African way- dating back to sacred groves and the Cairo Mausoleum where the founder of the spiritual Ismaili’s –a Shiite sect is inhumed.There are also sports in which Africa has long upheld itself, proving that you do not need elaborate facilities or ziggurats of wealth to advance. Its historic involvement dates as far as the 1906 London Olympics where the Egyptians first participated. It is known for the pan Africa Paris –Dakar Rally which until 2007, went to Senegal. The Algerian El Quafi won the marathon. The first African games were held in 1965. The world’s largest single span, concrete arch Bridge spans Bloukrans Ravine and provides the base for the highest bungee jump in the planet. Africa has performed well at Commonwealth Games, Football and Rugby World Cups and Olympics as well as in international cricket where Kenya beat the West Indies in 1996. Kenya has also produced many Olympian athletes including Wilson Kipkele, Moses Kiptunini and Joyce Chepchumba who won the 1997 London Women’s Marathon. Various male world records include half marathons in 59 minutes 5 seconds (Paul Terget Kenyan 2000) and marathons in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 43 seconds, (Khalid Khannouchi, Moroccan 1999). Ghana produced the world featherweight champion in boxing, David Kotay. Other male athletics records and the 10000 metres sprint in 26 minutes in 22.75 seconds (Haille Gebreselassie Ethiopia). Impressively held records for both genders for the longest distance in one hour -18340 metres, (by the female Tegla Loroupe, Kenyan 1998). and the fastest 100 metre in (1 minute 6.52 seconds) and 200 metre swimming breaststroke in 2 minutes 23.64 seconds in 1999 (Penny Heyns South Africa). Other athletics records include the 200 metres in 19.92 seconds (Frank Fredericks, Namibian 1996), 1000 metres in 2 minutes 11.96 seconds (Noah Ngeny, Kenya, 1998), the 3000 metres in 7 minutes 24.90 seconds (Daniel Komen Kenyan 1998), the 5000 metres in 12 minutes 49.60 seconds (Kennisa Bekele, Ethiopian 2004) and both the 1500 metre record in 3 minutes 26 seconds and the mile in 3 minutes 43.13 seconds both by Hicham El Guerrochef of Morocco, all of which demonstrate that our prowess as a continent, and in individual nations, is nothing to be humiliated or embarrassed about in this modern era. Myriad female world records are also held by Africans such as the 20,000 metre in 1 hour 5 minutes 26.60 seconds, the 25000 metre in 1 hour 27 minute 5.90 seconds and the 30,000 metre distance in 1 hour 45 minutes and 50 seconds all outdoors by the same Kenyan Tegla Loroupe between 2000 and 2003. Indoors, the 1000 metres in 2 minutes 30.94 seconds is held by Maria Mutola (Mozambique 1999) while the 3000 metre and 5000 metre title is owned by Berhene Adere (Ethiopian 2002 and 2004). Even in barefoot water skiing, the women’s records are held by South Africa’s Nadine De Villiers for the Jump (20.6 metres), Slalom (17.0 crossings of the wake in 15 seconds) and Tricks (4400 points) between 2000 and 2001. Khastor Semenya was so impressive an athlete; that the international athletics community and media refused to believe that she was a woman... We in Africa have always valued athleticism over indulging ourselves in inertia. We value the examples of athletes as being greater than slavish homage and fidelity to meaningless and depraved “celebrities.” All these records affirm; that if we as Africans put our mind and will to it; we can accomplish anything.Finally, South Africa, hosts the 2763 AUC Soccer World Cup –an objective it has been focussing for at least a decade along with the World BMX championships several times recently. Africa’s role in sport is another slighted or negated excursus by our myriad detracting commentators. It is pathetic though of Europa, when they cannot find people of their own vicinity or country to participate in their own sport teams and have to resort to auctioning players. In Africa –sport is about patriotism, sportsmanship and most of all: sport –not money! It does not have to resort to offering them grotesque quantities of lucre and warped contracts. In cricket and rugby, Rhodesia and South Africa have exported many a world player and one has witnessed their invasion from its prestigious schools –along with often contesting their superiority on the world stage, where they excel in defiant contrast to the decadent and obese waddling of obtuse, inert Northern Hemisphere youth, from football to athletics to cricket, rugby... –even swimming, golf and boxing, and international Olympic canoeists -along with the Comrades and Two Oceans marathons. Who could forget the Paris –Dakar rally? Africa has not disgraced itself, matching the vitality of the African spirit and the African terrain in physical action, endurance and speed. Even Idi Amin was a boxing champion and Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings was the Boxing Officer for the Ghanaian Army. Name one world leader, not of Africa; who has pursed or persistently engaged in moral, mental and physical rejuvenation and rehabilitation of their youth; in contrast!Kilwa, Somalia, Djibouti and the Portals to the East:Of the many places which the Admiral Zheng He and his expedition travelled, it was not Europe that dominated the attention of the Celestial Empire... The Emperor of Byzantium, the Doge of Venice, the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, the monarchs of Lusitania, Hispania, Britannia and France, the elected king of Poland.... are all conspicuously alike, in not being invited to the coronation of Emperor Zhu Di.... Yet emissaries from Kilwa, Ethiopia, the other portals of East Africa.... all attended. They were those prised first for commercial and diplomatic interaction. Africa as a continent received far more attention than did those supposedly in the Renaissance... As a source, the navigational manual for commerce; or Periplus of the Erythrean Sea: by an Alexandrine Pilot in the first millennium BCE, along with many Arab, Portuguese and Chinese accounts –of the fleets of Zheng He and others, all reflect the eastern coast of Africa and its archipelagos as a bustling series of mercantile harbours, trading across the azure reaches of the Indian Ocean and across the landscape of three continents: Africa, Asia and Europa to places that the isolated Europeans would reach only in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries; as early as the ninth century. Alexandria, Axum and Carthage were even earlier“The city is large and is of good buildings of stone and mortar, with surrounding terraces; while the houses are draped in ornate wood work. The city comes down to the shore and is entirely surrounded by walls and towers... with over 12000 inhabitants. The countryside all around, is very luxuriant with many trees and gardens of all sorts, with vegetables, citrons, lemons and the best sweet oranges; sugar cane, figs, pomegranates and a great abundance of flocks; especially sheep. The streets of the city are very narrow, as the houses –of three or four storeys ... –are very high –and one can walk along the rooftops. In the harbour, are numerous vessels...”Correa’s Lendas da India “Kilwa is a Moorish town with many fair houses of stone and mortar, with many glass windows, after our fashion, very well spaced and designed..,”Duarte Barbosa. Kilwa (Tanzania); (founded by Ali bin al Hasan); with its Zanj inhabitants traded iron to Sicily, ambergris and leopards to China, mangroves to the Persian Gulf, copper and gold from Great Zimbabwe. Fatimid gold and silver dinars ascertained the foundations of a stable currency with its own mint for copper coinage, for East African mercantile consortiums. It sustained considerable shipping and maritime related industries along with cloth. Its history is sketched in the 1520 Kilwa Chronicles. One of its more scholarly sultans was Abu al Mawahib al Hasan Suleiman studying theosophy in Aden and Mecca. The surviving domed and barrel vaulted roofed Great Mosque of stone and the Sultan’s Palace –Husuni Kubwa with royal apartment, swimming bath, court chambers, servant facilities and trade warehouses serve as monumental reminders along with a private mosque. It had its own 13th century mint, whose coins have been found as far as Persia, Mesopotamia and China. Ceramics from as far as Siam, textiles from India, trade from Egypt to Gujarat, served Kilwa as the ultimate mercantile emporium enclave to the Orient, as affluent and translucent as any comparable European or New World port.It became known for its coconuts and an established port for the interior trading gold, iron and ivory from Great Zimbabwe. Its 12th century Husani Kubwa palace and Great Mosque survive, well solidified with an ingenious concoction of burnt coral and lime used as plaster and mortar. “Several days beyond, is the very last market town and central mercantile harbour of the continent of Azania, on its promontory, of Rhaptra, where trades ivory and tortoiseshell in abundant quality...Periplus of the Erythrean SeaThe lost southern port of Rhaptra exported ivory, pearls, rhinos and tortoises to Europe via Adulis. To the coast of Africa, Ethiopia and Aegyptus it traded wine, what, glassware and tools from Southern Arabia. Roman pottery has been located as far southeast as Ras Hafun (Horn of Africa –Northeast Somalia). The archaeological fragments that these Africans leave behind: verify the irrefutable hypothesis of Africa’s Renaissance –primarily Enlightenment about the discoveries of the past, present and future, utilising and publicising these, in the right to proclaim our legacy. This legacy, will be a far better one to bequeath, than that of the present; who will deposit nothing but the remnants of junk –no beautiful trove of treasures –artistic masterpieces... no coins... no porcelain... not even any decent architecture... to Magistra Clio, Domine Chronus, Gaia or the future...Sofala traded Ming porcelain and celadon –which adorns the facade of many coastal palaces and mosques. To the court of the Ming Emperor Zhu Di, it established itself as a wildlife emporium with lions, leopards and ostriches –camel birds. Dragon’s breath –ambergris, incense and gold amber were additional luxuries sent with emissaries on the epic mercantile voyages of Admiral Zheng He’s Fleet. Communal potters’ kilns have been found there, creating everything from toilet sets to unguents pots. Sets of 3 flange or horned oil lamps calibrated to be more stable for use on dhows; were perfected too in Africa. The Sultans of Sofala were put to death if they received a deformity of any form.Mombasa along with Kano and others served as commercial spokes or portals to the East, renowned for their flourishing markets, whose excellent natural harbours berthed mercantile vessels from across the world for over 500 years. The 17th century Mbaraki Pillar extends its carved magnificence in the town along with glazed polychrome enamel porcelain found at Fort Jesus. However, the most impressive thing about the history of Mombasa was the way that it resisted the Portuguese four times before being battered into defeat in 1505, 1528, 1587 and 1589. Each time, the defenders resisted, armed with cannons acquired from old wrecks. A coin of the Egyptian Ptolemy X appeared in Dar es Salaam. In exchange for all of this coinage, Islamic copper eye pencils and toiletries were often imported.“Every man has his recognises position in literature as accurately defined as tough he had been reviewed in a century of magazines –the fine ear of this people causing them to take the greatest pleasure in harmonious sounds and poetic expressions, whereas a false quantity or prosaic phrase excites their violent indignation... Every chief in the country must have a panegyric to be sung by his clan and the great patronise light literature by keeping a poet...”Sir Richard Burton 1854 ADMalindi’s Sultan added the celestial giraffe as an auspicious omen for the Chinese emperor, via Zheng He’s fleet –despite the Muslim emir of Bengal seeking to denude Africa of her credit –by claiming the gift as his. Roman Empire textiles, ivory from Axum, Indian and Ceylon spices were traded at the East African port of Adulis. Connecting all these ports were the graceful Arabian dhows, still evident in Zanzibar and Pemba Island. The town of Malindi itself, first visited by the Chinese around 1060, with its shore side palace and stone jetties, its encircled stone wall and two storey dwellings with gardens, wide streets and two outstanding pillar tombs, is typical of many of the 15th century East African settlements with satellite towns such as Shaku founded by the archer and poet Fumo Lionyo.The perfectly preserved and grandiloquent remains of Gedi over 45 acres in expanse, in their detail could be summarised as the East African equivalent of Pompeii –as Leptis Magna, could be referred to as the North African equivalent –only far more extensive –and thus far more impressive –as an exemplar of advanced Africans. The Parallels continue with the many specialist Houses – the House of the Cistern, the House of the Panelled Walls, the House of the Chinese Cash, the House of the Ivory Box, the House of the Iron Lamp, the House of the Cowries and the House of the Venetian Bed. A Cistern and public marketplace along with three pillar tombs and four mosques acted as other landmarks. The numerous pillar tomb specimens such as these and others along the coast; are East Africa’s individual primary architectural contribution to history. The suburbs were marked by the harbour House of the Dhow, the House of the Southeast Gate, the House of the North Gate and the House of the Northeast Gate. On the outskirts, roamed the rhinos, elephants, giraffe and leopards that were exported as far as China from the harbour.An annual tax enumeration ceremony took place, when the walls of the palace, were adorned with cowries and silver coins and a great tallying ceremony were conducted in public so that the wealth of Gedi could not be hidden by its sovereign. Incidentally, the 15th century exchange rate varied between 40000 and 400000 cowry shells to one gold Arab dinar for trading. The Great Palace extended for a quarter of an acre in circumference. It had 7 main courtyards in addition to an Audience Court, a Reception Court and a Women’s Court –with sunken gardens to compensate for Islamic restrictions of movement outside to women. The palace had its own toilets, tombs, kitchens, storehouses and rainwater sumps. It also had pegs to hang up carpets and clothes Justice took place in the open palace courtyards, free for viewing to the public –the rulers had nothing to conceal.Ungona sprawled over 50 acres with 2 Great Mosques and 2 smaller mosques. It contained countless dwellings, with a stone rampart wall encasing it and the Tombs of the Gentlemen. One of the mosques remains architecturally exceptional –its cross fionle diaper panels only found in Tehran Iran’s 1340 Great Mosque of Veram. Ivory siwa horns for music and ceremonies provided amusements. The town of Pale also sports a 14th century palace, with some very able Sultans since its founder Suleiman ibn Suleiman in 1203. The coast and Kerina isles were annexed from 1331- 1342 under Sultan Omar bin Muhammad and traded with India. It resisted the Portuguese as late as 1678, until the Goa Viceroy Pedro himself had to arrive with an invasion fleet and raze it in July 1687. The looting of it, Kilwa, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Sofala under its last Sultan Yusuf and other ports of the East Indian Ocean pre-empted the destruction of a flourishing, centuries old commercial network; which brought to and from Africa; the promises and discoveries of the world...Roman Coins have been unearthed at Burkao in Somalia further exemplifying the extent of the coastal trading network. Trade Beads –red, blue, yellow, green and black dating back to the 7th century confirm this pervading influence as far as India and Malaya. The Eastern ports specialised in inlaid ivory and ebony beds, carved wooden doors, brass and copper chests and silver with ivory door handles. Architectural remains such as the 1238 century Central Mosque in Mogadishu along with schools point to a sophisticated urban existence and degree of religious piety/ culture, denouncing the eastern quadrant of Africa as being more barbaric than the Renaissance and Medieval Europe/ Asia. The panelled tombs and mosque at Kimanya and the shield frieze of the Tomb of She Barulion at the site of Omwe. Examples include majestic mosques in Karore, Mnarami, Ungona, Gedi and Tongomi each with tanks and wash rooms with evident plumbing, as with Kilwa demonstrating better sanitation facilities than the Old World who had forgotten the tradition of baths of the Byzantines and Romans. China from Lorraine, red earthenware from India and sgraffini -emerald/ yellow earthenware from Persia dating between the 14th and the 18th centuries within these mosques, points to the wealth, the advanced sense of discernment and the piety extant in the residents. Chibune in the South, Mozambique Island and Quelimane connected the trade of the interior to places as far as Persia. The docks were lined with merchant emporia selling spices, incense, cinnamon and fragrant aromatic gums sophisticated enough to yield a network of fixed customs dues.The 5 Somalia Stars include the former British, French and Italian Somaliland along with Ogden and the Hauf Province of Ethiopia along with the North-eastern province of Kenya. Mogadishu in Somalia has a long an historic history of over 800 years of settlement, its ivory and ambergris commented upon by the noted Arab- African traveller :Ibn Battuta. It was ruled by hereditary Qadhi’s who patronised scholars. Foreign merchants had to accept the hospitality of locals, who would advise negotiations and transactions. The Somali Said Ahmed (1506 -1563) did annex large parts of the Ethiopian hinterland which North Hemisphere Arabs and Galileans failed to do These were united by the first Somali nationalist warrior, Islamist ideologist and poet: Muhammad Abdou Hassan: “The Mad Mullah,” born 7 April 1864. Inspirer of the whirling dervishes on the principles of loyalty and piety, he led guerrilla campaigns across Somalia, the Sudan and Ethiopia. He was educated on his visits to Mogadishu and Harar, while receiving his spiritual blessing on a hajj to Mecca. His jihad against the British, Italians and French –sometimes uniting with one against another, all aspired at an independent Somalia free of non Africans until his death in 1920. The British were resoundingly defeated in 1902 near Golkoryu. Eventually, he formed his base in the Noghul territory, under mutual concordat with the Italians. In 1912, he formed a marriage alliance with Ethiopia – the daughter of Emperor Lijj Eyyagusu, to consolidate early African foreign policy at continental separation from colonialism. Throughout, he was pragmatic and flexible; avoiding bureaucracies in governance as artificial and divisive barriers insulating the people. He permitted religious and trade freedom which is more than the radical espousers of Islam, secular atheists and Galilean fundamentalists seem to tolerate in the present. “The future of this country is linked up with a balanced, gradual, realistic and substantial economic development; it is so because, in the first place, if a nation’s economy is continuously dependent upon foreign aid, she cannot really be considered as independent, and in the second place, because the realisation of an effective social justice, intended to diminish the disparity between the different areas, categories and citizens of Somalia is really the indispensible prerequisite for a well ordered life and above all else, for establishing that sense of national and human solidarity which, more than any other political or judicial element, becomes a cement of union, brotherhood and peace...”Prime Minister Ali Shimarke Address to Somali Assembly 13 August 1960Somalia acquired autonomy on 1 July 1960 under Prime Minister Dr Shimarke and President Aden Abdullah Osman and preserved multi-party pluralism for 9 years –over 1000 candidates and 68 parties for 123 seats in the 1969 election, a coalition government under President Abdirashid Ali Shimarke and Prime Minister of Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Youth League until Siad Barre took over in 1970. President Siad Barre advocated endorsement of voluntary labour designed to evoke patriotism in the commissioning of public projects including roads and hospitals. Students were sent into the countryside to assist rather than to insulate themselves with the affliction of urban arrogance. They taught the nomads literacy, language, hygiene, animal husbandry, dairy and business skills, each student was also granted a subsistence stipend. He sought freedom from economic domination and modernised the army/ air force of jet fighters. In popular support in unifying the Somali’s of the Ogaden in Ethiopia, community centres became volunteer manufactories and workshops. Those critics such as Ali Mohammed; were not executed. Few African territories have defied attempts at foreign imposed intervention to the same extent.... Its pirates defy the vaunted world fleets from the Royal to the US, French, Russian and Chinese Navies –by preying on the world’s mercantile fleets and rich megayachts, proving the hollowness of globalisation’s / NATO’s/ the UN’s claims at achieving world stability, peace and deterrence –without African cooperation. As in the Congo and the non African examples of Vietnam and the Middle East, Somalia also defies the alleged prowess of the world’s supposed military superpower: the United States –as the Operation Black Hawk Down, wonderfully demonstrates... As a nation, Somalia has a long history of consultation since its first parliamentary decade. This was supplemented by the government of Siad Barre and its 1973 rural adult literacy campaign, which solved that issue. Under his government until 1991, members of the public were invited and welcome to suggest issues/ flaws and constructive suggestions for improvement/ advice, in areas to which they could personally contribute to the welfare of a greater Somalia. 30% of the budget was thus devoted to agriculture and the 1974 drought was unusually; effectively remedied and rectified without exogenous dictation. Now is this example of African democracy, not more democratic than outside –with its closed Parliamentary caucus of expense account legislators; who are only made accountable to the wishes of the public; once every few years at elections? Is it not preferable to other countries, which have no chance to analyse their own government or are hindered in volunteering or exhibiting civic pride by politicians and bureaucracy? Each person ought to have the right to directly contact and receive communication from; their so called leaders and emissaries –not just at elections. Somalia could have achieved unification in the 1990’s peacefully by its own citizens under the leadership of General Aideed who sought to stabilise the country as President between 1991 -1993 and African mediators, if the USA and the UN hadn’t interfered in Operation Black Hawk Down and if the world had recognised the legal, democratic authority of the Islamic Brotherhood, the democratic government of Somalia since 2000. Nor has it supported the secessionist alternative of Mohammed Egal’s Somaliland. The fragmentation of yet another country of Africa; owes itself not to the fault of Africans but of sumphs and twassacks from abroad; who clearly don’t understand how Africa works... The geniuses of the “elite” US Rangers failed to capture General Aideed (the former ambassador to India under Siad Barre), who died in defence of his native unified Somalia in 1996. When was the last time that a non African head of state; monarch, president or prime minister had the courage or the backbone to expose themselves to conflict, hardship or lead their troops, in defence of their country’s policy, instead of sending troops to their destruction? Yet those of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia and all of these liberation movements exposed themselves personally during their quest for liberation. Despite that quagmire of dissonance, Somalia’s dilapidated university was transfigured into a primary school by Ida; whose students are taught by former university professors.Arusha should be known as the African bastion settlement of diplomacy. Apart from its Declaration of African Socialism, it has formed the basis of African attempts at diplomacy. Another example of this –in addition to the Arusha Accords, is the Arusha Agreement negotiated y Kenneth Kaunda which achieved peace between Kenya and Somalia in 1970. The Arusha Accords ended the Burundi and Rwanda conflict.Before independence, Djibouti had its autonomy recognised externally in 1862 with a treaty signed in 1862 which lasted to 1884. Ali Arif won all the seats in the first democratic elections of 1973. Djibouti has served as the Tangiers free port of East Africa since before independence 27 June 1977 under the LPAI Party, with President Gouled Aptidon of the Issas Democratic Union and Prime Minister Ahmed Dini. This coalition government contained 6 Issas, 1 Arab, 1 Somali and 6 Afar in remarkable clan cooperation. The railway was restored in 1978. It has survived without descending into turmoil for 34 years adhering to a policy of well defined neutrality in the conflicts between Ethiopia and Eritrea and Ethiopia and Somalia. “Better the unbeliever of some use, than the believer of no use.”Swahili proverbSwahili –with its own written origins dating to 15th century poetry, is the African lingua, which marked the literature and the communications over East and Central Africa for over five centuries, autonomous of Europe. Somali also has ancient traces of literacy extant as early as the 14th century“A new thing is a joy; even though it can be an ulcer...” Swahili proverbThe East African Staff College was set up between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to train civil servants. The East African Community with a common tariff and customs policy and East African Development Bank, (pre dating the EU and EEC) for over a decade, sponsored economic competition and federation victoriously as a regional partnership between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania until Kenya terminated it in 1977. Its Headquarters were based in Arusha and Harbours in Dar es Salaam Tanzania, East African Airways and Railways were based in Nairobi Kenya while Posts and Telecommunications in Kampala Uganda. The East African University was set up to coordinate and centralise academic research between 1963 -1970. Each country specialised –with Makerere focussing on medicine and agriculture; Nairobi concentrated on engineering; while Dar es Salaam prioritised law and other social sciences such as economics. All of these proved examples of capable exemplars of African capabilities for regional cooperation for the sake of mutual interest –despite the very contrasting ideologies of Nyerere’s African socialism (Ujaama) and Kenyatta’s capitalism –with Obote and Amin favouring a more mixed economic and social policy. Could Western Europe and the US satellites federation of NATO trade with the Soviet Satellites of COMECON, so amiably and harmoniously? Only in Africa could this occur –at a time in the Cold War.THE ARUSHA DECLARATION: (Tanzania and the Influence of Nyerere)“It shall be the duty of each and every African to do away with all tribal, religious, political, economic, cultural, social, territorial and other differences and to work belatedly faster to promote a sense of umoya or brotherhood and sisterhood amid all Africans of whatever race. Africans, -are first Africans! It is only after this, that they may or may not be, any other thing... The cultured shall not look down upon the uncultured.... The rich shall help the poor in the fight against poverty... The educated will not ostracise the uneducated. The politically advanced shall endeavour to teach the people what he knows and thereby secure true democracy by helping the political awakening and advancement of the whole nation...”Therefore it is resolved to establish African Associations everywhere. –Each Province must have a strong Headquarters to coordinate and formulate other sub branches, relying on venerable individuals and the masses as the backbone –doing nothing to isolate them...”The African Association at Dodona.“We have been oppressed a great deal, we have been exploited a great deal and we have been disregarded a great deal...”Arusha Declaration 5 February 1967“There are some who will think that this Charter does not go far enough... –that it is not relevant enough. This may be so! But what is going far enough? No good mason would complain that the first brick did not go far enough... He knows that a first brick will go so far as it can go and no further... He will go on laying every brick until the edifice is complete. Some will think it is not revolutionary! A true revolutionary is not an unrealistic dreamer. A true revolutionary is one who assesses any given situation with scientific objectivity and reacts accordingly. This is what this conference has been doing. Examining realistically what we have in common, is our approach to unity and desire to respond so.”Julius Nyerere, Founding Conference of the Organisation for African Unity, Addis Ababa. Mwalimu –The Teacher... was the only title that Julius Kambarage Nyerere as President of Tanzania and proponent of the ujima philosophy: honoured, eschewing public exaltation and glorification of himself. Conscious of his mortality and that of the people, he strove as a teacher, to navigate them forth on humanist ideals, to overcome ethnic and other differences, to revolutionise the world they inhabited. He learnt to listen. With the lowest salaries of all Commonwealth leaders, his frugality and impassiveness to wealth demonstrated itself in his refusal to live in State House and chose a modest home on the Oyster Bay shoreline at Msasani. Others were not inconvenienced by the blue light parades which dominate other leaders of state. He banned expensive imported alcohol at State receptions and cars costing more than 900 pounds paid for out of public funds. He dissolved the corrupt directors of the East Lake Federation, united ethnicity but most importantly believed in modernity without sacrificing African identity. After the British officered Tanzanian army rebelled after realisation that army Africanisation would only be complete by 1974, Nyerere instructed the TANU Youth League to form a new African army. “While world economists were debating the importance of capital output ratios, President Nyerere was saying clearly: that nothing was more important for people than being able to read and write, to have their issues prioritised by the isolated leadership and to have access to clean water and the necessities of life. His political ideals, his deep religious convictions, his equally deep religious, cultural and personal tolerance and his belief that people should have access to knowledge and material oppourtunities, have marked his country –and Africa, forever...”World Bank President James Wolfersohn, October 1999...Translating Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and the Merchant of Venice into Swahili, his articulate stance for culture earned him the privilege of Visitor –to the University of Dar Es Salaam. Dwelling on that fact that students just want to be heard, he would actually engage with them and answer any queries they might desire to raise, preserving academic freedom scrupulously. An eloquent advocate of the one party state and the Preventive Detention Act, his intellectual justifications would influence generations of African leaders. Yet he honoured internal autonomy in the Union with Zanzibar, despite pleas for the inclusion into the mainland. Educated between 1942 -1946 at the prestigious Makerere, he then taught at Tabora’s St Mary Secondary. From 1949-1952, he studied at Edinburgh University. In January 1962, he voluntarily resigned as Prime Minister being replaced by Rashid Kawawa, to devote more time to TANU and the people of Tanzania but was persuaded to return in December. His second voluntary resignation for Ali Hassan, - showed his preference for citizen welfare over personal power, as Nelson Mandela, Leopold Senghor and Ahidjo all mirrored. Curiously, it was the black Africans who proposed reserved seats for white and Asian Africans; -which were refused by them... in the efforts of racial tranquillity and confidence. Ever since it directed the youth into national service as a rival to the army, Tanzania has been stable.“Leaders must set a good example for the rest of the people in their lives and in all of their activities.”He defended in physical substance, those which most affirm only in principle valuing egalitarianism. Living within his means and $5000 presidential salary, he avoided financial enrichment, kith issues and remained actively pious attending morning Mass recurrently. He and his family, unlike Clinton, Thatcher, Blair or other contemporaries and his family, remained uncontroversial with sensationalist sleaze or slander an impossibility from their impeccable conduct. For the sake of African unity, he was prepared to delay independence in Tanzania. He even intervened heroically, to censure other African leaders betraying their people; i.e. - in Uganda to help the people, against Idi Amin –for it seemed Milton Obote was better. He intervened in the Comoros and Seychelles. He never let race come before other issues and was the first to criticise as well as to self criticise. “Blackness has become a certificate to slaughter with impunity,” –on Idi Amin. MP’s should come from rural constituencies rather than dynastic political aristocracies like most countries. His Ujaama village program was triggered by initial volunteers –Tanzania did not have the resources to force 11000000 against their will. It was based on the economic and social rationale of consolidating rural infrastructure –rather than trying to extend services to numerous, scattered rural communities. Communal self help projects and co-operatives are launched to involve the people in running shops to buses to schools –which should form the bases of communities. Ironically, his industry worker councils –bringing their participation into management as an incentive to get involved and be more productive; were opposed by the trade unions themselves as being too popularly based –losing union leader domination of its followers.“Agriculture –not industry, must be the basis of development. With diligence, help and leadership... but most of all integrity and a guiding vision, the spirit to partake of one’s destiny, attaining ujima. Through effort and will, the people have finished their own development projects in the villages... Had they waited for aid and money, they would not have had the use of such things...”“Africa will have to rely upon Africa! African Governments will have to formulate and carry out maximum, collective and national policies of self reliance. If they do; Africa will develop... –if they don’t, -Africa will be doomed!”Julius Nyerere, University of Edinburgh Speech 1997.Champion of autonomy –especially economic autonomy and autarchy –based on the pragmatic endowment of Zanzibar and Tanzania in agriculture. His consistent stand against the World Bank, IMF –or International Ministry of Finance as he termed it and other agents of global imperialism reflect his commitment to making an African economy viable –which cannot be done by outsiders whom neglect the rural background of the populace majority. The TANZAM railway linking Tanzania and Zambia to reduce reliance upon South Africa and Rhodesia, expressed this physically as did his policy of favouring agriculture and villages over industry and the capital Dar es Salaam.“Foreign aid can only be justified in an emergency, not to supplement –indeed form the basis of living standards. The intelligent farmer does not eat his seed corn and especially not all seed... Our “friends” can only assure us that their intentions are not ulterior, if they respect our determination to help ourselves and to try and build an economy based on the people not on the few, which involve them, which disavow political and social apathy, while basing itself on human equality and dignity...” “Over the last 10 years we have done quite well in spreading basic social services to more and more people in rural areas. More remains to be done –but only if we produce more wealth.”“If have to claim fat salaries merely because we are educated, and therefore needed in this country, as representatives for the people, we should then pause to ask ourselves: Where are we leading this nation? We must resist the second imperialistic scramble for Africa caused by a lust for positions, power, prestige and wealth for an easy life...”“Gifts which increase or act as a catalyst, to our own efforts are valuable. But gifts which could have the effect of weakening or distorting our own efforts should not be accepted until we have asked ourselves a number of questions.“It is stupid to rely on money as the major instrument of development when we know only too well; that our country is poor. It is equally stupid, indeed it is even more stupid; to imagine that we shall rid ourselves of our poverty through financial assistance –rather than our own resources... Firstly; we shall not get the money. There is no country in the world which is prepared to give us gifts or loans, or establish industries, to the extent that we would be able to achieve all our developmental targets... And even if all the prosperous nations were willing to help the needy, the assistance still would not suffice...”“Independence means self reliance! Independence cannot be real if a nation depends on gifts and loans from another for its development. How can we depend on foreign governments and companies for our development without giving to these governments and companies a great part of our freedom to act as we please? The truth is... we cannot!TANU LEADERSHIP CODE:I: Every TANU/ Government Leader must either be a peasant, intellectual or worker –but not a bureaucrat and should in no way be associated with conflicting obligations of capitalism...II: No TANU or government leader should hold shares in any company –including public corporations.III: No TANU or government leader should hold any private directorships or conflicting jobs.IV: No TANU or Government Leader should receive 2 or more salaries. V: No TANU or Government Leader should own houses which they rent to others.They had a year to comply –or face withdrawal from public office, for breaches of corruption disqualified one from Parliament under Nyerere as it failed to do with 650 British MP’s; along with lunacy, gross abdication of competence or responsibility and bankruptcy. Unlike Britain who never had one or the USA, who modified and revised theirs so often as to render it worthless –sacrificing it for political expediency: “terrorism!” he introduced a Bill of Rights in 1984. He launched “Education for Self-Reliance!” The success of these policies is statistically evident in the reduction of inequality from a ratio of 50:1 Gini coefficient difference between the highest and the lowest incomes to a 9:1 Gini coefficient ratio difference.“Many leaders of the independence struggle... are not against capitalism; they simply wanted its fruits for themselves without the effort and toil that cultivating these fruits involved... and saw independence as a means to its end. Indeed, many of the most active fighters in the independence movement were motivated- consciously or unconsciously –by the belief; that only with independence could they attain the basis of that individual wealth which their education or their experience in the modern sector had established as a worthwhile goal...” “The only way to defeat our poverty is to accept that it exists, to live as poor people and to spend every cent that we have –not for personal enrichment and surplus to our basic needs on things, which will make us richer, healthier and more educated in the future.”TANU also published its guidelines which sought to mobilise the people actively –advocating workers to report public sector officials and government corporation managers who were cheating ordinary workers and the state. They understood however, that active labour mobilisation removes discipline and responsibility from technocrats. Nyerere wanted state enterprises to be efficient and receptive to clients, being commercially viable and searching for new customers.“The truth is, we have not only inherited a colonial government structure but we have also adopted colonial working habits and leadership methods. For example, we have inherited in the government, industries and other institutions the habit in which one man gives the orders, and the others just obey him. If you do not involve the people constructively in work plans, the result is to make them feel that a government, national institution or industry, is not theirs; and consequently workers adopt the habits of apathetic and lethargic employees, unconcerned for success... The party has a duty to emphasize its leadership on this issue.Clause XIII“Together with the issue of involving the people, in solving their problems, there is also the question of the habits in their work and day to day life. There must be a deliberate effort to build equality between the leaders and those they lead. For a Tanzanian leader, it must be forbidden to be arrogant, extravagant, contemptuous and oppressive. The Tanzanian leader has to be a person who respects people, scorns ostentation and is not a tyrant...”Clause XV“The first enshrined and inalienable right from which all others derive: is that all human beings are equal!”“It is the responsibility of the government to serve its people; by giving equal opportunity to all men and women, and eradicate all types of exploitation...”TANU Constitution“The energies...wasted in gossip, drinking and dancing are a great treasure which could contribute more towards the development of our country, than anything we could get from rich nations...”The Arusha DeclarationIn modern Dar es Salaam, the local inhabitants have succeeded in legitimising urban agriculture as a land zone. The “Sungu Sungu” means of community policing is also effective in mobilising society rather than the police, to prevent crime. It also uses public familiarity and mob justice to enforce it. A justice tribunal against economic sabotage from inertia, apathy or negligence was set up. Entrance to university was based on more than academia which could be potentially inflated (as in Europe); and was meaningless without practical experience, physical or cultural capability and even more significantly: one’s character –the measure of virtue along with veracity, patriotism and public/ community service. One’s own action in reconstructing Tanzania became a priority of TANU who set up an enforcement committee in 1973 of their guidelines and Tanzania in the 1960’s and 1970’s became known for its honesty. In “Politics is Agriculture,” all political leaders had to learn the essential basics of husbandry and agrarian skills to clarify its urgency. The MV Umoja and the MV Liemba ferries travelled Lake Victoria for decades, through peace and chaos... despite being constructed in the 1920’s.“You have failed the party TANU and the people. There is widespread corruption; there is no sense of responsibility and there is general laxity all around. You should resign today.”April 1990Mwalimu’s heir, President Ali Hassan Mwinyi demanded the resignation of all 26 Cabinet ministers, reproaching them for graft and kleptomania as Nyerere had attempted to get his Cabinet to surrender their luxury vehicles –whilst removing the TANU Secretary General Oscar Kawubona in 1970; to show that even the highest ranks were not immune. He adhered to political pluralism maintain elections in 1985 and 1990. TANU’s commitment to democracy –despite being a nominally legal one party state shows the multiplicity of candidates per constituency. The authenticity of democracy and political liberty of Tanzanians is noticeable in the high turnover rate of MP’s -58% lost their seat in the second independent elections –of 1965, 61% in 1970 and 48% in 1975. In 1980, over 50% lost their positions. Compare that to Westminster –where MP’s can occupy their seats for ages complacently –e.g. the Conservative MP for Canterbury Kent, has occupied his seat for over 25 years. This aided the accountability demanded by Ali Hassan and Julius Nyerere. Ali Hassan’s Islamic faith did not detract him for tolerating others. The validity of religious law governing practitioners of each specific faith; was secured. President Benjamin Mkapa honoured the Tanzanian heritage. “Tanzanian education must encourage the growth of humanity –Ujaama and the common socialist values to which we all ought to aspire... It must encourage the development of a proud, independent and free citizenry which relies upon itself for development and which knows the advantages and problems of cooperation...”Julius NyerereThe statistics again pinpoint physical improvements in the lives of Tanzanians under TANU, with the expansion of infrastructure. From 42 rural health clinics in 1967, it increased to 152 rural clinics in 1976. Average life expectancy improved over the same period from 40 to 55 years. In 1973, free universal primary education was achieved –with 97% gaining access by 1981 and school children increasing from 500000 in 1967 to 1000000 by 1978. It was one of TANU’s declared goals that no child should walk more than five kilometres for an education. Literacy increased from 10% on the dawn of independence to 88%. From over 70% of teachers being foreign in independence of 1964, Tanzanians occupied over 95% of teaching posts in 1984. By 1978, 7.7 million Tanzanians had access to clean piped water. Over 4000 villages received access to rural health posts and dispensaries. In 1979, 64000 prisoners were amnestied. In 1980, 4436 were released. Tanzania achieved a budget surplus which coincided socially with the pensive Arusha Declaration –Ten Years After in 1977. Despite Western attempts to bankrupt Tanzania by copious and unjustifiable proficiency of aid –just as TANU and Mwalimu Nyerere forewarned, Tanzania was not the first country to default on World Bank loans –“How dare you insult us? If we had the money, we would certainly pay...” that went to the non African, South American example of Nicaragua. As ANC South Africa did with apartheid, Tanzania honoured its debts –though unwanted and unmerited, and in either case not caused by the government in concern.“The major purpose of this University is the development and transmission of skills and practical experience at the highest level. And the skills and expertise required on our Tanzanian graduates are those that are necessary for the transformation of our rural areas –a transformation which can only take place on a firm basis of agricultural production. Thus, the concern of the Sokoino University of Agriculture shall not be the attainment of degrees comparable to those of US colleges, with their theory insulated from practical purposes; it shall be devoted to the giving of the preparations for public service to agrarian areas and that which can assist our country not abroad...President Julius NyerereTANU and Nyerere –as indeed most of Africa; were not blind of the existence or the inherent nature of poverty or its existence and despite their flaws; at least attempted to improve the social development of their people. They sought female emancipation –the first wife had to formally register her consent before a male could take a second wife. Between 1965 -1980, despite collectivist policies and myriad works criticising the failure of the Tanzanian experiment economically; Tanzania gained 3.7% GNP rise and had a food surplus in the 1980’s. It achieved the TANZAM railway; the upgrading of Dar es Salaam port and the TANZAMA oil pipeline. In 1972, decentralisation with grass roots was conducted. In 1974, the capital was moved from Dar es Salaam to the more central and rural Dodoma –home of the Prime Minister and TANU Headquarters. In the 1975 Villages Act, the policy of collectivisation was to be only enacted voluntarily under Nyerere and Vice President Rashid Kaware. The Afro Shirazi Party of Zanzibar and TANU of Tanzania –which had formed a federal government since 1964, united into one broad party in 1978: the CCM.“The truth is that we need power to negotiate just as we need power to go on strike. So far we have been negotiating as noisy and importunate supplicants. We need to negotiate from a position of steadily increasing power.”President Nyerere Arusha February 1979.“I am tired of being told that Tanzania’s present condition arises out of our own mistaken policies, our own inefficiency and our own overambition. I am tired too of being told that Africa’s present condition is the result of African incompetency or our own general inferiority of capacity... Our mistakes in Tanzania and Africa’s mistakes generally made an impossible situation worse; they do not account for the situation itself...”“I understand the rationale for privatisation –but part of it still strikes me as thievery –out of the coffers of the state for the people and into the hands of private politicians/ plutocrats.”“The purpose of a trade union is to ensure a fair share of the profits of labour for its member workers... However, this share can only be considered fair in relation to the whole of society... Trade union leaders and their followers, as long as they are true socialists, will not need to be coerced by the government in keeping their demands within the limits imposed by the needs of society as a whole. Only if there are potential capitalists among them, will the socialist government have to step in and prevent them from putting their ideas into practise...Julius Nyerere.Nyerere considered many aspect which other countries and Africans did not, deserving immortality as one of our greatest post independent Africa intellectuals. How many others aspired at reform? How many others were their own aspirant censor? How many others were brutally honest about their realities, flaws and weaknesses, or pragmatic enough to act? In his last speech; his synopsis of the Arusha Declaration a decade after in 1977 and at various public occasions such as Edinburgh University in 1997, he admitted he had failed. Above, all else, the history of Tanzania, can be said to be the vision of Nyerere. One of his greatest achievements was to achieve unity between mainland Tanzania and the archipelagos of Pemba and Zanzibar. Everywhere, leaders within and intellectuals without, sought to emulate and learn from him. Undoubtedly, he changed Tanzania and formulated some of the most admirable tenets of an African approach to socialism as outlined in his two treatises on Ujaama and the African Renaissance. He is one of those, who by personal virtuous example and in his recognition of indigenous approaches, deserves the appendage of one of Africa’s greatest leaders and refutation against that we have no great leaders of our own to imitate... He remained popular in his country and in the world, having gracefully conceded power. The Masai continued to vote for him, even when his name no longer appeared on the ballot papers as he protected their nomadic rights and they valued retaining a true leader. Nyerere continued to mediate for peace –as in resolving the Burundi conflict.“Land is the basis of human life and Tanzanians should use it as a valuable investment for future development...”“It is essential that we should tighten up on industrial discipline. Slackness at work and failure to give a hard day’s effort in exchange for wages, is a form of exploitation; it is an exploitation of the other members of society. And slackness has undoubtedly increased since the Arusha Declaration was passed...” The Arusha Declaration, 10 Years After.Tanzania has long forbidden pastoral grazing in parks and identified the preservation of the natural terrain as being among the most worthy of achievements. It created 19 major and nine minor game reserves along with 50 controlled game and nature conservancies. Wherever possible eco tourism and local materials were favoured. It has long prioritised the improvement of living standards over economic indicators as what truly matters. Since 1995, President Benjamin Mkapa of the CCM continued this and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete from 2005.“Let all foreigners and Tanzanians, view Tanzania as an example, worthy of respect. Never again, shall Tanzania fail to be, a country of which every human citizen is proud, where none is ashamed to belong to, where none have to fear the three evils of disease, ignorance and poverty...”Julius Nyerere 1966.“Some things certainly went right in Tanzania –we kitted a nation together, gave it pride, and educated a large number of children and adults. But some ideas of the Arusha Declaration needed to await their proper time. People weren’t ready. But, you the younger generation of Africans have a chance to give those ideas new life... We’ve our faults, but you the World Bank and IMF have been governing parts of Africa for the last ten to fifteen years –not literally, but essentially; as national budgets have shrunk, African debt has grown and political options have narrowed. Whatever mistakes we have made, we have made them together. Now we must find the humility to work with each other and correct them, hand in hand...Julius Nyerere addressing the World Bank 1998...ASCENDING MOUNT KILIMANJARO –KENYA AND HARAMBEE!As early as the 9th century, East Africa –in particular: Kenya, was exporting mangrove poles as far as the Persian Gulf for ship building. Democracy –with no kings is as old in Kenya as the first Kikuyu. The first faction with the goal of Kenyan freedom was the Kenyan African Union (KAU) formed in 1944. By 1952, it had over 100000 members. In the Emergency of 1952/1953, the British massacred 14000 Africans in retaliation for a mere 32 European deaths and evicted 1000000 to concentration camps.June 1947, address by Jomo Kenyatta “Fellow countrymen, many people think now that this means Uhuru, now that we can see the sun of freedom shining, riches will pour down like manna from Heaven.... I tell you that there will be nothing like Heaven. We must all work hard with our hands to save ourselves from poverty, ignorance, disease and chaos.... In the past we used to blame the European for everything that went wrong... Now the Government is ours! We must work together to exalt our country, to get education for our children, to have doctors, to build roads, to improve our lives with the day to day essentials. This should be our work in the spirit. I am going to echo, to shout aloud, to shatter the foundations of the world and our past with the strength of our new purpose... Harambee!” The Father of Kenya –literally nominating it, chose tourism and the West, in contrast to the humane socialism policy of his neighbour, the visionary Nyerere. He presented reconciliation to the white settler farmers, who in turn helped enact land redistribution in Kenya via the Million Acre Scheme which converted the White Highlands –without coercion of the Zanu PF thugs and opportunists claiming that they were war veterans in Rhodesia. Kenyatta avoided external forces influencing him –whether communist or Western –or Chinese; interested only in making Kenya profitable for all citizens. A further 100000 acres were added between 1971 -1976. By 1977, only 5% of the Former White Highlands was still owned by whites. He achieved Africanisation of the settler dominated military, courts, economy, politics and society, without controversy. Peasants gained from land and support. He was used as a scapegoat for the Mau Mau Rebellion, despite having always worked constitutionally for freedom by peace. His openness to pragmaticism over ideology has enabled Kenyan success. His persuasion encouraged the opposition KADU Party under Ronald Ngale, to voluntarily united Kenya in a one party state and the appointment of a settler Speaker of Parliament. Incidentally, the 1966 Constitutional Amendment Act made floor crossing ratified not by personal self interest but by the people; as every one had to be popularly re-elected if they transferred parties, automatically facing compulsory Parliamentary resignation from a constituency different from the will of the electorate.“We do not want to oust the Europeans from the country. But what we demand is to be treated like the white races. If we are to live here in peace and harmony, racial discrimination must be abolished.”Jomo KenyattaHis own wife –Edna Grace Clarke –was English. A number of leaders from the Egyptian Pharaohs to Nelson Mandela who married Graca Machel have taken wives from different countries. Jomo Kenyatta was born in 1892, under a different name. After herding sheep, at the age of ten, he fled from poverty to be educated at a Church of Scotland mission. In 1921 he became a water meter reader and a court interpreter. During the 1920’s he was recruited as propaganda secretary for the East Africa Association, working for constitutional social, academic, political and economic equality and equal land opportunity and a basic minimum living wage. In 1928, he formed the Kikuyu Central Association, whose aim was to restore the Highlands –reserved by Britain for white soldier veteran pensions, to Africans. A year later, he led a London delegation to appeal to the colonial secretary of state, but they refused to consider Africans as worthy of listening to. He always believed in a constitutional struggle for independence but was unafraid to be a martyr to the cause, stoically accepting his 7 years sentence of exile to North Kenya and British colonial injustice, when convicted as an alleged instigator of the 1952 Mau Mau resistance campaign. When it expired in 1959, the British continued their own illegality by exiling him –to Lodwar. “Continue to farm your land well and you will receive all the encouragement and protection of the government. The only thing we won’t tolerate is wasted land!”“We want you to stay and farm in this country. We must also learn to forgive one another... There is no society of angels; black, brown or white... we are human beings and as such, are bound to make mistakes. If I have done a mistake to you it is for you to forgive me, if you have done a mistake to me, it is for me to forgive you; the African cannot say the Europeans have done all the wrong and the Europeans cannot say that the Africans have done all of the wrong. We are all human beings and as such are likely to do wrong. The good thing is to be able to forget and to forgive one another. You have something to forget just as I have...”12 August 1963, Nakuru Town Hall to the farmers...He was the first to advance Kikuyu scholarship in anthropology –with: “Facing Mount Kenya.” In addition to racial reconciliation which predated efforts by Mugabe and Nelson Mandela; Jomo Kenyatta sought to persuasively extend the diplomatic virtue of moderation in foreign affairs. An example of which included peaceful negotiations to release white hostages in Kisangani (Stanleyville) in the Congo war, as chair of an OAU tribunal of arbitration; was destabilized by Western military intervention. Kenyan democracy was preserved –in the independent opposition party Kenya People’s Union under Odinga (1966-1969). Multiple candidates -620 for 158 seats contested the 1969 elections in which 5 ministers and a total of 98 MP’s lost their seats. In the 1974 elections, 88 lost their seats –proof of their robustness. Economically, he was a founder of the East African Community with Apollo Milton Obote of Uganda and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania (see Portals of the East chapter). Kenyatta chose public infrastructure over the military –devoting only 6% of the budget to the armed forces.“Our activities have been against the injustices that have been suffered by the African people and if in trying to establish these rights of all African people, we have turned out to be; what you say: Mau Mau, we are very sorry that you have been mislead in that direction... What we have done and what we will continue to do is to demand the rights of African people as human beings, so that they may enjoy the same fundamental birthrights, responsibilities and privileges as the white British and Africans...Jomo Kenyatta, 1952 Treason Trial. The Mau Mau with their patriotic chants and oaths; aspired to liberate Kenya from the British. Such was their formidable prowess, that the British resorted to desperate tactics –similar to the concentration camps; they invented to inflict damage against the resilient Boer women and children. “I believe that if this country of ours is to prosper, we must create a sense of togetherness and of national family-hood. In Swahili –we translate this, as Ujaama... We must bring all the communities of Kenya together, to build a unified nation. In this task –we shall make use of those attitudes of self help, good neighbourliness and communal assistance, which are such important features of our traditional societies... Where there is racial hatred, it must be ended! Where there is tribal animosity, -it must be finished! Let us not dwell on the bitterness of the past. I would rather look to the future –to the good, new Kenya, not to the bad, old days. If we can create this sense of national identity and direction, we shall have gone a long way in solving our economic problems...”Jomo KenyattaPresident Daniel arap Moi ensured a stable political transition from Jomo Kenyatta in 1978. Continuing the favourable economic and social expansionary policies of the first independent Kenyan head of state; he started his regime liberally; showing his willingness to allow dissent –within the different KANU factions but uniting them for the sake of Kenya’s progress. He also demonstrated this indulgence to critics by releasing the prominent author Nguigi Wa Thiong’o from jail, along with pardoning political prisoners in 1978, to celebrate 15 years of world acclaimed Kenyan independence. He –along with Tanzania and Burkina Faso under Sankara, aspired for university students to engage in constructive criticism and open dialogue with the government. He sought to check ethnic based hostilities by banning ethnic associations by 1980. He appointed a revival of Kenyan culture with a Presidential National Music Commission; introduced the study of traditional music at schools and universities. In 1988, an International Music Academy was formed. Judicial independence was constitutionally honoured under Kenyatta and Moi –as later as 1987 –from independence 24 years earlier while the press remained free to operate. Despite censure by Nguigi and Mepha Mwangi –the two prominent leaders of the intelligentsia –neither’s books were nor have ever been censured. In 1991, Moi legitimised multiple parties once more in Kenya and ended censorship –without external pressure.President Moi Kabuki of the National Rainbow Alliance since 2002’s peaceful democratic election winning 74% against attempts by KANU to impose Uhuru Kenyatta –the less proficient son of Jomo Kenyatta, has continued Kenyan international acceptance, its comparatively free press, its mixed economy, its enlightened tourism and nature conservation based approach and its cultural/ political stability. In the 1990’s, Kenya became the second largest tea exporter in the world –from 18000000 tons in 1966 to 75000000 tons by 1978 and has been virtually self sufficient in food, despite population growth for the last four decades.The Kenyan agrarian economy shows how local Africans, in the days of colonialism were so agriculturally successful, that they ended up subsidising the loss making White Highlands. Despite the advantages of capital in a Land Bank set up in, access to millions of acres of the most fertile land, production subsidies.... the landowners settled in by Britain, could not make their land productive and were supported only by the persistent toil of myriad peasants and farmers. African informal traders, hawkers and vendors were introduced in the 1970’s into rural areas. The Treetops Hotel remains world famous and distinctive in conception; in addition to forming the base where Princess Windsor became Her Britannic Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of 12 countries that fateful dawn of 1952.The definitive Sessional Paper 10 showed Kenya’s approach to African socialism via a mixed economy. Harambee –self help organisations aided economic development along with supplying water; schools and clinics. Civil servants were allowed to form their own businesses provided they did not conflict with their state duties –stimulating economic growth of 6% in 1960’s and 6.5% in the 1970’s. Meritocratic technocrats were appointed to ministries and to corporations such as GEMA holdings, which were expected to be profitable and self-financing. By 1977, over 60% of manufacturing equity required in Kenya –came not from foreigners but from civic and economically patriotic Kenyans. Economic growth provided the basis for the germination of social infrastructure; an example of which includes the expansion of 85% of Kenyans with non fee paying primary education, 2 new universities formed soon after independence and the expansion of secondary education from 31000 in 1963 to 641000 by 1978. Educational bursaries were provided, so all deserving could participate. “In African socialism every member of society is important and equal. The State has an obligation to ensure equal opportunities to all its citizens, eliminate exploitation and discrimination, and provide needed social services such as education, medical care and social security...”KANU Sessional Paper X. 1965.The Kenyan approach to society was expressed in Harambee –, self-emancipation and self improvement rather than relying on the humiliation and condescension that foreign aid donors broadcast. Its basis was outlined in the above cited KANU Party Sessional Paper X which imagined an African approach to socialism. Life expectancy increased from 44 years on average to 55 years.A: It permitted property rights –realising the necessity to Africans, B: It repelled colonialism isolation and apartheid measures. C: It endorsed mutual social and political responsibility in forming a country! It required utilising the land for the people and resolving the agrarian question peacefully: as agriculture; education and health are the three central priorities for most African people –and thus: ought to be: for its leaders!D: It dreamed of the freedom from want, disease and exploitation by outsidersE: Progressive taxation to lessen the plutocratic divide between the rich and the poor as problematic in most societies. At least –another feature of the African RenaissanceF: It would consider a political democracy form where multiple candidates would be invited to demonstrate the truth of their electoral pledges and devotion to the people; by funding public works and philanthropic ventures, for their candidacy. This –and not self enrichment, would not only minimise graft but help the people. Poorer candidates lacking wealth –could sacrifice an even more important concept: that of the scarcest resource of all: time! Africa has always been blessed with the willingness to offer that: to others who need it... Compare that with the alternative policy in most world electoral assemblies –whose delegates only solicit and canvass votes at elections. They then ignore you and deny time or resources –instead only allocating energy to remaining in power, maximising prestige and personal expenses... And they claim; their model is better than the more open African democratic tradition –of congregating under a tree, in a village; expressing themselves directly and then formulating policy –as practised rarely outside Africa: in the Canton model of Switzerland and within Africa: in the Botswanan kgotlas, the communes of the Tuareg and the Masai, the gatherings of the San and the convocations of the students representative councils/ various party women and youth leagues from the ANC to FRELIMO and the PAIGCV and KANU. Ours is more emblematic of true democracy and a Renaissance...“We do not want a Kenya of ten millionaires and ten million beggars...”“A stable social order cannot be built on the poverty of millions. Frustrations born of poverty breed turmoil and violence...”J.M KariukiJ.M Kariuki became the tribune of the plebeians for the poor and those whom had believed in the tenets and values of the Mau Mau Rebellion. Until his assassination by the Kenyan political elite in March 1975, he brought up issues that the leadership isolated from the people, often forgot. Kenya’s land question was resolved peacefully from the settlers and President Kenyatta appointed the South African white farmer Bruce Roy McKenzie as Agricultural Minister to supervise it –later becoming his Foreign Affairs Advisor. The Agricultural Finance Corporation was formed to provide agrarian microcredit, supply vetinary services, and provide expert and impartial, uncommercially biased technical advice. It provided land transfer and soil conservation assistance Medical fees were abolished for outpatients and children received compulsory hospital insurance. The Kenyan government from independence realised it was better to invest in social and educational infrastructure –on things which directly improved the lives of people –and continuously functioned rather than grandiose nationalistic commercial enterprises and ornate projects, continuously dependent on things imported from abroad and white elephants to most Africans. Local communities were given control and self constructed hundreds of schools, given the chance to choose teachers, become self building, financing and governed by students, parents and faculty; devolved from the Ministry of Education and decentralised in curriculum. Village polytechnics were set up under Harambee to number 200, with skills in needlework, basketry, carpentry, motor and bicycle repair and maintenance, amongst other things. Compare that to the obsessive control from Japan to the United Arab Emirates to the UK. To alleviate the shortage of teachers, the University of Nairobi in partnership with the state, set up a Teacher’s Training Institute, which provided free training/ education; in order to encourage the devoted poor, to apply... Between 1964 and 1979, university students increased fourteenfold. Politically, there were efforts aimed at unity. These included persuading Asians to accept citizenship within three years of independence to fit in or be persuaded to return to a country to which their loyalties lay. They achieved inclusion of the Arab community of Mombasa and elsewhere. The Masai were granted the preservation and legally secured tenure of land. In 2760 AUC/ 2007 AD an independent Media Council was established to affirm the veracity of Kenyan commitment to dissenting media autonomy In 2763, Kenya became one of the few countries to successfully gain a new constitution peacefully and uncontroversially.“Our people who, died in the forests, died with a handful of soil in their right hands, believing that they had fallen in a noble struggle to regain our land... but we are being carried away by selfishness and greed. The end result; would be violence... Unless something is done, the land question will be resolved by bloodshed...”The venerable academic Gyot illuminated a different perspective of conceptualising history: -particularly in Africa; oral sources! He proposed relying on oral tradition as a means of discovering local African folklore, history and tradition. In 1981, the Ministry of Higher Education introduced oral literature; at his prompting as an important part of the syllabus. The Institute of African Studies was set up to continue this sense of history. Born in Leanda in the Siaya District on 3rd August 1929, he attended Makerere University College before gaining a Doctorate in Philosophy after further studies at St Andrews (1955 -1959) and London School of African and Oriental Studies. He then taught Mathematics and Alliance High School before being appointed a Lecturer in History in Makerere. In 1964, he became Senior Lecturer in History at Nairobi University College before being Rader, then Professor by 1969 along with Nairobi’s Director of the Institute of African Affairs. During this period he also served as Secretary General of the East African Institute of Social and Cultural Affairs and later Secretary General of the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. Between 1967 -1974, he served on UNESCO’s National Committee and the East African Examination Board. Between 1974 -1977, he served on the East African Legislative Council and then became Director of the Louis Leakley International Memorial Institute and Director of the Pan African History Association. “Let us now look about us. Where are our national languages, our national history... our natural voices now? Where are the books written in the alphabets of our national languages? Where is our own literature now? Where is the wisdom and knowledge of our African mothers and fathers –of all races now? The centres of wisdom which used to guard the entrance to our national homestead have been demolished; the fires of wisdom have been allowed to die; the seats around the hearth –have been thrown onto a rubbish heap; the guard posts have been destroyed and the youth of the nation has hung up its shields and spears. It is a tragedy.... that there is nowhere we can go to learn the history of our country and our own identity; it is the greatest of tragedies –that we cannot do this for our own continent... within our own continent...”Nguigi Wa’ Thiong’o –Devil on the Cross...Never let it be said after this tome: -the fallacious and erroneous epiphany of slander: that Africa has no history! The author Nguigi Wa Thiong’o –is another one of those indigenous intelligentsia who are commits to their traditions and nation –so much; that he has forsworn communication in English –choosing his local tongue to write in after pondering the insightful question: “For whom do I write?” He and Okot p’ Bitersk, played a prominent role in endorsing the addition of oral culture onto school syllabuses.“The trade union movement must have a right to proclaim on political matters and even to take appropriate action to assist during the struggle for political independence.... –and then for economic... If the movement must be free and independent of government, then that movement must be capable of formulating its own policies and solutions on those problems affecting workers; either as employees or as a class that lives and occupies a certain position in the society and community in which it exists...”Tom Mboya addressing the Kenyan Federation of LabourTom Mboya was among the first to champion the role of trade unions in constructing not obstructing their nations –something which would filter down to the ANC’s alliance with COSATU in South Africa. As he discovered, when he became secretary general of the Kenyan Federation of Labour in 1953.Trade unions have a political role to play if they put the welfare and economy of all, instead of reckless strikes imperilling all and fermenting dissidence. They have the role of protecting the worker but must work with government and business in a corporate model or Chamber of Supplication and Labour Arbitration; otherwise they are parochial and obsolescent if only concerned with the interests of their members and not the lives and welfare of all Africans... “You, the World Press; must understand that Africa today is something new. Our policies and approaches –our determinations and our failings –are not governed by those considerations or emotional reactions; that are familiar throughout so many countries of the world... Our daily lives are not so obsessed with globalisation, of East versus West, of capitalism versus socialism, of Islam versus atheism. At a time when the world is old, and the thoughts of the great developed nations have broken through the bounds of space, which could well lead to universal destruction; we in Africa are creating something new... We are building a society which is pledged not to distort the cherished values of African dignity and freedom; which is committed to justice, effort and effective independence... The Press needs to recognise that it has a duty in our society beyond the obvious. It must respond to the challenge before us constructively. It must recruit and train local people rapidly and it must identify itself with African aspirations, understand and share our anxieties, to join us in the task of nation building...”Africa Bureau Anniversary Address London 1963...The objective of Tom Mboya’s legacy after his tragic assassination in 1969, lies in industrial harmony, a tripartite alliance of labour, employers and the state to work for economic and human progress. In addition, we must not regard slogans as policies and learnt the values of activating the people through community halls, commercial radio and mobile cinemas. Agricultural land must be directed towards its citizens first –of whatever race. Born 15th August 1930, he became a City Council Sanitary Inspector for Nairobi in 1951, before being appointed General Secretary of the Local Government Union a year later. He gained 33% wage increase when he led a strike of 4000 workers in Mombasa port strikes. In April 1962, he became Minister for Labour in the first KANU/ KADU coalition government. As Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs; he initiated internal self government and then independence with Kenyatta.“It is the Government’s policy that industries should be self –governing in industrial relations: In this document, all sides acknowledge that they recognise consultation and co-operation on a basis of mutual understanding; is an essential contribution to efficiency and productivity and that progress can only be made on the formation of good conditions of service... While the primary purpose of the trade union movement is to strive to improve the wages and living conditions of workers; if it is to develop freely on the basis of liberty and democracy; political freedom must first be acquired in each territory. The desire to improve industrial relations must be intimately associated with the desire for national independence... The Tripartite Agreement reached aims to:A: The Government and public sector will increase their establishment by 15 %!B: All private employers would increase their labour force by 10 %.C: There would be no redundancy declared for twelve months!D: There would be no new wage claims made by unions for twelve months!E: No strikes, lockouts or industrial violence would take place for twelve months!F: If necessary, government would legislate to enforce this agreement and to censure violators.The Role of Trade Unions in Development, Railway African Union Conference 1965Both Jomo Kenyatta and Tom Mboya eschewed non African socialism –or the alien (non African) form of Marxism –preferring a pragmatic approach. They believed in African solutions –to African problems –ones which reflected their history, their culture, their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations, their willpower, their desires and customs!“It is our concern –as elected emissaries of the Kenyan people, as servers of the Kenyan nation: to define a system: that will meet our needs, solve our problems and further our ambitions... Each country –especially in Africa, has its own history, its own culture, inheritance of economic institutions and resources, and its own distinctive problems. To impose on a people –a rigid system: (Marxism) that takes no account of their needs, desires, aspirations and customs, is to court disaster and failure...”Tom Mboya“There is no place for those who wait for things to be given for nothing! There is no place for leaders who merely hope to build a nation on slogans! For over forty years, I fought and sacrificed my life so that this country could be get rid of the yoke of colonialism and imperialism; -so that Kenya could join the independent assembly of sovereign nations; -to be an illuminator of the African Renaissance... Many sons and daughters have suffered blood so that the youth of today might be free... You can therefore understand my personal feelings about the future. How could I tolerate anything which might jeopardise the promise to our children? I will not allow these youth –to betray the sacrifice of their forbears by their inertia and dispassionate state; in a refusal to make Kenya great and to reach its potential destiny –their adult progenitors; likewise! Let me declare once more, that as Head of Your Government, I shall combat with all my strength, anything that might be tempted to undermine our independence. This pledge holds true –whether such forces operate within Kenya –or without...” Jomo Kenyatta Slum Dwellers International aimed at slum clearance in places such as Nairobi and comprises many slum residents. Kenyan students set up Students in Free Enterprise, to train communities and those in the shadow economy –artisans, market women traders and entrepreneurs; life and business skills, via self –help projects. Francis Thuo set up the Nairobi Stock Exchange –the first brokerage house in East Africa with independence in 1964 with 4 others as proof Africa is economically sophisticated enough to do so. Professor Wangari Maathi became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, for her community poverty reduction campaign through sustainable development.“We cannot go on blaming the colonialists eternally for all our problems... Yes, it is they who set up the system but it is we who have been unable to change it...”University of Nairobi Professor of Economics Joseph Maitha 1979So, what does the example of Kenya do to serve the cause of the African Renaissance historically? Apart from showing that Africans –of all aces, if sufficiently patriotic and strong willed, can solve our own problems: those of the agrarian redistribution; conserving the environment via tourism and harmonious racial relations are possible. It shows that it is possible to achieve welfare projects (not through aid) but through voluntary community involvement –via “Harambee!” Tom Mboya even came up with a way of responding to trade unions and securing their energy for rebuilding the state rather than disorderly striking. Kenya’s work in anthropology with Drs Leaky and in oral cultural preservation; via Professor Gyot, show that it can hold its own in scholarship, whereas the Mau Mau Rebellion proves that it can withhold its own way.CENTRAL AFRICA: -The Fragmented Legacy: (The Kingdom of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Central African Republic)The Kingdom of the Congo founded by Ntimu Wene comprised the 6 provinces of Soyo, Mpemba, Mbeamba, Mpangayo, Africa Mbatho and Ubundi. By 1540, its king was elected by an electoral college; it had royal fisheries and a shell currency mint of Luanda Island, a permanent bodyguard, trade in beads, raffia work and an efficient tax collecting system. At Nsundi were copper works, Mpangayo and Mbatho produced cloth. Curiously; throughout Africa; the debased, depreciated specie and coinage of the Old World was not accepted and valuable as tender within the continent of Africa. An Egyptian Osiris statuette dating to the 20th Dynasty has been found in the Kongo. The sovereign Nzingu Kuwu (or Joao I), ascended the throne in 1487 and initiated diplomatic relations with the Portuguese, importing technicians and permitting freedom of worship for missionaries. The Portuguese appointed Simon da Silva as ambassador; whose job was to expel tempestuous or haughty Portuguese. They were so persuasive that the kings converted yet the Portuguese were so fearful of advancing the Congo, that they blockaded embassies to the Vatican in 1532 and 1539. Various kings of the Kongo were smiths –and inducted into their guild. The kings did not own the land –all tribute was remitted to the federal treasury. Their powers were limited to ceremonial; diplomatic receptions and appointment of officials by “consent” of the council –which also controlled war and all cardinal decisions –the Ne Mboma –with four male and four female advisors. A principal secretary of justice; a martial commander; a secretary of state and a palace major domo for royal affairs, were the most senior officials. Governors were subject to a fixed term of three years to prevent corruption. The kingdom had a system of messengers and of roads –not so well known in the Old World.King Alfonso I established trade with Portugal and its overseas tributary of Sao Tome and Luanda, Angola from 1502 using cloth as a currency. Both he and his heirs would send their sons and leading members of the nobility for European education abroad as well as sponsor schools and literacy. He was so disconcerted with Portuguese abusing his subjects as slaves that he created a board of Inspectors in 1526 of 2 Congo and 1 Portuguese, who had to be notified and approve any purchase of slaves as being treated humanely. If a citizen or any person was enslaved by kidnapping against their will or consent of the board –they were immediately set free. They would continue to try and establish relations with the Papal States, Spain and Portugal but as noted above; the Portuguese jealously blocked them –even the attempts at founding an armada were submerged by the obstreperous colonials. Garcia II (1641 -1661) used this literacy and record keeping to good measure to defend his kingdom’s claims (as ratified in the 1648 Kongo –Luanda Peace Treaty), and to assert appointment over his own ecclesiastical officials –proving his own claims through copies of correspondence and negotiations, which countered Portuguese claims to steal the capital of Sao Salvador. Both used the Jesuits to bypass Portuguese ostracism attempts, to pass on messages. Both Alva I and II would turn down the Portuguese in favour of the Vatican which aided them to survive internationally. The Pope forced the king of Spain to not invade in 1644. Alva II even made a mutual ally of his traditional enemy with Ndongo in 1590 –against the Portuguese. Dona Beatrice Kimpe Wa sought to regenerate both piety and the liberty of the Kingdom of the Congo by launching a crusade influenced by the Galilean St Antony. She based her spiritual beliefs on identifying Congolese origins of the Galilean Mary, Christ and St Francis. At one point it was so successful that her followers even captured the old Congo capital Sao Salvador. Eventually she and her followers were betrayed to the Portuguese and she was convicted; as another African martyr defying colonialism 2nd July 1706.“This measure has been designed to favour the university students and other diploma holders... as a reward for the services that they have rendered for colonialists... Even in our Abako; we have no knowledge of even a single university student who agreed to serve as secretary for the movement. They belittle our work and consider us as primitive... We have done everything ourselves and must not be forgotten... We have won our independence with our little bit of French, we will govern this country with that same little bit of French for ten or fifteen years, until really trained. We have learned by experience, which the university students are incapable of doing. Consequently, we intend to occupy all the positions and we will make good use of our experience...”Bakongo administration clerks in Abako Weekly, April 1960.The students of the Congo contested experience versus education –requiring of examinations for promotion:“It has often been said that the Congo lacks trained personnel. Yet we see nonetheless that Congolese university graduates are kept away from political responsibilities. If one or the other has been given some responsibility, it was in most cases, a politician from his tribe, in function of a short sighted policy. It has often been said that university graduates are theoreticians and have no experience. One thing, however, is clear in the matter of experience, at least concerning the modern world; no Congolese has very much politically, in administration or military. The experience of the present majority of leaders has been limited to have been clerks, teachers or soldiers. We don’t know any Congolese, who has had a long experience in the art of commanding, of conceiving or of supervising a task of great scope. International opinion is sometimes stupefied to see that in our poor country more than one simple soul tries to play the part of leader and leadership and refuse the collaboration of the intellectual elite of the nation...”Students’ reply“Children are not like mushrooms which grow at random. Education in the home is the most valuable and lasting which any human can have. The school can do no more than to supplant it.”Patrice LumumbaPatrice Lumumba desired the Pax Africana –to restore the dignatas and grant a future to his fellow Congolese and to those still constrained by colonial imperialism in Africa. He believed in the independence of Africa and her individuals. But as with Ian Smith, Haille Selassie and their people, he was betrayed by the Northern Hemisphere and its globalisation headquarters. First it was the complicity of the League in Ethiopia that instigated World War 2 by encouraging Mussolini, Hitler and Japan. Then the United Nations explicitly sanctioned the rise of the autocrat Mobutu, the Katanga secession, the usurpation of the army and Belgium and most heinous of all: the murder of Patrice Lumumba –the one who could have averted 50 years of Congo war... 5 days after the speech, the Belgian officered Congo Army mutinied over the fact that no Congolese officers commanded them still after independence. On 14 July, Lumumba broke off diplomatic relations with Belgium –with the spine to oppose neo –colonialism via action. On 5 September, he and President Kasavubu dismissed each other –yet the democratically elected Parliament and the people backed Lumumba. On the 14th of September, the US and Belgian financed chief of general staff Joseph Mobutu revolted and instigated 5 decades of further conflict. To quote from Patrice Lumumba on Independence Day 30 June 1960 after the most condescending panegyric and colonial justification eulogising litany by the patronising King Badoiun denigrating Congolese and the Congo and the non response by President Kasavubu, this ardent Congolese pan Africanist who had been denied a voice that day, nevertheless audaciously stood up in response and declared resolutely:“For, while the independence of the Congo has been proclaimed in agreement with Belgium, no Congolese ever worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that independence has only been won through a struggle, a struggle that went on day after day, a struggle of fire and idealism, a struggle in which we have spared neither effort, deprivation, suffering or even our blood...The struggle involving tears, fire and blood, is something of which we are proud deep within our hearts, for it was a just and noble struggle, which was needed to bring an end to the humiliating slavery imposed on us by force...”We have known sarcasm and insult; endured blows morning, noon and night, because we were “niggers...” We have seen our lands despoiled under the terms of what supposedly was the law of the land but which only recognised the right of the strongest. We have seen that the law was quite different for a white than for a black... accommodating for the former, cruel and inhuman for the latter... We have seen the terrible suffering of those banished to remote areas because of their political opinions or religious beliefs; exiled within their own country; their fate truly worse than death itself... And finally, who can forget the volley of gunfire in which so many of our brothers and sisters perished and the cells where the authorities threw those who would not submit to a rule where justice meant oppression and exploitation...“This was our fate for 80 years of a colonial regime; our wounds are still fresh and too painful to drive them from our consciousness... We have known harassing work extracted for nominal salaries which would not permit us enough to drive away hunger or to raise our children as dear to us. We have known ironies, blows and insults that we have endured including the pillaging of our homeland; morning, noon and night because we are the downtrodden and we are the black Africans who were silenced! Who will forget that to a black: one exclaimed “tu,” certainly not as a friend but because “vous” was reserved for whites alone...”“All that, my brothers and sisters have suffered! But we, whom the vote of your elected representatives have given the right to direct our dear country, who have been tormented in our lives and in our heart from colonial exploitation; we tell you very loud –that all is henceforth ended. The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed and our country is now in the hands of her own children...” We are going to put an end to external dominance of our affairs and the castration of free thought and see to it that all of our citizens, enjoy to the full, the fundamental liberties and responsibilities foreshadowed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man... We are going to rule –not by the power of guns and bayonets –but by a peace of the heart and will...”We will accept collaboration and cooperation with foreign nations if it is offered freely, and with no attempt to impose upon us an alien culture of no matter what nature... The new Congo that my government will create shall be a free, prosperous and affluent country. But so that we will reach this without delay, I ask you, legislators and citizens to help me with all of your strength... I ask all of you to forget your tribal struggles. They exhaust us. They risk making us despised abroad. I ask the parliamentary minority to help my Government through a constructive opposition and to limit themselves strictly to democratic and legal channels. I ask all of you not to shrink before any sacrifice in order to ensure the success of our huge undertaking. In conclusion I ask all of you unconditionally to respect the lives and property of your fellow citizens and of foreigners living in our country. If the conduct of these foreigners leaves something to be desired, our justice will be prompt in expelling them swiftly from the territory of the Republic; if on the contrary, their conduct is good, they must be left in peace, for they are also working for our country’s prosperity. The Congo’s independence marks a decisive step towards the liberation of the entire African continent! Our government: strong, healthy, national, popular... will be the health of our country. I call upon all Congolese citizens; men, women and children to set themselves resolutely to building a nation and a national economy; which will assure and preserve our full autonomy and independence... Glory to the fighters for national liberation! Long live independence and the African unity! Long live the sovereign and independent Congolese state!Lumumba alone inaugurated defiance against Belgian intervention and was capable of uniting the fragmented legacy of King Leopold’s personal dominion. In 1956, he was enticed to Belgium was claims of further Congo autonomy. On his return, he was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison. In 1958, he founded the Movement National Congolese which spearheaded the unity of all Congolese as opposed to the Belgian sponsored Katanga enclave secession of Tshombe. The first elections –for thirty five years ensured that Lumumba’s MNC won 41 seats –at least one in every region, CONATAT won 8, Abako won 12, the PSA won 13.““My dear companion, I write these words to you; without knowing if they will reach you, when they will reach you, or if I will still be living when you read them... All through the struggle for the independence of my country, I have never doubted for a single instant, the final triumph of the sacred cause to which my companions and I, have devoted our lives. But what we wished for our country; its right to a honourable life, to unstained dignatas, to independence without restrictions, was never desired by the Belgian imperialists and their Western allies who found direct and indirect support, both deliberate and unintentional among certain high officials of the United Nations, that organisation in which we placed our trust when we called on its assistance...-have not wished it! They have corrupted certain of our fellow countrymen; they have contributed to distorting the truth and besmirching our independence. What else might I say? That dead, living, free or in prison on the order of the colonialists, it is not I that counts... It is the Congo; it is our people for whom independence has been transformed into a cage where we are regarded and scrutinised by outsiders but unable to form our own destinies...But my faith will remain unbreakable! I know and I feel that sooner or later, my people as Africans –without outsiders, will get rid of all their interior and exterior enemies; that they will rise up and say no to a degrading and humiliating form of new colonialism and to reassure their dignity; under a pure African sun... To my children whom I leave and whom perhaps, I will see no more; I wish that they be told that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that it expects from them as it expects from each Congolese, to accomplish the sacred task of our independence and our sovereignty ; for without dignity, there is no liberty; without justice, there is no dignity and without independence, there are no free humans...No brutality; mistreatment or torture has ever compelled me to recant or forced me to ask for grace. For I prefer to die, with my head held high; my faith steadfast and my confidence profound in the destiny of my country and my continent; rather than to live in submission and scorn of sacred principles... History will one day, have its say, but it will not be the history, that is taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or in the United Nations, but the history which will be taught in the countries freed from imperialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and to the north and south of the Sahara, it will be a glorious and dignified history... Do not weep for me my dear companion. I know that my country, which has suffered and suffers so much, will know how to defend its liberty and independence –if given the chance... Long live the Congo! Long Live Africa!Patrice Lumumba... his final letter, appeal and correspondence to his wife and his fellow Congolese.President Kasavubu, the first in the Congo was gifted enough to let others entwine themselves in the pandemonium. An astute and shrewd survivor, even Mobutu was forced to heed him. His aim was federalism which would preserve his Bakongo tribal autonomy. He also dismissed the usage of white mercenaries and denounced Belgian and US interference. Democracy in the Congo was destined from the very nature of the first coalition –resulting in Kasavubu and Lumumba as leaders of the 2 largest factions and preserved until 1965. Joseph Mobutu achieved impressive initial Congo economic growth –at one stage in 1974, average minimum wages were 20700 CFA’s in contrast to 10000 CFA’s in Singapore and 5000 in Taiwan. His authenticity campaign aimed at revitalising Congolese culture –via compulsory adopting of Congolese names, haircuts and fashion/ clothing –along with ensuring Congolese substitution in all key economic assets as well as social and political integration as the majority of Africa’s leaders commendably sought to do. He was magnanimous to his enemies –including Karl Nguza I Bond: who was imprisoned in 1977 and two years later, was appointed prime minister. He even allowed 2000 candidates to contest 270 legislative council seats and 167 candidates for 18 political bureau elective seats, both by secret ballot in the democratic elections of 1977.“The day the Congo has its own technicians and intelligentsia in all fields; its own doctors; agronomists, engineers, entrepreneurs, foremen, skilled workers... geologists, administrators, social workers, nurses and midwives... Only then, must we speak of true independence and self government, for we shall be intellectually, technically and materially strong enough to rule ourselves and to stand up to neo colonialism...”Patrice Lumumba 1956... Joseph Mobutu then had the unenviable task of conserving the gossamer threads of statehood aided by a policy of devolving greater power to traditional chiefs and sovereignty in this fragmented legacy for over 3 decades until overthrown by Professor Laurent Kabila – (one of the persistent leaders of the opposition calling for multi-partyism and defying Mobutu), who became a democratic president in 1997. He was aided by the African centred RUF under Rwandan Paul Kagame –the later president of Rwanda, and Kabila personally sought to purge the panacea of acrid corruption, resuscitate the emasculated and moribund corpse of an economy along with bestowing autonomy back to the Central Bank... In 2005, democratic elections were again held in the Congo –amid the UN triggered turbulence. With that chaos; a group of Congolese set up the University of Mbunji Mayi in Kasai province; fed up of the impact of the conflict on education and the neglect by the weakened central government in 1996 under Reverend Mutaba, the Church and the mining conglomerate MIBA who provided a grant, premises and a plane for transport. The city donated free accommodation to visiting academics and permanent patriots such as Professor Biseru Tshimarkindo (born in the Shaba province in 1951, who received a BA in Bukava and a MA from the University of Durham) who turned down the University of Singapore. Kasai Province also turned down the hyperinflation of the central provinces by relying on the old and more stable currency along with the turmoil elsewhere.Despite a tumultuous history, several triumphs transpired from the terrain of the Congo. Professor Felix Malu Wa Kengo may not be known much –even within his native Congo, but with Monsignor Luc Gillon; ensured that with the prototype uranium supply for Robert Oppenheimer’s Manhattan, Project and more pivotally for Africa... ensured that the Congo became Africa’s first civilian nuclear power on the dawn of independence –and its first member of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. It was upgraded in the 1970’s, received funding from President Mobutu in irradiating seeds via isotopes to promote disease repellent vegetation and President Kabila assigned a well compensated honour guard to defend it. South Africa was the second power –this time military –achieving atomic bomb capacity, whilst the Congo were upgrading their own weapons. The DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) also has the Guinness World Record distinction of the world’s largest buses –the DAF Super-City Buses –up to 32.8 metres long and capable of fitting up to 350 passengers. Under the authenticity campaign launched by President Mobutu, noted artists such as Liyela received sponsorship. Kinshasa also holds the medical distinction of the oldest HIV preserved specimen dating to 1959. In 1974, Kinshasa made sporting history, with the 1974 famous Rumble in the Jungle boxing championships, where Muhammad Ali triumphed over George Formby. The economy grew aided by a pro investment Code of 1969 and inflation remained low up until the late 1970’s. The transitional government under Etienne Tshishekedi between 1992/ 1993, was Mobutu’s attempts at reform and may have worked if not eroded by those who fail to acclimatize themselves to the African pace. Africa does not need the North and unlike countries which even now refuse to accept reality, understands that it has problems and a long way to go. It especially, does not need their supposed enlightenment, philanthropy, charity as facades for extracting neo imperialism, self interest and profits from crippling loans and other ensnarements. Nor does it need external people to contribute chaos and is capable of rectifying its errors, unlike the economies of the G7 and the degenerate societies of which they are so proud –too proud to even think of turning to Africa.... At the time of the Congo, Joe Murambi of Kenya scathingly retorted in reply to the UN’s pious condemnation of England, the USA and Belgium when prompted to by the Organisation of African Unity in November 1964:“How can one speak of a blood bath which one has caused and designed in one breath, and of humanitarianism in the other? Where is this humanitarianism when white mercenaries are allowed to murder innocent African men, women and children? Where was this humanitarianism when Patrice Lumumba, later brutally hacked to death, was held hostage? What happened to this self-same humanitarianism when innocent Africans were butchered in Sharpeville South Africa? (Where was it in the Rwandan genocide, in Mugabe’s defiant retaining of his always illegitimate presidency and his destruction of one of the continent’s greatest triumphs and its population, or in Somalia of Black Hawk Dawn or Liberia and Sierra Leone?) ... It is a peculiar brand of humanitarianism coming from countries and an international organisation of hypocrites, whose records and international behaviours do not entitle them to either boast of their achievements or to preach that they alone are pillars of redemption, virtue and salvation...” Makerere University ranks amid Fort Hare, Rhodes, UCT, Stellenbosch and that of Timbuktu as the foremost of African universities even providing the technocrats of Idi Amin’s administration. The University of East Africa formed academic cooperation across three countries (Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; University of Nairobi, Kenya and the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. In 1931, Mwami King Yuhi IV was expelled for being pro Rwanda, rejecting the Belgian Galilean ways. The Tutsi aristocracy jolted the Belgian Resident General into an open grave, in order to persuade him to approve the successor of Mwami Matare’s III half brother. Burundi also pioneered economic and social stability under Mwambutsa IV with an alternating roster of Hutu and Tutsi prime ministers from independence in January 1962 to 1966. President Micombero in 1966 –who allowed political pluralism and President Jean Bagaza in 1976.–until his assassination. Captain Micombero (born in 1940, educated at St Espirit College in Bujumbura and 2 years at Brussels’ Military Academy) , the new leader, was magnanimous to the former monarch in Europe, and continued to provide him with a stipend and not regicide as many European nations have done historically. He resisted forming a one party state until 1973 and proscribed ethnic categories. Jean Bagaza continued stability from 1976 to 1987, offering a political prisoner amnesty –which many critics of Africa forget when they condemn most of its leaders as tyrants. The head tax instituted as a means of social control under the Belgians was repelled along with the hated practise of uburgerere –or indentured labour. Henceforth; land was to be redistributed to those who actually worked it. The virtues of toil and sacrifice were publically exhorted and practised as in a number of independent African nations whose leaders were; despite their flaws; always cogent of the need for reform. Aware of the dangers of not preparing for the future or retirement; his government instituted an obligatory national savings scheme. President Bagaza’s government executed foreign affairs admirably in an example to the world in publically apologising for invading Tanzanian terrain in 1973 and paying $470000 or 3.75000000 shillings compensation to the government of Tanzania and restoring full relations with Nyerere. Where else in the history of the world has the aggressor admitted their mistakes and offered compensation for damaged property? Burundi also achieved a dense road network of one kilometre of road for every five of country reaching a total of 5160 kilometres in the 1970’s. Private investment and property was honoured not only in Burundi but also Gabon; Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zaire, Rwanda; the Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville, throughout Central Africa. Burundi in 1987 under President Pierre Buyoya, aimed for reconciliation with all tribes. From 1987; Pierre Bagoya appointed both Hutu and Tutsi to defuse the tension; continued by Melchior Ndaye in 1992. In 1990, a Charter of National Unity granting equal rights to Twa, Hutu and Tutsi was launched. President Melchior Ndaye was another assassinated (October 2746) because of his negotiating of the 1993 Arusha Peace Accords essential to stabilising both countries. President Cyprian Ntaryamina led the transition and Pierre Bugaya took over in another fair election in 1996. The capital court of the kingdom comprised of a compound of dwellings, an ephemeral town of over 2000 inhabitants; well organised as far as the administration of the country and comfort of the nobility is concerned. At his court, the Mwami maintained the following, in addition to the army, justiciars and administrators... These included the “Ntare” –adolescent sons of the nobility and noticeable, who formed the role of pages and corps de ballet and the Bakorma – the soothsayers, magicians and historians. They incorporated the Abashashi –keepers of the arsenal, royal wardrobe and furniture; the Abashi and Abacuragome –mimes, musicians and cooks. They included the Abangabyumba -palanquin bearers and night watchmen and the Ntalindwa –huntsmen and messengers. In addition, were the Inturmwa –artisans working for the sovereign Mwami... ( The very scope of a court is impressive at being retained for an African potentiate at a time, when remaining European monarchies were betrayed by their people and compelled in the interests of stringent thrift, to decimate their retinue and court expenses...) The Kingdom of Rwanda expanded as that of the Congo reached the beginning of the end 504 years ago and is affirmed by a considerable oral court history and literature. Its standing army included the novel feature of cattle rustlers and shepherds charged with salvaging their enemies’ livestock. For centuries both Burundi and Rwanda would avoid genocides –the Hutu controlled land and the Tutsi grazing. It was the crude racial classification of the Belgians that indoctrinated a difference and was responsible for the later genocide; indispensably. The conflict was accentuated by the United Nations High Commission of Refugees, which gave food, clothing and arms to the sub-prefects responsible for orchestrating the purges. Hypocritically; they would them attack the Rwandan government policy of seeking the fugitives from justice, when they fled to the Congo. “There will be no humanity without forgiveness; there will be no forgiveness without justice; but justice will be impossible without humanity...”Yolande MukagasanaPaul Russesabinga as immortalised in the film Hotel Rwanda; exemplified the heroism and resilience of Africans; of our empathy, as he bribed the Hutu ethnicised militia. It was the African RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) under Paul Kagame, that overthrew the Interahamwe militia and the Rwandan army perpetrators of genocide –while the UN in their plush offices were frivolously speculating as to what precisely and how many deaths constitute a genocide... On 30th April 1994, they debated for over 8 hours, without once mentioning this word –for ever since the Holocaust they were internationally bound to intervene. While the UN withdrew its peacekeeping troops –protecting only non Africans –or the influential –a measly 10 Belgian peacekeepers dying for over 800 000 Rwandans; a contingent of UN, African ,peacekeeping –Ghanaian troops wanted to remain with Dallaire but was overruled by the UN. The Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal has had many accomplishments being the first to indict a woman, the Interahamwe militia, the media RTLMC and a head of state for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes as well as Cazimir Bizimunga –the former Minister of Foreign Affairs. President Paul Kagame even sought to pursue justice and submit the vengeance of those who had suffered 800 000 deaths on the escaping Hutu militia fleeing into the eastern Congo; yet was rebuked by plutocratic interests including not only the West but also that “well known champion of democracy: the usurper Robert Mugabe. His RPF army valued both political and general education; long with stamina and endurance training. The high concentration of physicians ensured the health of 15000 well trained infantry; that restored peace and reconciliation; while the UN failed Africa once more –for they could have prevented the conflict. They had supposed difficulties in financing the peacekeepers, yet had no problems with gaining gargantuan publicity in providing aid to those in the refugee crisis, perpetrated by the genocidists armed by France and gaining food from the UN –the controllers of refugee camps. For all its hypocrisy, the US and UN could have jammed the RTLMC inflammatory radio broadcasts.A 2000 census enumerated the number of genocide victims affected. As the regular judicial system appeared too weak to accomplish swift justice; Rwanda set up indigenous bacaca, (literally grass roots) courts to try suspects in June 2002. Over 250000 judges were locally elected from the people and received legal training. To reduce the costs/ financial incentive –none were paid, only receiving free medical expenses for their family and free education for their children, and it was a purely voluntary basis and civic minded effort. Over 11000 courts were devised =each with an average of 19 judges and at least 100 witnesses to identify victims and suspects. The courts could not impose a death sentence –the prerogative of the formal judicial sector but could prescribe community service. In June 2005, Paul Kagame replaced Yoweri Museveni as chair of COMESA and fortified it further. The Rwandan army being committed to peace in Africa became deployed as peacekeepers in Darfur Sudan. Valentine Sedongoyo Rugwabize became the first female and African as a deputy director general of the World Trade OrganisationAlthough there were 122000 prisoners arrested on behalf of the genocide; at least they have been deployed on civil works, rather than idling it up in the luxury of Western prisons with their voting privileges and satellite televisions. They are lightly guarded –the Rwandan government under President Pasteur Bizimunga and President Paul Kagame does not need to worry about escape –the vigilante populace act as popular enforcers of justice. The Gitagata Re –Education Centre southeast of Kigali aims to nobly rehabilitate youth who participated in the genocide –as those aged under 14 cannot be legally held accountable for their crimes. They receive visits from social workers, reorientation lectures; communal bonding activities and other rebuilding programmes. Captains to sort out food, discipline etc are self elected through the youth themselves. Other policies include public memorial services and ceremonies to reflect upon the genocide.Rwanda of a Thousand Hills, prioritised feeding itself, capital infrastructure to its people and recyclable afforestation in preparation for the future, thus expanding is economy between 1960’s to 1990’s. With a high GDP growth, low inflation and negligible debt, its economy thrived based on compulsory and universal primary education under President Gregory Kayibanda and the PARMAHUTU party. Presidents Kayibanda, Habyarimana and Kagame maintained commitment to education and health, avoiding the machinations of self interested IMF and World Bank policies since independence; preserving national Rwandan spirit and opposition press (including RTLMC and the Catholic Kinyamateka).President Habyarimana set up the national police to liaise with the community and even signed the Arusha Accords with the RPF to permit openly contested elections, the prospects of a coalition government and peace. However; he was assassinated with President Ntaryamina of Burundi; when his plane was fired upon; crashing in the grounds of the presidential villa on the perimeters of Kigali on 6th April 2747 AUC... Rwanda’s first female Prime Minister Agatha Uwillinyigiwa –who waivered pro Hutu school and university quotas, along with other advocates of peace was slain by the Interahamwe militia.However Rwanda has achieved a remarkable African transition and is now reflecting upon the future in its Vision 2020. This has already achieved its aim of gender equality with 45/80 Parliamentary seats, anti-corruption measures; the rebuilding of civil war damaged infrastructure; the propagation of eco-tourism and development of a diversified economy based on the IT Sector. It seeks to reduce poverty from 60% to 25%, to raise GDP per capita to $900, to raise literacy to 90% and average life expectancy to 65% by the year 2020. On 26 July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) formed a Government of National Unity after gaining power over defeating the government of genocide perpetrators and their Western servants such as the UN and their French government quartermasters. President Bizimungu and Prime Minister. A constitutional monarchy and democracy under Mwami Mwambutsa IV (who worked peacefully amid all tribes) and his son Ntare V lasted until 1966. The Mwami dynasty ruled for over 400 years avoiding genocide or conflict between Rwanda’s Twa, Tutsi and Hutu. Up until the 1990’s Rwanda became autonomous in food production. “Leaders must be elected periodically. They must be accountable. There must be a free press. There must be no restrictions on who participates in the democratic process.”Yoweri Museveni, OAU Chairman 1990, The Kabuka of Buganda –of a successive lineage since the 16th century since 1942, Edward Mutesa III, worked for a federal and independent Uganda, including cultural security for the Lukilo Parliament and his Buganda Kingdom. In recognition of his devotion to the independent existence of Uganda, he became the first president in a coalition government with Prime Minister Apollo Obote in 1962. He was educated at Makerere and Magdalene College Cambridge; then enlisted in the Grenadier Guards. From his return to Uganda in 1948, he fought against English attempts to preserve settler control of the administration and form an East African equivalent to the Central African Federation of 1953 -1963. He was able to fluently recite over 700 years of memorised oral history.Apollo Milton Obote not only won the independence election but actually returned to win the 1980 elections after Idi Amin’s departure. In 1963, he set up access to mechanised agriculture with tractor and agricultural equipment stations set up, which could then be hired out to farmers along with adding a dispensary to every village and additional schools. He increased export subsidies, established a flexible exchange rate and removed price controls –along with securing the rights of the “Asian” community – who were freely granted citizenship, without Western, Chinese or Soviet prodding. Throughout his tenure; he respected the impartiality of the media; a mixed economy; hosted no desire to intervene in external borders or affairs; and permitted a thriving democracy –competing between his Ugandan People’s Congress; the Democratic Party –which spurned his attempts to form a coalition government; the Kabaka Yekka and others –in both administrations; all commendably; without blemish. He amnestied over 3000 Amin supporters in prison. As his own finance minister (1980-1986) he restored the war wracked economy to the extent of recording budget surpluses, economic growth and reducing inflation and avoiding personal enrichment; utilised the scarce fiscal resources and development aid; Uganda received to revitalise the economic empowerment of the people; as he had sought to do in his 1969 Common Man’s Charter: “To Plan Uganda’s Economic Development in such a Way that the Government; through Parastatal Bodies; the Cooperative Movements; Private Companies; Individuals in Industry; Commerce and Agriculture; will effectively contribute to increased production; to raise the standard of living for all people of this Country...” In it; banks who invested in Uganda; were to incorporate local investment to ?1000000. 48 hospitals, the finest hospital in East Africa –Mulago, several hundred clinics and dispensaries, a special psychiatric hospital and Institute for Tropical Medicine at the amply government supported Makerere University –the Oxbridge of East Africa were all commissioned as evidence of Uganda’s governmental commitment to public health and welfare under Prime Minister Obote and President Mutesa. Obote also did not mind advancing women: -as noted in the appointment of female Foreign Affairs Minister Elizabeth Bagoya. Forthright he always faced his accusers serenely and implacable –in the confidence that by being honest –he was right. He invited Amnesty International to Uganda –to substantiate their allegations of thousands of Ugandans suffering martial torture and journalists prepared to believe the slander of the embittered Democratic Party –that Obote had massacred hundreds of thousands.Impervious to corruption –it was his investigation into Idi Amin’s embezzlement of Defence Ministry funds –that ensured his first demise –not mass unpopularity. His frugality and thrift –extended to the retaining of every single purchase receipt, he ever acquired and the refusal to drain state expenditure on luxurious foreign tours or domestic journeys. Any gifts received to solicit patronage or commercial favouritism were returned; while others were donated to charity. As with many African and world revolutionaries that later won independence from colonialism and neo-colonialism; he valued academic education –excelling in it; at school –seeking to be first and was a voracious reader; who appreciated what tomes have to offer in inspiration and in dreams... The kingdom of Buganda along with the Sokoto caliphate (West Africa) preserved its existence and independence without collaboration and betrayal to the occupying colonial powers. The first administration of Idi Amin was composed of Makerere technocrats and academics that stabilised the economy, expanded education along with including African culture in the curriculum and had visions for a nationwide health scheme. He brought back the dead Kabuka’s body from London as a spirit of understanding with the majority Buganda. From 1975, high schools offered emphasis on artisan, vocational, technical, arts and agricultural training. Ministries supported vetinary colleges, forestry and fishery training. In addition, it is remarkable that primary school exams were granted overriding priority with their own flight and non affiliated battalion to defend the exam papers; through five presidents. While Britain was suffering strikes, stagflation and prostrating itself before the IMF, Idi Amin sponsored a “Save the Britain” Fund and donated $100 000 to each of the three monotheistic sects of Protestant, Catholicism and Islam in the name of religious liberty and recognition of the role of each as Uganda avoided religious conflict where others have not –from the Middle East to Ireland. Indeed, both Idi Amin and Dr Milton Obote both came from multi-religious families. Idi Amin was born in 1925 and worked as a kitchen helper before becoming a soldier for Her Majesty’s King’s African Rifles, promoted to lieutenant even under the segregationist policies of the British, based on merit; he led the army at independence. He knew the value of publicity and despite been ridiculed by outsiders. His paranoia was fuelled by the British, Obote, Tanzanians all working to get rid of him and Asians not loyal to him, which explained part of his often seemingly irrational behaviour.“Without democracy, there is no way you can bring about development because people cannot speak freely, they cannot criticise wrong programmes, they cannot criticise corruption; and without criticism; things are bound to rot...”Yoweri Museveni, Makerere University Kampala 1991 President Lele worked for unity amid the Buganda and with President Godfrey Bianassa, presided over the transitional government democratically and constitutionally, to the winner Apollo Obote. Godfrey Bianassa worked to restore Uganda’s reputation abroad by hiring US publicists and heroically denounced the extravagant coronation and personal wealth of the Central African Empire’s Jean Bokassa I at the pivotal 1979/1980- OAU summit –that cost Tolbert and Liberian stability. Uganda kept its Bill of Rights while Britain lost that won by the Glorious Revolution of 1688 AD eons ago –especially 2754 AUC/ 2001 AD with the suspension of habeas corpus and permitting of waterboading on its citizens. Obote tried to restore stability but was hindered by the NRA. He sought to restore property rights and property to Asians, disturbed under Idi Amin in 1982 and offered an amnesty. Children raising 1297377 to 2336795 by 1986.Then under Yoweri Museveni it sought to counter criminal violence and instability, restored the shattered mixed economy and identified the need for national unity –releasing captured Acholi and Langi soldiers, which also worked as an effective military tactic. (People are more willing to cease resisting, if they are sure that they would be spared retribution!).40000 prisoners received his magnanimous amnesty so that Uganda became another African country with Mozambique, Botswana, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe to lack political prisoners, which is not something that can be said for all those detained by the so called leaders of the ‘Free World” or the “First World”. His reconciliation measures were helped by the no party movement which avoided ethnic or region based tension –and basing it on individual candidates rather than those who have the most obscene amount of campaigning and electoral funds and the 1993 restoration of the Buganda monarchy. Uganda experienced an annual 8 -10 % GDP growth rate during the 1990’s.IV: To defend national suzerainty by utilising resources frugally, without graft...V: To favour a mixed but autarchic economy.VI By granting sectional property rights to the poor and campaigning for literacy.VII To end abuse and bribery!VIII: To reverse the injustice of those evicted by the chaos of war, nepotism, international megalithic corporations or international development projects!IX: To co-operate for the sake of African nationalism, unity and democracy...The Vision of the National Revolutionary Movement!In 1988, the NRA and the UPDA announced a ceasefire. In 1992, Yoweri Museveni conducted a decentralisation campaign. Uganda in its first decade under the NRA refurbished the neglect of the war years and earlier. The CP, DP, NRA, women, workers, youth, the disabled and individuals all received separate sector representation in the 1994 elections. The NRA remained a unique no party movement made up of former parties and factions (the UPC, DP, UPM and CP). Uganda had the formation of the permanent Human Rights Commission which among other efforts; derived matrimonial equality under Article 31 of the Constitution. In 1994, Dr Specioza Kazibwa became another African female vice president to go with those of the Mbeki presidency and of Rwanda in 1993. They managed a slashing of the civil service by removing ghost bureaucrats from 350000 to 140000. Reserves germinated from 31000000 dollars in 1987 to 200,000,000 dollars in 1994. Savings rose from -12% to +12%. A Central Tender Panel and Inspector General of Government was established to audit all tenders and chances for graft. The strength of the Ugandan shilling of the last two decades has recovered; though no yet at the level of the convertibility of the Botswanan pula with the South African rand and the Namibian rand. Uganda Airlines became profitable. Geophysical surveys of Lake Edward were conducted. Uganda has had the bright idea of training union members in the first Trade union College in Africa –and possibly in the world. In 1992, Uganda established the Needy Student’s Scheme to aid poor scholars and was replaced three years later by a set of grants and bursaries.In the communities of Kwampe, Kampala and Mpumudde, Jinja politically correct groups of the poor (e.g. “minorities”) gain employment on projects and the poor can fund their own inspiration/ ideas. The Cupola huts of the Waganda, 24 feet high and 36 feet circumference with intricate timber frameworks rank as monumental architectural exemplars, more elevated than the primitive ramshackle huts still extent amid the remains of Imperial Rome’s Forums of the Caesars as late as the 14th century. Inferiority is a manner of perspective.In symbolic yet unintentional parallels to the French Revolution’s Storming of the Bastille, demonstrators in Brazzaville, Congo ignited the central prison after freeing the prisoners incarcerated there on 13 August 1963. Between August 14 -17, this popularist uprising overthrew President Abbe Fulbert Youlou and replaced him with the criticising Massamba Debat, who in turn resigned in 1968 for Army Captain Marien who created a Purge Commission in 1975 to counter official’s enriching themselves. Yet Abbe Youlou was instrumental in securing investment in schemes such as a sugar refinery, cement factory and the hydroelectric Kouilou Dam scheme. It is interesting that despite being a French as well as Congolese subject in keeping Brazzaville in the Union; the French still refused him landing permission and safety in exile. As President, Debat demonstrated great civic responsibility and sought to dismantle the corruption of the former era. Repelled by pro French policy, he refused a post as Parisian Ambassador for the retirement of his village of N’Kolo. He also offered to resign publically; to stop the carping of his belligerent critics who coruscated his reform attempts; if a more competent leader could be found and would volunteer to replace him. None came forward! President Yhombi Opango led a transitional government in 1978 before resigning for President Sassou Ngesso –who sent students to Cuba and opened up relations with the Vatican.Modern Brazzaville Congo under Prime Minister Marie Ziguele and President Angie Marie Patasse from 2000 abolished laws forbidding libel and insult but prudently retains laws against incitement to ethnic hostility or violence. Its constitution also prohibits formation of political parties on those grounds as do a considerable number of other African governments historically, in contrast to those sponsored by Belgium in Rwanda and Burundi or the apartheid South Africa and its “homeland” or “Bantustan” ethnic policy of separation. Marie Ziguele, was second in the 2005 contested elections, despite intimidation chose to stand and remain, rather than flee and betray his country. Under President Ngouabi, the former Chief of Staff, it achieved the highest African continental school attendance rate of 95%. Education received the greatest budget share allocation with 7% alone of the entire country’s national budget; dedicated to scholarships, bursaries and grants. Compare this to the US –or to the UK; -who seek to cripple their students via loans –and the UK who has recently raised tuition fees from ?3225 to ?9000. Who favours enlightenment more: Africa –or Europa? He also formed a People’s Militia to improve the experience and fitness of the youth; involve them in patriotic defence and provide a popular based counterweight to the aspirations of the armed forces. It also prevented dissident youths from looting settlements and being pests’ which the English seem to have forgotten about in recent riots.“Imagine the plight of a poor farmer... after months of hard labour, who wakes up one morning; to find his entire harvest raped and reaped by thieves?”Emperor Bokassa IThe Central African Republic presently consists of a coalition government of several parties under President Francois Bozize. Four years ago, its 0.9% inflation rate –lower than most of the “Developed World” refutes assertions that inflationary control via the Taylor Rule is not beyond African nations. Independence was promulgated through the efforts of the now obscure Abbe Bartholemy Boganda of Ubangi Shari province on 13th August 1960. He dreamed of a United States of Africa in the federal spirit envisioned by pan Africanists such as Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah. The Central African Republic preserved democracy and gained independence also through the efforts of David Dacko –the first prime minister and through the efforts of Bartholemy Boganda, (born April 4th 1910 and died in 1960). It was Boganda who proposed legislation against racial segregation, conscripted labour and the hut tax, in the French empire territory of Ubangi Shari and was arrested for advocating such modest proposals. Goumba of the opposition also fought for democracy under Dacko and Bokassa, seeking to limit presidential prerogatives). National Schools of Agriculture, Medicine, Arts and Crafts were formed to produce vocational alternatives to an academic education. It later became a parliamentary monarchy under, President Jean Bokassa, who was recognised as an African emperor in 1977 by the external superpower of France –who sponsored his coronation. Bokassa paid student stipends and civil servants when they protested payment of them in arrears. His approach to crime was simple –cutting off an ear for the first two and then moving onto the hand –if it works in Saudi Arabia, why should it not deter crime in the Central African Republic and elsewhere? He was overthrown by schoolchildren and their parents, who protested at his monopoly on the production of school uniforms and the compulsory purchase of them. In 1981, Andre Kolingba took over. However; Bokassa’s primary administration was demarcated by measures of goodwill. For example, he personally paid for 2 national dance orchestras to conserve traditional culture and he established a central market and public transport in the capital city of Bangui. He also donated his first month’s presidential salary to Bangui Central Hospital and personally restored meat to the markets for Central African Republican consumers by cash paying the debts of CAR butchers. In 1971, he celebrated Women’s Day by amnestying all female prisoners. He believed in religious freedom between Islam and various Galilean sects. Television predated even South Africa, being introduced in 1973 and Jean Bokassa remains unique in communicating with his ministers and civil servants via television. His magnanimity towards the first prime minister was obvious as David Dacko became a personal advisor –rarely to Bokassa and again, was re-elected (as Obote was in Uganda) to be the democratic successor to Emperor Bokassa Between 1966 -1969; financial stability was assured with the fully capable and gifted Minister of Finance Captain Alexander. He was born in the small African village of Mbare in 1921, grew up without parents and joined the army in 1939, where he attained the rank of captain. By independence in 1960, he had become the general chief of staff. Dacko then executed the more venal and brutal members of Emperor Bokassa I’s regime such as the former General Joseph Mayembokola, Doctor Jean Paul Dedeavode and Joseph Mora –the security prison captain of Ngoroyba. Jean Paul Ngoupoema who led a transitional government of unity in 1995, as a popularist tribune was often harassed and threatened –but he never left for France and continued to give the people a choice at elections, as a gallant loyalist to the Central African Republic and its citizens. He vigorously rallied against new enslavement tactics –first by colonialists, then by neo-colonialist globalisation corporations, then the Chinese government and aid development agencies/ World Bank/ IMF institutions, refusing to submit to Africa’s enemies by fostering dependency upon them, not us“The sparrow doesn’t leave his nest as his home, just because it is full of bird droppings...”CAR Prime Minister Jean Paul Ngoupoema.The Kingdom of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Central African Republic) all have their own parts to play in the African Renaissance, despite their fragmented legacy... The Kongo Kingdom served as the precursor of a modern state –and with the tragedy of the modern Congo and the assassination of Lumumba shows what Africans could have achieved on their own, if they could have been treated as a partnership of equals instead of outsiders suppressing their individual identity and ability to be independent... Each of the modern states in this sector respected private investments and property rights along with a mixed economy along with finally achieving elections and democracy of a form... The Congo Brazzaville became known for its fine observance of education as imperative. Burundi and Rwanda achieved much in education and economically for their stability. After the UN sanctioned genocide, Rwanda pursued a unique form of reconciliation and an admirable pursuit of justice to the perpetrators. Apollo Obote of Uganda and David Dacko of the Central African Republic both were popular enough to be re elected as leaders while Emperor Jean Bokassa I was internationally recognised by the French as an African emperor. Uganda became known for its favouring of technocrats, the fine university of Makerere, the excellent Mulago hospital and other extensive health network under the democracy of Apollo Obote along with the different no party movement under Yoweri Museveni who presented an alternative to Western party democracy dominated by the wealthy.THE ARCHIPELAGOS: (Mauritius, Reunion, the Comoros, Zanzibar, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe)The islands of the Indian Ocean, off the coasts of Africa, though often not viewed as such, still form a part of our continent, and as such their historical contributions are enscribed as ours. Many of them retained trading and all manner of other links to the continent of Africa; their liberation movements, entwined with the hinterland; their history, influenced by the history of the mainland. Madagascar, the Comoros and Seychelles retained their independence from Portuguese and Arab occupation for nearly 2000 years of recorded contact. Along with Western Sahara, the last places to regain their long extant independence as a part of recognised Africa, include the French colony of Reunion and the Comoros’ territory of Mayotte long staked by the French along with various island dependencies of the English and the French such as Diego Garcia and the forced exodus of its African inhabitants, thus this domain includes the last claims that we as Africans, who have secured the independence of 54 nations, should extend to the world and our former masters of subjugation...The multiethnic and heterogamous background of Mauritius perhaps accounted for its later victory after independence. Politically, the first advocates of island nationalism: the Labour Party under Guy Rozmount (re-enacted in 1948) and the Indian Cultural Association under Sir Sewoosagur Ramgoolum starts from 1935 –the first Mauritian endemic doctor, who united the Creole business elite, the intelligentsia and the agrarian element. Arquetil of the Engineering and Technical Workers’ Union and the head of the Mauritius Agricultural Labourer’s Association were both detained by the British for their refusal to treasonously cooperate. In 1943, a Hindu cultural revival was spearheaded by Sookaleo and Basoleo Bissondogal. The labour party secured the enfranchisement of 40% of Mauritians by 1940 and all by independence –winning 14/ 19 seats in 1953. The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has never known an interruption to its tourist based, growing economy or its multi-party political democracy, retaining Her Britannic Majesty as head of state, loyally for over 22 years. It attained independence peacefully in 1968 under the Independence Party of Sewoosagur Ramgoolum and his stable coalition governments (certainly between 1969 -1973 and 1976-1982) and aims to diversify the economy on tourism and industry such as textiles and electronic goods, rather than merely a 94 % reliance on sugar, courtesy of the British –inviting the opposition PMSD under Duval to join, triumphed until 1982. Mauritius became the world’s third largest exporter of knitwear by 1990 and the third largest exporter of artificial flowers. Sugar research was aided by its own Industry Research Institute for by-products such as molasses, a School of Agriculture and a Regional Sugar Cane Training Centre. A pact was formed without marketing boards; so that the planters gained 74% and the refining plants the rest. This resulted in a balance of payments surplus between 1971 -1977. The US still cannot manage the same –and nor can most of the “First World.”Uniquely in 1982, the opposition captured all 60 seats and the same feat retaining 60 seats was won by the constitutional opposition under PM Sir Anerood Jugnauth who set up a commission of Corruption Inquiry which prosecuted several ministers. As president; Sir Ramgoolum chaired 1976 organisation of African Unity; where he led the protests calling for the Olympic international boycott of apartheid South Africa. Its open immigration policy and meritocracy has resulted in gaining the expertise and skills that it needs for advancing; untainted by racial disharmony. The elected successor was Aneeraad Jugnanth who again continued with magnanimity, avoidance of ethnic conflict and prosperity. Mauritius gained free education up to university, which was compulsory up to 16. In 1965, the Mauritius Investment and Development Authority was founded to attract capital. It succeeded in producing a 9% average GDP growth rate during the 1970’s. An Export Processing Zone with 8 % unemployment rate was formulated, restrictions against nationalisation and tax exemptions. In foreign affairs; they retained the pan African vision of non alignment –with the OAU; the West; China and Russia. They have only to resolve the issue of the Diego Garcia archipelago which the British stole from them; displacing the native islanders and granting permission for military occupation by the United States regime in flagrant breach of Mauritian and international law.65000 jobs were created in six years. Almost all of the high unemployment of 80000 as late as 1984, received jobs just 6 years later. Between 1981 -1985, food imports fell from 25% to 19.6%. Free primary education was achieved within four years of independence. A Centre for Textile Technology strengthened its research strength –because only scholarship investment and development can advance any nation; particularly Africa’s potential. The insincerity and hypocrisy of the outside who profess that they seek to help us; becomes an obvious figment of falsehood; if they do not aid us in this, as they have not. The world’s first offshore banking haven in Africa, aided by the reopening of the Port Louis Stock Exchange in 1989 under Lutchemeenaraidoo –the first prime female and country stock broker and a new investment code, was introduced into Mauritius in 1991. This was assisted by only choosing reputable international banks to avoid issues of money laundering. Trade was aided by a vigorous approach to corruption – by Sir Ramgoolum. Growth achieved 6.8 % between 1984 -1988 helped by the spurt of tourism; especially by the hotels and facilities of the South African Sun International Corporation and the 200 % reduction on the corporate tax rate. Inter archipelago trade became the objective of the 1982 Indian Ocean Commission between Mauritius, Reunion, the Seychelles and Madagascar. Sao Tome and Principe learnt to avoid the perils of Dutch disease or single resource reliance –along with the problems of succumbing to global imperialist governments and corporations by voluntarily choosing not to develop its offshore oil. Their history of protest against the Portuguese reached a turning point when in 1963; the CLSTP (Committee for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe) declared a 24 hour strike and many were arrested. Since 1961, they had interlinked with other anti-Lusophone movements and received formal OAU recognition of independence in 1973. From 1979-1991, the archipelago were under the politically and economically moderate Prime Minister Manuel Pinto da Costa who protected religious and cultural freedom. The islands became 80% self sufficient in fishing and had their 2 mile offshore economic zone. A literacy campaign and government patronage of the arts, music and poetry was launched along with a victorious crime reduction campaign. From 1991, Prime Minister Miguel Trovada continued the political and economic stability, with a liberal media with the freedom to carp and criticise. Prime Minister Fradique Menezes took over in 2001.The Comoros possess a rare coelacanth specimen and were the source for the rediscovery of this ancient species by the South African Professor J LB Smith after it was caught in 1938. Under the Shirazi sultanate, they traded rice, ambergris, Gulf spices and slaves in 1614 and earlier from the 15th century commercial colony of Domoni and others. Palm oil and carved stone containers too; interlinked a trading network between the Comoros, Kilwa and Madagascar. The Sultans of the Comoros –of Moheli, Anjoun, Grande Comore and Mayotte skilfully acquired neutrality and freedom of trade/ movement from the corsairs and buccaneers who plundered the vessels of Portugal and the Indiamans of the Dutch and English East India Trading Companies. The Malagasy Sakalava general Ramanataka was invited to receive the kingship in exchange for protecting the liberty of Moheli from the French. The Sakalava chief Andrimsoni supported Mayotte up to 1832. The sultans continued to survive and resist the French conquest until 1901.The one who brought the Comoros into the mantle of African self fulfilment and own destiny –not that of the French: was Said Mohammad Cheik –the first elected president in 1961 –again in historic parallels: the first native doctor and first elected deputy to the National Assembly, founder of the Green Party in 1949; again died before that future could be achieved in 1970. The opposition White Party formed under Prince Said Ibrawo, became the second Assembly deputy; by agreement with the Green Party in 1960. Another victorious Unilateral Declaration of Independence that did not meet with reprisal; was that of the Comoros Chamber of Deputies 6 July 1975 under the popularly elected Ahmed Abdullah. In 1978 through to 1989, they enjoyed the rare idea of a co-presidency, similar to the two Roman consulars system –Ahmed Abdullah and Muhammad Ahmed The Prime Minister Salim was from Grand Comore; the Supreme Court judge was from Moheli: Haribou Chebane and one of the presidents was from Anjoun for island power parity.. President Ali Solih –the former agronomist in 1976 sought to experiment with putting adolescents in government; in order to augment the ideas and energy of youth and dissolve away from the past(the Revolutionary Youth –as Chairman Mao Zedong did with his Cultural Revolution). He formed a coalition government of various Comorian factions: both parties, former MOLIANACO members and M. Legres the leading French businessman. Although Ahmed Abdullah would attempt to restore the Comoros in a failed coup in the 1980’s; President Solih was clement enough to spare him and gave him a diplomatic passport and safe passage to exile. The Comoros also survived the withdrawal of 500 French technical experts, this direct empowering of the youth and the termination of an $18000000 annual French subsidy, without having to beg the French for aid. Diplomatic relations were opened up with China; Senegal and the OAU and a new defence force was born. On April12th 1977; again unique perhaps only to Africa and Cambodia –the central government was abolished –lasting several months in the ultimate example of decentralisation. 11 ministries were closed –and all 3500 civil servants –and the even the president themselves; all returned to their home villages. As noted before; the youth and villagers took over in the ultimate decentralised exemplar of devolved popular power. 34 mourdryies with 9000 people each were set up –own power over finances; primary schools, food and public facilities. Vacant land –absent by the French exodus; was reworked but existing property rights were honoured. Trade, religion; culture... were kept free and the revolution was impressive for its modesty. A new constitution was openly and narrowly approved democratically and for provisional ministries eventually had to be formulated. The Comoros also remained a fervent convert and sponsor of an Indian Ocean Peace Zone –non nuclear first proposed by Mozambique and supported by the islands of Madagascar, the Seychelles and Mauritius along with Tanzania and South Africa.Zanzibar –land of the Zanj or “Blacks” became capital of the Oman sultanate in 1832. Its thousand year old Stone Town, viewed as a UNESCO heritage monument, with its Arabian dhows hint in stone with the Kizimkazi Mosque of 1107 Galilean era, the lies of African history being primitive, barbaric and inconsequential. The successful union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar into Tanzania was thought to be arduous –mainland Africanists to Arab Africans, but since 2017 AUC/ 1963 it has prevailed. Albeid Karume between 1964-1972 –unlike so many world leaders; valued financial autonomy so much –that he conserved his island’s substantial foreign reserves –reaching 250000000 pounds surplus between 1970-1973 alone; without wasting money on ornate follies and superfluous development projects. Volunteers were encouraged to undertake agrarian work –and other productive activities in accordance with President Julius Nyerere and TANU’s creed of promoting Education through Self-Reliance! On the 18th January 1964, the Afro-Shirazi Party (A.S.P) ignited their Zanzibar Revolution by cancelling mortgages. On the 20th January, the indigenous lingua Swahili replaced English as the official language. The humiliating canker of colonial rickshaws was prohibited on 5th March. Clubs based on wealth, race or religion were seized by the government and banned privately as promoting prejudice, dissonance and strife that would upset the unity of federated Zanzibar with former mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania 25th April 1964 voluntarily, gaining considerable autonomy in its judiciary, foreign policy concerning aid projects, immigration and in foreign reserves –which Nyerere and mainland TANU honoured.Albeid Karume was born in Zanzibar in 1905. Receiving 4 years of primary education, he joined the merchant navy as a sailor at 15 for over 20 years. By 1953, he headed the Afro-Shirazi Party and led the London party delegation which negotiated independence with the British in 1963. His aspirations like many African leaders, was to modernise Africa –he can be remembered for his ardent enthusiasm in bringing skyscraper blocks of modern housing in an attempt –though perhaps misguided, in upgrading the lives of Zanzibar citizens. Homes for several thousand poor citizens were constructed in which they did not have to pay rent –owned by the government and only nominal user fees for water and electricity –to prevent overconsumption that occurs from the economic moral hazard and free rider problem of a public good in not paying for it. The judiciary in Zanzibar remains virtually unique in Africa –and quite possibly; the world; in prohibiting lawyers for both the defence and the prosecution. Only the accused and the accuser are involved with witnesses –each argues the case and it is evaluated by a chair judge and 2 assistants. It is designed to prevent the skewness of justice –by persuasive and manipulative lawyers –rather than forming justice itself –along with most justice being distorted in favour of the affluent who can afford better lawyers than the disinterested lawyers aiding the poor publically. There is also the interesting policy of sentencing any man who imposes an illegal pregnancy and refuses to recognise and support the produced offspring to a minimum of five years hard labour. His successor Abud Jumbe from 1972 devoted one third of the $120 000000 annual clove/ spice revenue surplus to rural development and ensured greater unity with the Tanzanian mainland; merging the two party Afro Shirazi and TANU federal government into one part. Yet, he secured Zanzibar interests by ensuring that either the President or the first Vice President would always come from Zanzibar –the other from Tanzania; along with a separate House of Representatives and Cabinet. He also continued the policy of tolerance. He was raised in Zanzibar, educated at Newcastle and Hull Universities before becoming a teaching assistant in colonial Zanzibar Teacher’s Training Institute. In 1964, he became permanent secretary to the Ministry of Education. In 1970, he became minister of state in the Presidency; then Tanzania’s health minister, Minister of Home Affairs, Ambassador to Egypt; minister of state to the vice president’s office and the one who liberalised private transactions in foreign exchange. He became known as a moderate.I: Government by the people and for the People!2: A Government that is socialist and Seychellois!3: A Government that will promote and safeguard popular democracy.4: A Government that will create a society free of want from hunger, disease, poverty and ignorance.5: A Government pledged to create equal opportunities for all...Electoral Pledge of 1977 Seychelles’ People’s United Party...The Seychelles acquired freedom in 1976 under the coalition of President James Mancham of the Seychelles Democratic Party and Prime Minister Albert Rene of the Seychelles People’s United Party both formed as opposition to the French in 1964 and again avoided controversy throughout its history –exceedingly rare for any territory. James Mancham adopted the Singing Philosophy –the point of which is to enjoy life, akin to Carpe Diem and the Swahili “Hakuna Matata –No Worries! He dreamed of a guitar player under every palm tree and adopted a casual and vibrant approach to office, dressing and living informally. The Seychellois value hygiene, privacy and enjoyment of life generically. He was also pragmatic enough to gain economically with South Africa, - who was known; even under apartheid for its cheap, high quality goods, its efficient and swift transport of goods, the value of customer service and the ease of substitution of faulty goods and use that as an attempt to avert apartheid and use the Seychelles as an example of viable and capable multiracialism booming. In foreign affairs, he refused to kowtow to China, being one of the few to heroically defend and champion Taiwan at the UN. He resisted South African attempts to use Seychelles passports to gain access to the continent.It received one of the highest GDP’s per capita for Africa during the 1980’s under President Albert Rene. Yet the capital Victoria was the world’s smallest –and as late as 1987, was distinctive in having no skyscrapers. In 1977, the foundation of a free trade Development Bank Exclusive Economic Zone, and 1000 000 square kilometres of the Maritime Zone reasserted aquatic territorial domain, requiring illicit poachers such as Japan to confine themselves to legitimate permits raising revenue and promoting sustainable fishing. Ecotourism was adopted since independence, categorically with Cuireme Island Giant Tortoise Conservancy and Whale Sanctuary. This was strengthened by the 1979 Seychelles Island Foundation to preserve natural ecologies and sustainable development. In 1982, Aldair –the first coral atoll in the world to be a UNESCO declared Natural heritage Site, became a maritime preserve. By 1987, the first decade had received a tuna processing plant, the extension of the harbour and direct flights to Africa and France. The Seychelles even received its own licence to manufacture and distribute Guinness. Industry became more sophisticated with a television assembly plant, tools, agricultural instruments and paint plants. It gained its own Hotel School, Teacher’s, Technical and Ceramic Institutes along with a Manpower Training Centre. President James Michel has continued to work for the role of the Seychelles as a worthy member of the African Union and Renaissance.“After every storm, there is a calm, and if we do not get bogged down in ideology and rhetoric; these islands can be peaceful and prosperous...”James Mancham...Reunion –though a dependency of France; nevertheless is geographically and culturally linked to the mainland. The secret of vanilla flower pollination enabled the freedom of slave Edmond Albius, in Mr Feriol Beaumont Beller’s plantation in Saint Suzanne 1841 AD. Gabriel de Kerverguan was so wealthy a landowner; that his “Kreutzer” currency competed with the French, until they could not bear the competition and ensured his bankruptcy.The equality of women and men and races, the emancipation of slavery, democratic representation and the equal sharing of plunder profits.... these were some of the founding values of the Malagasy pirate sanctuary or: The Republic of Libertalia.... as the basis of the history of Madagascar. Enshrouded here, was a cooperative base, where those of all backgrounds would unite to pillage vessels of the Indian Ocean. Founded in the bay of Diego Suarez by the French nobleman Misson, this progenitor of a socialist commune actually existed in contrast to Plato or Sir Thomas More’s fabled Utopia or the dreams of Marx and Engels or their disciples. An Egyptian sculpture dating back 6 centuries prior to AUC; has also been found. The Merina empire ascendency in Madagascar commenced from the end of the 16th century, while the Sakalava ruled the south and south-eastern sectors. They were governed by a monarchy subject to the precedents and advice of the fokonalona –or councils made up of both elder males and females. This system avoided despotism as practised in Europe and Asia, as the sovereigns knew that if they were especially callous, all of their subjects would flee and migrate elsewhere. They were also extremely generous to those survivors of plight –rescuing shipwreck stranded survivor victims –those of the Winterton received new clothing, many cattle were killed on their behalf and $20000 was donated by the king to the ship’s crew, officers and passengers.Ralambo of the late 16th century moved the permanent capital to Ambohidravity. He armed his troops with the first gunpowder arquebuses and instigated the annual royal bath festival to celebrate hygiene, sanitation and the virtuous necessity of cleanliness. As a Malagasy King; -Ramaromanompo, he subdued Ramanano for tribute and unified the Bettimik confederacy. Nampoina was a supreme orator and trainer, who was devoted to his people, who sought to use peace diplomatically such as the peace of Betsilo and believed in strengthening a country by strengthening its bureaucracy. Andriamaterivo not only traded with Europe but used gunpowder weapons and subjected Filherero. Andriampoinimara as King of Autohimanga; made it a crime to desecrate the Azure Forest Preserve. His royal enclosure was defended with sentinel towers, while his territory enacted fortified villages and was entered through a four metre diameter archway, formed of 12 ton stone block masonry. His bed was suspended loftily three metres off the ground, accessible by a portable rope ladder, to guard against assassination plots. His mercy ensured the peaceful submission of Imano. Stone outposts and observation turrets for reconnaissance with a highly trained yet mobile permanent army; protected the extensive empire conquests made. Marshes were drained to offer irrigated, fertile farmland and rice fields as agriculture and feeding one’s people should be the regal priority along with defence of the realm.So, the dynasties and lineages of the Malagasy sovereigns were recognised as having autonomous authority by Great Britain; who recognised Madagascar as a separate, self- governing entity from 1817 –signing treaties with King Radama I. He presided over the modernisation of Madagascar from the permanent army trained by European experts to the standardisation of weights and measures to the setting up of permanent markets before his death in 1828. The island kingdom became self sufficient in food, commerce and in industry with the prime exception of iron ore. A treaty was signed with the British Governor of Mauritius, pledging trade cooperation, freedom of missionaries and diplomatic recognition –a partnership of equals. The slavery trade was abolished willingly by Madagascar –and Radama I skilfully manipulate in exchange for an annual tribute from the British of 1000 gold pieces, 1000 silver dollars, 100 barrels of gunpowder, 1000 muskets, 400 swords, 12 sergeants swords and more. Yet Madagascar has a proud history of resisting outsiders such as the French who only conquered it in 1894. Like Ashante, Ethiopia, Egypt, Liberia and South Africa it could have progressed and excelled as a modern state if given the chance.Queen Ranavoina again chose profitable exploitation and extraction of tribute from the British rather than revive the slave trade. An official court archivist Raomba was appointed to record posterity in his History and Journals –as no one is bothering to compose an epic history of the present. A railway with steam engines was constructed. Industry was sponsored with artisans, charcoal, carpenters and blacksmiths to construct an African native weapons industry –especially gunpowder. An experimental farm was set up to test indigenous Madagascan plants. In protest for French and British traders arrogantly disdaining to pay customs duties, the queen expelled them in May 1845 along with terminating beef and rice exports to Reunion and Mauritius. Conventional gunboat diplomacy was repelled and the island survived on a basis of autarchy. They were only readmitted seven years later after an apology and compensation was offered by the merchants of Reunion and Mauritius. Both his predecessors and Radama II and their subjects remained true to their old ways and resisted the encroachment of Galileanism. Bridges were sponsored, forced labour reduced and freedom of trade was promulgated. Queen Rabado ascended as another female Malagasy leader in 1863. Alcohol was prohibited as the Western attempt to denude Africans of their senses and wits. Ministries and ministers were set up, further constitutional prerogatives surrendered away from Her Majesty and the death penalty was reduced to 12 crimes. Her Prime Minister Rainilairivary received the absolutist, unconstitutionally restricted powers self delegated by all British prime ministers away from their kings and Her Britannic Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and signed political and commercial treaties with the British and the French –which the French later broke with impunity. In 1875 -70 years before the National Health Service and centuries before the US will ever have one, Madagascar had its own modern and comprehensive equivalent –with scheduled doctors –yet another thing lost under colonial France. So it was an African country that pioneered the first universal health service coverage. The Medical Missionary Academy to train Madagascan doctors was formed as early as 1886 –headed by the indigenous physician Dr Raiaroy who came back after training in Edinburgh to serve his people. The Malagasy Times was founded as early as 1882 to criticise and scrutinise the state/ private affairs. Legally, the wife and children of a criminal; were no longer punished as well. Another capital crime was removed. The government were advanced for their time banning the vice of pornography: still sold in every supermarket, corner shop and many of the sensationalist media in Europe –especially brazenly in Amsterdam and the USA degenerately, as early as 1881. In 1886, the eight new ministries: Interior, War, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Legislation, Finance and Education along with Industry and Commerce were formed. Adultery and polygamy were legally punishable –one third by the woman/ women and two thirds paid by the man. Slaves themselves were freed voluntarily June 20th 1877, although the trade had been abolished as early as 1815. Exclusion from military service or the purchasing of martial honours were banned. When the French illegally seized power in 1894, after violating their treaties –the British supported them by expelling the Madagascar consulates –in breach of international law from London and Mauritius and only recognised the usurping French as legal. The Prime Minister managed to procure British Winchester rifles from private merchants, despite the British and French arms sanctions but, despite his intrepid resistance, the 45000 French troops eventually won –although the foreign affairs continued to be thwarted in control by patriotic Madagascans.Madagascar owes its liberation to the South Africans under Field Marshall Jan Smuts, who rescued it from Vichy France and the Nazi’s in 1942. In 1946, two Malagasy liberation parties were created –the Malagasy Democratic Party and the Party for the Restoration of Malagasy Independence under Joseph Raseta and Joseph Andrianavalona, both of whom became campaigners for liberty in the French Constituent Assembly. When the French refused peaceful initiatives, they instigated a peasant based revolt on 29 March 1947 against the colonial garrison at Moramanga. France displayed its contempt for democratically elected, local members of Parliament and legitimate political parties when they were tried between July and October in 1948 –something for which they would be quick to chastise the Third World. Philibert Tsiranana served as a deputy for liberation in the French National Assembly in 1956, after having rejected the existing Malagasy student organisation, the same year he founded the PSD (Social Democratic Party) in Antananarivo. The AKFM were created two years laterPresident Philibert Tsiranana since independence 26 June 1960 to 13 May 1972, was intelligent enough to note that a populist based organisation can permit other political parties, for as long as the armed struggle party remains devoted to its people, the people will reciprocate that loyalty, without cajolement at elections; (akin to the ANC of South Africa). In 1965, his requests and admonitions for a stronger and more potent Opposition, being too weak to offer constructive criticism must rank virtually unique –for how many leaders in the history of planet Earth have eve wished for more opposition politically? From 1966, he was among the first to notice the potential of China to outcompete and threaten all frontiers of Africa and refused diplomatic relations, recognising the nation status of Taiwan as the heir of nationalist China under Chiang Kai Shek, yet he welcomed foreign investment –as long as it was unconditional. His modesty is such that when a person approached him to specify his job, he stated simply: I work for the Government –a refreshing change from most over publicising and pompous popinjays who constitute democracy’s politicians. He preserved economic liberty with 13.5% industrial growth annually at the peak in 1967, from 200000 employed in industry in 1960 to 500000 in 1971 and voluntarily surrendered power to Gabriel Ramanantsoa. Light industries such as Antsirae textiles, chromium products and an oil refinery aided the budget surplus. Religious liberty was secured along with property rights: “to nationalise is to steal.” The Malagasy were not confronted with a land issue to settle.President Ramanantsoa –voluntarily relinquished power after three years on 5th February 1975, after having raised the minimum salary of the Malagasy. He only took power when no one else wanted it after President Tsiranana resigned when the people desired it –not by force. A free press continued as did democracy with regular elections and party formation liberty. A coalition government had 6 civilian members for four military. The only 2000 political prisoners were released so Madagascar joined the list of African countries with no political prisoners, while the UK was jailing Irish Republicans and while the US still persecute Islamists for their faith. Workers received an increase in minimum wage and an extension of annual paid leave to 30 days which compares favourably to the three weeks generosity that the corporatized, globalised world views as generous. President Richard Ratsirika again followed the African example of sponsoring fellow liberation movements and recognising the legitimate government of Prince Sihanouk and Angkor leader Pol Pot in Cambodia against the French, Vietnamese and Chinese. He worked for Arab, African and Communist unity as a core foreign policy in a non aligned basis of neutrality. Domestically, he united his new AREMA party triumphantly with the FNDR. He also amnestied the main political opposition Monja Joina, who became part of the FNDR. Malagasy under these presidents; replaced the French to many posts –such as that of University Rector, on merit –aided by the equivalence of their qualifications to the baccalaureate. National Councils of Education and of Youth; gave academics and youngsters a chance to be heard.University students were amply provided for despite their ingratitude, expanding from 6000 in 1972 to 40000 in 1974, and their degrees made equivalent in quality to those of the French. President Albert Zefy took over in the democratic elections of 1993 and such was the strength of this Parliament in Africa –that it impeached him in 1996 for abusing his constitutional powers as no British Parliament has dared to do of the Prime Minister usurping Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II –and the inability of any European nation to do so for the EU. Ratsirika returned to win the 1996 elections –proof that his previous term in power was satisfactory to the electorate. Migrant policy was restricted to target citizens first in employment, rather than generate an exodus or xenophobic/ patriotic/ political resentment. The new president Amory Rapiona in 2002 ensured the remarkable political issue of Madagascar having two presidents in its leadership. Throughout, it continued to have a liberal press since Tsiranana and competitive elections with legitimate plural parties. Madagascar’s economy has progressed remarkably, aided by a more favourable investment code and the abandonment of socialism in 1989, when evaluating the French legacy, expanding tourism. Since pre independence; the Malagasy have endorsed a society equal on gender achievement, with female doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers. Their interests were represented by the 1964 Assembly election of Madame Rasoamamplonoa –the head of the PSD Women’s League. The Western Hemisphere has scarcely been the best examples of benign leadership with which to supposedly set an example. Constantly, their hypocrisy in censuring African nations for their conduct reeks. After four decades of supposed philanthropy and aid dumped upon us, our continent is poorer in every respect. Clearly, their approach isn’t WORKING! Nor will it ever, if they continue to ignore the examples of these archipelagos, each deprived of for centuries –under colonial management and now paragons of resonant triumph. Their advancement befits their assured places as espousers of the African Renaissance. From the first welfare state in the history of the planet earth, to the secret of vanilla pollination to discovering the future lies in eco tourism; these alluring islands have participated in history and contributed far more than their lush, tropical vegetation and palm fringed beaches adjacent to the azure Indian Ocean may deceptively appear to on the surface...The Cradle of Humanity:“Africa’s first contribution to human progress lay in the “evolution” of man, himself!”Louis Leakley.Maropeng –the Cradle of Africa, the Ultimate Source from whence humanity is popularly thought to originate from is adorned like the mountains of the Natal Drakensburg, with Southern African rock art over 30 000 years old. Thus, it instigated the usage of ethnographical records, of commemorative and sacrificial art, identifying the ritual and psychology associated with nature. It cultivated, agriculture domestication and animal husbandry“The many similar forms of life, either fossil or recent, that are now found scattered over various parts of different countries now so widely separated by the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, seem to indicate that in a very remote period, they must have been more intimately connected then they are at present...”G.W Stow –on the Eastern Province of South Africa 1870.The South African Alex Du Toit... developed the theory of continental drift, in his thesis published in 1921 – 30 to 40 years, before it became popular in the Northern Hemisphere. His thesis was based on the self taught South African geologist G.W Stow who came up with ideas as early as 1870. He also rejected the novel hypothesis of Schwarz who proposed the formation of a giant lake in South Africa, with the existing rivers and underground water table. The addition in surface moisture would transpire in higher precipitation. However, based on comprehensive surveys and spirit levelling, proved the finite area and shrinkage of the Kalahari which undermined the thesis. The water wasted in evaporation would not be compensated by a less than proportionate augmentation in humidity.“I am advancing in all seriousness the view; revolutionary and heretical though it may be... to orthodox geologists, that Gondwanaland was a much smaller continent than is usually conceived, that its centre lay somewhat further to the south, that the Carboniferous ice sheet was an almost continuous mass, and that the land fragments still preserved represent portions of the ancient continent forcefully torn apart, subsequently modified in outline by erosion, deposition etc; and now separated by vast stretches of ocean...”Alex Du Toit Page 67, Riddles of Stone.Professor Raymond Dart exemplifies another field, in which Southern Africa is at the azimuth of the world and that lies in archaeology and ethnology whether at the Maropeng Cradle of Humanity at Sterkfontein or at the Origins Centre of the University of Witwatersrand. His approach to archaeology and palaeontology was accessibility –encouraging his students, colleagues such as Geologist Professor Young and all –even laymen and laywomen to bring in their finds. Discoverer of the Taung Baby and a specimen of Austropithicus Africanus –the southern ape of Africa, –a 1.8000000 -3000000 year old child conjectured specimen of a human ancestor, that fateful day in the Northern Cape of South Africa, in 28 November 1924 which would mark the turning point of our species in assigning an African origin, he and Dr Robert Broom have long upheld South Africa’s work in this area: the formation of conscious sentience itself. From Andrew Geddes Bain, the noted discoverer of dinosaur fossils, fort architect, road and pass engineer of South Africa to Dr William Atherstone, dinosaur fossil and diamond identifier geologist –South Africa has a long history of contributing to speculating research on the origins of life.“One of the lessons we draw from the fossil record in Africa is that, for the most part, species do not live or last very long... more than 99% of all species that have ever lived... are now extinct... Periodic mass extinctions therefore characterise Earth history, as do the rapid recoveries from these events... According to some estimates... more than 50% of the Earth’s Species will be extinct within three decades...”Richard Leakley 1992, Page 170, Riddles of Stone... Mary and Richard Leakey though not African in birth as honorary Kenyans, were witnesses to the remains of pre-history from Lake Turkana to Ethiopia’s Omo Valley to the Olduvai Gorge with the 3.6 million year old footprints at Laetoli and a 1.8 million year old skull and jaw: Zinjanthropus boisei. Louis Leakey known for his work on dogs and tropical fish and Kikuyu anthropology (1903 -1972) was born in Kenya; graduated as a doctor in African prehistory from Cambridge University and his first expedition was with the British Museum dinosaur expedition in Tanzania and led his first expedition aged 23 in 1926. He became curator of the Corydom Museum in 1940. He became director of the ancillary Centre for Prehistory in 1962. The 3.18 million year old skeleton Lucy was located in Hadar Ethiopia by the palaeontologist Donald Johanson. The palaeontologist Dr Robert Broom of the Transvaal Museum discovered the 2.5 million Mrs Ples after a schoolboy Gert Terblanche had brought him the skull/ teeth, with Professor Phillip Tobias –pioneering discoveries and 2 million year old tools at Sterkfontein. They found several examples of hypothesized stages of humanity, which they classified as Australopithecus Africanus (1.800000 -3000000 years old), Homo habilis, Homo erectus (1000000 years old found at Swatkrans South Africa 1948) and Homo sapiens (500000 years ago). Saharan horse and chariot riders are scoured into the desert in the Tassili galleries. Further art dates between 8000 and 3000 years ago.The vivacity of fossils and their prevalence on the African continent can only further verify the pan African origins hypothesis so widely accepted throughout the world. Bernard Ngenzo found the 1470 fossil of a 2000000 year old skull. Raymond Dart was the first to postulate the existence of a Bone Age before the Stone Age –which used teeth and sharpened bones as tools and weapons.“It is... probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent...”Charles Darwin.The first boats as coracles, the origins of metallurgy, husbandry, architecture, pottery, jewellery (consisting of shells with drilled holes threaded and strung as necklaces in South Africa’s Blombas)... dwell upon the African savannah and were all exported abroad to other continents. Microlithic tools for cutting and scraping were exported along with 18000 year old bows and arrows and even older flint knappers. From hunter gathering of Gaia’s produce, these African ancestors of the entire world, tamed fire from wild lightning bolts of Zeus traced 1000000 years ago to the ashes at Makapansgat, filtered water, erected shelters from huddling in caves and learnt to domesticate wild forbears of sheep, aurochs and bison into cattle, goats, sceptical poultry and others for consumption and then working out crop cultivation. They had to tame feral dogs and cats as pets, companions and defenders. The basic formation of weapons –tempered by alloys of brass, bronze, copper, iron and steel as sophisticated means of killing each other devolved from Africa in a series of stages: from stones to the hurling bola and San bow and arrow to the siege weapons and swords of the Carthaginian Hannibal and the fleet of triremes to the guns of the Dahomey, Benin, Ethiopia and Madagascar to the armoured cars pioneered by the Rhodesians and South Africans to the independent launch of the South African nuclear bomb over the South Atlantic in the 1970’s. Without these discoveries by Africans, we would have never progressed and excelled.With hindsight, it is easy to dismiss ordinary things that humans take for granted as common sense but to those first Africans, it was not so transparent, taking hundreds of thousands of years of experimenting, trial, intuition and accidental error to make these discoveries. Discovering glass out of sand; cooking meat by fire for the first time and testing herbs/ vegetation for effects are all impressive, though often underestimated discoveries in their own way –yet can we truly imagine our modern life without any of them? Ostrich egg water flasks, grindstones, tortoiseshell bowls, matting, string and sewn clothing testify to the ingenuity of these first Africans. Pottery dating to the archaeological MSA time period (between 250000-25000 years ago) has been found along with quartz microliths (hafted for splicing purposes) in East Africa, dating favourably in contrast to European rivals. Hand axes for flake chiselling plus diamond shapers have been founded dating from the Late Stone Age in Kenya, an estimated 1.8 million years ago –especially noted for their Acheulian complexity and symmetry. Fire hardened wooden lances and stone spears also originated here.The Sangowan culture spread from West to East Africa via the Congo during 45000 to 35000 years ago and then down to Natal in South Africa. It exhibited traces of tree felling; a honey diet and complex trap mechanisms from concealed pits and spikes to bark rope releasing tripwires to game stakes. Rope and string have also been linked to this source which hasn’t been found earlier in other continents. Barbed spears and other implements of death/ hunting date back 7000 years in the Sudan. The “Wilton” of Rhodesia have ancient rock art and missiles dating back thousands of years. Evidence of hunting by staking has been found in Algeria, Morocco and Kenya, from the Lower Acheulian period. “Nothing would ever be done at all if a human waited until they could do it so well; that no one could find fault with it.”A.L Hall, Assistant Director of the South African Geographical Survey 1932 The determined anthropologist Alison Brooks has found evidence of numeracy, multiplication, the decimal system and prime numbers at the prime archaeological site of Ishango,–reputedly at least several thousand years older than the sophisticated calculations of the Egyptians, adding the home of mathematics, as well as the founders of agriculture, metallurgy and apparently; the human race (Maropeng) to the curriculum vitae of victories for Africa. The domestication of animal husbandry and agriculture originating in Central Africa: remains a living embodiment of those abilities attained independently of other Earth territories millennia ago. The first traces of civilisation were African –and one is not merely referring to Egypt but to even earlier traces such as the recently traced Adam’s Calendar –and Mpumalanga Ruins in South Africa. Aerial photographs and research outlined by John Heine and Michael Telliger have unearthed Stone henges and agricultural terraces amid the ruins, with remains of a network of settlements, interlinked with roads capable of housing 1000000 people. The site is marked by one of the oldest world sculptures –the 1.8 metre Stone Man, tombs and monuments marking the position of Orion’s Belt as it would have appeared over 20000 years ago and incorporating the Golden Mean Phi Ratio 1.618 that appears in the measurements of the Egyptian / Meroe pyramids and in Gaia. 2 pyramids have also been found, whose astronomical lore is self evident along with demonstrating awareness of the compass. Incidentally, these ruins occupy the same longitude -31 degrees East as Great Zimbabwe and the Great Pyramids of Giza.African time flows in a different rhythm –from the jacaranda to the baobab... in defiance of the regular monotony and predictability of the Borealis tempo... that may be nocturnally vibrant but diurnally stagnant and necrotic. The often-considered stasis approach to time, shows Africa is more concerned with society and enjoying life rather than a fixated obsession with Chronus. Some might even consider that this stagnancy is a fundamental part of our African psyche and that we never strode beyond this first germination of discoveries –even if they concede one’s postulate of African conception of all these. Yet, this is simply refuted! We constantly avoided lethargy and made contributions: in art, architecture, mathematics, history, geography, politics, economics, weaponry, culture, science, medicine, ecology, astronomy, psychology, philosophy and humanity, throughout the aeons: in all spheres which have traditionally been considered the preserve of non Africans and to which the credit due by Africans has traditionally been punctured or suppressed. A major stage in our development as humans has often been viewed as the usage of tools, the first of which have been found in Africa, made of stone from 2.5000000 years ago by reportedly Australopithecus as discovered by the South African palaeontologist Dr Robert Broom and the first involved pebble chopping and flint knapping. Tools date an estimated 700000 years before the present in Egypt under Homo erectus. The first tools then moved onto weapons and cooking utensils aided by pottery. Ochre processing tools dating between 43000 and 47000 years ago have been traced in Swaziland while tools 33000 years old were located in Olieboomspoort Cave in South Africa’s old Transvaal region. The mineral specularite was first mined in Swaziland’s Castle Cavern 28000 years ago while ochre was bored 42000 years ago in its Lion Cavern. Copper smelting was present at Agadez Morocco 4000 years ago and Egypt 5500 years ago. Compare that to the later dates evidently extant for any of these discoveries and one will conclude our inherent continental superiority –at least in originality. Thus, in mining as well as in agriculture, architecture and the following art and fishing, demonstrated a historic repository of experience, excellence and capability; that defies external anti African subliminal conditioning and indoctrination.The mastery of fire as a means of defence; of survival and cooking was undoubtedly a masterful African discovery. At Swartkrans South Africa; the burning of 270 animal bones has been carbon dated 18000 years before the present. The rock paintings of the San date back over 25000 years. Cave paintings in the Sahara such as those in Algeria’s South Oran; depict charioted warriors from over 5000 years ago –before Egypt and China. Other locations include Nyero in Uganda and Somalia. In the Blombos Caves present in Stillboom in the Western Cape, South Africa, the remnants of ochre palettes, pigments and artistic awls have been tracked between 80000 -100000 years. Quill and other possible brushes further point to this early artistic consciousness. Shellfish jewellery dates back 75000 years. Egg white provided a binding agent. Calcium and magnesium compounds were used for white paint, iron oxides for red and yellow and manganese dioxide for black. The Lyndenburg Heads have been considered as indicating the earliest testimony of possible rituals and cults, the basis of a religious faith –one of the earliest recorded. Kenya demonstrates a several thousand year old burial tradition that predates the Pyramids with memorial stone grave markers; the positioning of corpses on the right hand side; knees drawn to the chest and facing the entrance along with being decorated with red ochre. The remains of shellfish and other gear also dormant at that site have suggested the presence of fishing dating back that far. Apart from the earliest traces of human life being found in Eastern and Southern Africa; the first evidence of life on earth: blue and green algae also originates 3500 million years ago –in South Africa.All these discoveries calibrate prehistory in Africa –as being indigenous and endogenous, with our own residue –whose technology, weaponry, agriculture, metallurgy art, architecture and scholarship founded since the Stone Age, was either developed autonomously from rival areas in Asia, Europa, Oceania and the Americas; or exported from the hinterland. Who were those first Africans who discovered the above contributions which moved our species? No one knows! – Perhaps, no one will ever know... Yet, we cannot forget these Africans! Both the expertise of endemic and foreign scholarship has ratified Africa as the source of Maropeng –the Cradle of Africa! GREAT ZIMBABWE, MAPUNGUWE, Monomatopa and Angola:Great Zimbabwe may look and seem as impressive as a bundle of rocks and overgrown stone cattle kraal but 1853 AUC marked the dawn of this Aureal based empire which entered diplomatic and commercial relations with the Portuguese as well as Kilwa and Sofala. It traded Chinese porcelain, copper and jewelled iron with the Indian Ocean guarded by elephant cavalry. The 5 metre thick walled Great Enclosure with 9 terraces and the above Hill Complex hosted over 10 000 people. King Mutota annexed the boundaries of current Zimbabwe 400 years later (15th Galilean century). Impressively, it was constructed without mortar, still extant 800 years later and with 10 metre high stone towers. The walls are over 6 metres thick in width. The perimeter extends for over 250 metres. Remains of iron and brass bound cannon defences have been unearthed –refuting the limitation of the Gunpowder Age to Europe and China. Cannons (now at Cape Town’s Groote Schuur) have been found along with soapstone bowls, mosaics, a fragment of the earliest Arabic alphabet script along with Arab porcelain and glass. Ceramic figurines detailing traditional initiation processes have been unearthed in Mpofiana Valley. The Kamo Ruins with red haematite and obsidian graphite pottery, spinning cotton wheels and soapstone pipe bowl relics are over 5 centuries old. They traded Ming porcelain, glass jewellery and European decorative cutlery. Curiously, even the renowned Egyptologist Flinders Petrie located a statue of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tuthmosis III (3461 years ago) on the banks of the Zambezi. The ruins of Enguaruro point to an extensive city in the interior to service Kilwa, Sofala and other East African harbours and connect to the Maravi Empire, Monomatopa and Great Zimbabwe. Dr Leakley of the Cradle of Humanity chapter, documented the rediscovery of these ruins in 1935, with over 7000 houses capable of sustaining between 30000 to 40000 residents, along with irrigation of over 80000 acres.The gold rhino acts as the symbol of Mapunguwe. It extended from the Kalahari to the Zambezi, from the Transvaal of South Africa to the coast of Mozambique for over two centuries. In 1699 AUC, its trade with Indonesia and China for Ming porcelain and Oriental ceramics was interrupted by attacks of Indonesian bandits on the harbour of Sofala. It traded gold and glass beads with the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay and with the Nguni for imported cloth. Soapstone carvings have been found there. The stone sculptures of the Shona and the carvings of the Makonde further calibrate artistic capacity. It was then abandoned by 1220.AD Monomatopa had no permanent capital but several fluctuating ones over its 500 years of existence (2153-2653 AUC) founded by colonists and refugees as the Mambo / Chief Mutota from K2 or Bambandyanalo. Each stone Zimbabwe; contained the wooden fence ringed royal palace. The royal palace; comprised the king’s and queen’s private wings; the servants’ and guest quarters; the court and administration; with ancillary satellite villages and compounds for officials; royal wives; agriculture and craftsmen. An advisory Council assisted the sovereign or Mwene Mutapa, and was comprised of provincial governors (Nengomasha), the high army general (Mukhomohasha), the vanguard cohort commander (Nyarukawo); the high wizard (n’anga); the royal Apothecary; (Netondo) the Guardian of the Doors, (Mangwende); the chief musician (Nyandovo), the Prime Minister (Mbokorume) and the High Steward/ Treasurer (Ambuya). The Mhondoro were spirit guides, intercessors and mediums; who the emperor was obliged to consult in order to retain the protection of the spirits and the throne. They were trained in oral history; divination and prophecy. Its political structure comprised a confederacy of united tribes with regional powers of their own. Its currency was fir and stable –on the gold dust standard and the rulers were not tempted to adulterate it; unlike the Romans and the contemporary world. The Portuguese reported several thousand Islamic traders within the boundary confines.The boundaries –in defence and in annexation; were guarded by a citizen militia with 1000 men battalions –mainly comprised of levies of peasants with the civic valour to defend their empire... On the one side; it avoided military usurpation –on the other; it required rule by popular consensus –or be deprived of an enforcing army. A group of four emissaries was initiated for foreign affairs and diplomacy –especially with the Portuguese from 2259 AUC/ 1506 (Galilean calendar) by Nyamunda. December, 9 years after –the embassy used 400 gold maticals for trade and 100 gold maticals as a gift to the Portuguese king. The Portuguese traded cannons and gunpowder weaponry with Nyamunda in exchange for gold. Gold, copper wire and glass bead jewellery, fine glazed taper ringed and stamped Moloko pottery and the spartan Phalaborwa style pottery and gold rods along with the clay kilns used to make them point to the usual artistic creativity indigenous to Africans throughout the ages while collections of seashells in graves hundreds of miles from the coast suggest either extensive currency or the coastal connection pre-empts modern souvenirs and collecting of maritime curios. Pierced lug beakers with string possess the practical domestic exertion of easing transportation of wares. As an anecdote, the British colonial army of Natal found the iron and steel of places inspired by the Great Zimbabwe and Mapunguwe tradition of metallurgy, loftier in quality to that imported from Britain –the industrial juggernaut of the 19th century Victorian world; that they preferred to use it.There was also the royal fire of eternity; similar to those of the Vestal Virgins of Ancient Rome and later noted by Ghana of Nkrumah and the Liberation Flame. Nyatsimbi Mutore died 1450. Mutapa extended it between the Zambezi and the Limpopo Rivers; from the Kalahari to the Indian Ocean. Nyamkobe (1692 to 1764) drove out the Portuguese. ‘He sends four envoys or mutumes. One of these represents the monarch on this journey; whose obedience and devotion the others show –are constrained to the embassy itself. The second is nominated as the monarch’s mouthpiece –it is his role to conduct the embassy. The third acts as the king’s eyes –or observer –witnessing all that occurs; assessing the other side and relating this to the sovereign. The fourth acts as the king’s ears and relays that he/ she hears –inspecting the ambassadors as well as the other party...The heirs to Great Zimbabwe and Monomatopa include a smaller state at Khami until the Portuguese destroyed it with canon fire and the 17th century Maravi Empire. The Maravi Empire incorporated Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi territory at its zenith. Yet the heirs of the Mwene Mutapa would continue to resist the Portuguese for the next several centuries of occupation. The successor to Gatsi Rusere (1596 -1627), - Kapararidze, denounced his forbear as a Portuguese puppet and repudiated the humiliating concessions made to them, revolting in 1631, causing the Portuguese to lose hundreds. In 1669, the Portuguese favoured the more pliable Mhande but the Africanist Nyakambiro retained the throne instead. When the Portuguese stopped paying an annual tribute in exchange for freedom to trade in the 1680’s, the insulted Changamire Mambo declared war burning Portuguese trading outposts or feiras, when his emissaries had their ears confiscated by the Portuguese who had no regard for the honoured civility of diplomatic immunity. The Portuguese were forced to retreat from the historic Empire interior to the Mozambique coast at Tete. Stone ruins have been found at Lake Malawi, near Irinyu –capable of at least 1 town of 17000 or more people. Samori Ture of the Mandingo Empire protested against the British usurpers for over 8 years.Queen Nzingu of Angola resisted the Portuguese invasion and penetration between 1622 and 1656. 40000 Angolans under Ovambo Chief Mandume also fought them. In the interior of Angola, the Matiamvo monarchs were compelled to commit suicide once infirmity or grey hairs as were the Zulu’s to promote an infusion of youthful zest. Imagine the effect if this were applied to today’s geriatric gentrocratic oligarchy of political and bureaucratic leadership! African leaders were prepared to die for democracy –and their families too. To quote from the order of succession and an example of African democracy in the 17th century, which allowed the king to retire with honour after having delivered revenge and retribution upon his enemies...“It has become customary for our Matiamvo’s when they no longer are able to serve their people as adeptly, to die either in war –or by a violent death, in order that the next elected replacement may proceed... and the present Matiamvo must meet this last fate, as in consequence of his great exactions, he has lived long enough. When we, the people come to this understanding, we invite him to make war with his enemies, on which occasion we will all accompany him... If he escapes harm; we continue to shame him into the honour of repeated fighting, this time abandoning him and his family after three or four days. Seeing himself, thus deserted by his people, he realises that he no longer bears their confidence and sitting down, calls his family around him. He then orders his mother to approach; he first cuts off her head; then decapitates his sons in succession to protect an elected succession; next his relatives; and last his beloved wife called Anacullo. This slaughter being accomplished, the king dressed in all his courtly pomp, awaits his own death stoically; which immediately follows by the chiefs Caniquinha and Canica, who send an officer. This officer first cuts off the legs and arms and the joints and lastly, he cuts off the head. The head of the officer is then severed for regicide. All of the potentiates have retired from the enclosure so as not to witness these deaths. It is my place to remain, verify the dead and to be responsible for the burial –preventing desecration by those two great chiefs –the enemies of the Matiamvo. They also take over the property of the deceased as compensation, to their own palaces. I then provide for the funeral of the late Matiamvo, preside over the newly elected succession and proclaim the new government. This is what has happened to the Matiamvos and this is what must happen to this one...” Viceroy Challa and Custodian of the Matiamvo Succession, Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough.The hospitality to customers in cuca shops on the Angolan border surpasses the West, in that the shops close when the last customer wants to leave. The pressures of shop officials and their false claims of helping, which discourage browsing or independent searching, are also refreshingly less intrusive in Africa, as a whole. Shops do not close for 21 hours on a Sunday –and then open/ purchase with restrictions/ open late.The three liberation struggles included the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) founded in 1956, with President Illido Tome Alves Machado and Secretary General Viriato da Cruz. Later, Dr Neto and Dos Santos would lead the movement to independence and as the government of Angola. Another movement was the UPA – (Popular Union of Angola) under Holden Roberto who united with the Democratic Party to form FLNA in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Front of Angola (FUA) by patriotic white Angolans in Benguela. The latter eventually was subsumed in significance by the more potent UNITA of Jonas Savimbi. The 1960 Baixa revolt showed the determination of thousands of uncoordinated farmers, who refused to accept Portuguese exploitation of maximum, sub market cotton prices, who paid for it with their lives. The three factions of MPLA, FNLA and all factions agreed peace, a ceasefire and a unified army; historically ending war to build a united Angola based on a consensus coalition government.In Angola, the poet and physician Dr Augustine Neto launched independence in 1975 -1979. Subsidised flights, state scholarships, petroleum and international telephone calls along with a First World efficient garbage system and foreign healthcare were available to those whom could benefit from them. Loyalty was repaid with these and generous Christmas bonuses. Before he entered the colonial medical service he was born in Bengo village in 1922, and then educated. In 1952, he was arrested by Dr Salazar’s PIDE. From 1952-1955, he carried on his medical studies in prison. In 1960, he was rearrested for anti-colonial actions and first imprisoned on Cape Verde before transferring to the Lusitanian mainland. For his efforts, he was awarded the distinction of the Lenin Peace Prize. Dr Neto along with Amilcar and Vasco Cabral, Morales Dos Santos and Mario de Andiow championed African history in the Lusophone colonies, establishing a Centre for African Studies in the 1970’s publishing the celebrated Linda De Horizon literary journal and sponsoring anthologies of local authors such as the Casa dos Eclipses anthology. During 1993/ 1994, even amid the conflict several thousand students braved the conflict of the civil war –defying Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA to gain an education in Kulo, Angola –even risking driving lessons. Dr Neto appointed a multiracial Cabinet, formed a literacy campaign involving enthusiastic student brigades and members of the intelligentsia and signed a Friendship Treaty with Portugal’s President Antonio Euones. Democratic forums were protected, volunteer workers received employment on public projects, while reconciliation was attempted, as Angolan exiles that had fled to Europe, were invited to return in a 1978 amnesty.Certain countries such as Angola have resulted in considerably impressive, economic, cultural and political stability since independence despite the civil war. Those such as South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe have resisted military coups. Since independence –or the end of apartheid, they have reflected popular consensus and avoided popular inspired uprisings along with Malawi and Zambia. Between 1975 -1981, Angola retained its debt servicing ratio at 15% -impressive given the ongoing war. Angola established a trade surplus and has done so since the late 1990’s primarily thanks to the growth of its oil production in value. It has not required bailing out and retains a sterling credit history and investment record which cannot be said for Ireland, Mexico, Greece, Iceland; the USA, the UK, Russia and others. In 1979 Zambia –Zaire and Angola all signed a mutual defensive and non aggression pact; which ensured that the territories of one –would not be used to attack others. In 1976, the USA vetoed Angolan membership in the United Nations despite Dr Neto’s commitment to private investment –public investment was only to supplant that of the private sector when essential. Ministries were decentralised into national and provincial to be more responsive to federal autonomy –something not considered in the US for all its emphasis on state rights. The internal security organisation DISA was abolished as being too overzealous in invading civil liberties of Angolans. This remains unique –the US wouldn’t dream of abolishing the snooping Department of Homeland Security or the prying Central Intelligence Agency. France wouldn’t abolish the Suerete, Israel wouldn’t dream of surviving without Mossad and Great Britain MI5... Dr Neto died September 10th 1978 and was replaced by President Dos Santos (who joined the MPLA aged 19, serving as foreign minister after independence, Minister of Economic Planning and first deputy prime minister). The 1980 elections were open to all candidates –you did not have to be a party member –only have political experience. The 23 vacant seats on the Central Committee were refilled by those who had to be genuine industrial or agricultural workers. From 1992, typical Western parliamentary democracy has been legalised in Angola by President Jose Dos Santos. Both presidents retain another fine legacy of supporting liberation movements such as the ANC and SWAPO. Curiously; earlier attempts to introduce democracy –first tried in the Luanda capital by popular participation was rejected by the apathy of the local people themselves, who simply weren’t interested. The FLNA and FLEC (who called for the autonomy of Cabinda) were invited to be part of the government. Peace between UNITA and was arranged through a 1994 ceasefire. The contemporary economy reached 15% GDP growth in 2000 The Shona could locate gold by observing termite activity; outcrop identification and panning for it –that later British, Rhodesian and “Zimbabwean” current mines are sourced near them. The empire’s trade was based on gold and ivory and was supervised by the mutually appointed, (Portuguese and Monomatopa), Captain of the Gates. A custom’s system –based on textiles and beads; was installed –on Muslim coastal traders and Portuguese –evasion entailed confiscation of assets and merchandise. The skilled cloth artisans imported cloth; weaving exported garments of quality; such as silk, damask and aureal satin. They traded metallurgy; jewellery; pottery and weaving.Musoma Kanijo held an Olympian world record –as a leader; ranking with Pharaoh Ramses and King Sobuzha II, as among the longest reigning of rulers. He served as chief over 98 years in the Nzeygu district from 1864 to 2 February 1963. The mere fact that places such as Carthage, Djibouti, Togo; the Comoros; Rwanda (apart from its genocide), Burundi; Mauritania, Angola (apart from its war) and others; have not been blessed with the distinction of having books commissioned about then: does not detract from their historical contributions but only demonstrates the prejudice that non Africanists have in favouring works in favour of being xenophobic towards Africa and our rightful place. Yet perhaps their oblivion... is their salvation! The mere fact that outsiders cannot criticise them; commends them for historical posterity and makes them worthy of attention for their stability and lack of historical sensationalism; so favoured by the outside world.The South African Lodestone:The first contributions that many Africans made often appeared with the first arrival of foreigners –whether the Arabs, the Chinese, the Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Italian or English. For example, the Nguni traded local knowledge with the Portuguese in exchange for imported brass and textiles at Delagoa Bay. The Khoikoi reciprocated this with the Dutch at the Cape. King Cetshawayo; - as did many Zulu and traditional African leaders, served the interests of his people and the land before himself, rather than modernity’s egocentric generation. King Shaka Zulu’s bull horn formation relying on a main body of warriors to lure his opponents in, and then encircle them with two flanking wings relied on causing panic. As they scattered, his veterans would engage in hit and run tactics, constantly wearing them out in nocturnal raids. He came up with impi regiments, stronger assegais and the endurance to march 80 kilometres a day –the permanent army expanded from 350 to 50000. His pragmatism and mercy to the vanquished, is demonstrated in incorporating their clans into his own. Dying in 1828 and born in 1787, ruler from 1819, he was banished with his orphaned princess mother Nandi. He conquered and united several kingdoms, including the powerful Mthetwa kingdom –the overlord –expanding the territory from 100 square miles to 200000 square miles. The Zulu Mfecane uprising, influenced by Shaka and the subsequent exodus; -not colonialism; formed the frontiers of the modern kingdoms. The women, who produced the food were revered and respected.The Great Trek Expedition of 1838, in which the Boers in their ox wagons –even wealthy burghers such as Gert Maritz were prepared to sacrifice the comfort and familiarity of the civilised known; set off into the unchartered interior, to escape the boundaries of the British, ranks with the 1890 Pioneer Column into North and South Rhodesia as ultimate quests of tenacious courage. Beyond the relatively civilised Cape frontiers, they established many new settlements from Pietermaritzburg in 1838 to Bloemfontein to Pretoria, over the parched “veldt” and the lofty crags of the Drakensberg, whose resilience far surpasses the so called strictures of the American Wild West. “You must give the tortoise time to put its head out before you can cut it off.”President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal Republic.President Kruger, for 18 years of office defied the British advance. Both the Zulu’s at Isandhlwana and the Boers in the Anglo Boer Wars of 1880/1881 and of 1899-1902 –spearheaded by Smuts and Kruger under speed and variety; to remove the British colonial authority testifies to African capacity to beat colonialist armies. Merriman and Rhodes worked to safeguard the colour blind franchise of the liberal Cape 1853 Constitution. During unification, Merriman and Smuts entrenched it in the 1910 constitution, in recognition of meritocracy and inclusion of races. To gain independence from the British as early as the Union of 1910, with even greater autonomy within the Commonwealth as a 1931 Dominion and 1961 Republic is impressive for any territory –most did not manage this. It was the British who were forced to concede this, after their continued defeat by the Zulu’s at Isandhlwana on the 22 January 1877, under King Cetshawayo and Prince Mkhosana of the Black Mamba Regiment of 25000 Zulus against 1800 English –over 1300 of which perished, Xhosa with their Frontier Wars and Boers. “When one gets a good ox to lead the team, it is a pity to change him. If however, a good ox is left to choose his own direction without guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.”Paul KrugerForsooth, they only won the Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902 against the heroic guerrilla tactics of Kruger and Smuts with a mere 45000 burghers with over 500000 forces under Field Marshall Roberts, Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner using scorched earth tactics and incarcerating women and children with the British invention of the concentration camp. Yet for most of the war, Smuts managed to successfully besiege the vanguard of “Britannia’s finest,” in Mafeking, Ladysmith and Kimberley. The Boers viewed the British as so inept that it was rumoured that killing an enemy general carried the death penalty. For example Britain lost1145 wounded and dead for a paltry 29 Boer casualties at Colenso, under Boer General Louis Botha –who became the first prime minister of Union South Africa Over 26000 innocent Boer women and thousands of children perished. At most, with the promise of over ?3000000 compensation, amnesties to the Boers, returning of pillaged art from Pretoria and Bloemfontein and honoured promises of Union autonomy 8 years later; the Treaty of Vereeniging marked it, as a Pyrrhic victory at best for the mighty forces of the British Empire but a true mark for the independence of Africa. Before that, the Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State had lasted over 50 years among British Natal and the Cape.“There is nothing you can gain from fighting, that you can’t gain from negotiations.”Cecil RhodesCecil Rhodes (1853-1902) was more pro-Britannia and more imperialist than Britannia. He believed in equal rights for all civilised humans –qualified non racial, meritocratic democracy. He dreamed of an African federation, under the benevolent auspices of the Cape and of a Cape to Cairo railway to link it. His acquirement of Bechuanaland, the Rhodesias and. He entered Parliament in 1881 and consolidated the diverse fragments of the Kimberley diamond industry. He became Cape Prime Minister in 1890, countered the Boers –even invaded Mozambique! Who claims that Africa has no philanthropists –and no offerings to the North? Posthumously, his legacy lives on at Rhodes House, Oxford; the Rhodes Memorial and Rhodes University in South Africa along with in the Rhodes Scholarships which have enlightened many generations –including former President Bill Clinton, World Bank Africa Chief Adviser Robert Calderisi amid others. Yet, how often is this “arch imperialist” African given his rightful credit? It is a problem that continues to face us as espousers of the African Renaissance and which this treatise seeks to address. Perhaps, only then can we be taken as seriously as we deserve... Now Mandela’s name has been tackled onto the Scholarships but for over a century, it was this pan Africanist, who dreamed of enlightenment as a permanent legacy.As for Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, he was one of those whom can be said to have decisively influenced the history of himself, those around him and the world he encountered! Without Smuts; the Treaty of Versailles, the sovereignty of South Africa, understanding and reconciliation between the Afrikaners and the British in the Anglo-Boer War and after the Union and the mandate of Namibia, the League and its United Nations heir, the Commonwealth, the Royal Air Force and those inspired by it, the philosophy of Holism, the departure of the gold standard with Keynes, amid others... would not have materialised. As field marshal and Privy Councillor, he assisted the security and defence of the UK in both World Wars, for without him; Germany would have retained her African colonies and gained SA’s neutrality –or even intervention as a Nazi ally. From youth, he surpassed expectations as an individual, striving for his implosion upon the world. At Stellenbosch, he first embodied that project of unification of two groups: of Afrikaners and English and defending the constitutional rights to representation of all politically educated, whom are true patriots and citizens, not vociferous yet uncooperative minorities of political correctness –of whatever race or other characteristic.“Our deepest thoughts and emotions are stimuli, which come to us, not from aliens but an essentially kindred and benign Universe...”After performing brilliantly both in high school and at Victoria College, then the University of Good Hope with his 1891 proposal for an SA customs union and winning a law scholarship, he advanced to Christ’s College Cambridge, There, he defended law against Professor Marais and was the first to come first in both law Tripos He progressed to Middle Temple and the Inns of Court in1894 in reading law. In the Boer War, he performed with the skill of a committed guerrilla strategist and active field commando, against the UK and assisted in negotiating the 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging and ending the Anglo-Boer War with ?3 million paid by the UK in compensation, while the non Afrikaner gained 25% of the Volksraad seats and franchise. With the Union of 1910 under Prime Minister Louis Botha, he achieved virtual dominion independence before almost any other colony in Africa (only Liberia, Ethiopia and Egypt proved exceptions). He predicted the futility of the Treaty of Versailles, refusing to serve on the Austrian Reparations Commission, on the same basis of excluding representatives for all races: exclusion breeds resentment! This concept of sovereignty, he invoked with the formation of the Commonwealth, in substitution for the Imperial connection.“A liberal study is one that liberalises that wonderful something that the moderns phrase “culture.” Culture means cultivation, where the barren soil of the human life, from the vast horde of human achievement... An individual of the greatest cultural essence; is one who absorbs that potency, being connected to nature and the life they play, must feel most, must be spellbound by all...”“No policy can be sound, which does not recognise South Africa as one of economic, moral and territorial unity. It is a willingness to listen, statesmanship, firmness, resilience, organisation and enlightenment that will solve the qualms of union and secure us, a place in the world.”In uniting South Africa and conducting the Imperial defence of both World Wars –the only person to sign the treaties ending both World Wars, he aimed strategically in pursuit of his Holistic cause. Philosophically, he came up with the philosophy: Holism as immortalised in his book: Holism and Evolution in 1926, with his triad of mind, matter and the body. He proposed the compromise which identified both Afrikaans and English as state languages. He enshrined the 1853 colour blind Cape franchise and the Glen Grey Act enabling the non racial ownership of land and property of the Cape, as part of the Union’s constitution and defended this constitutional right to representation, in whatever form, until apartheid swept his liberalising influence from office. He voiced this as Chancellor of Oxford and was responsible for permitting the encouragement of economic empowerment through merit not race, of the right to belong to a trade union to prevent exploitation, gave all pensions, increased education and the relaxing of the pass laws, from 1942 onwards... He initiated the 1924 Industrial Conciliation Act as the establishing of the tripartite alliance between unions, employers and state, prior to the corporate model of Mussolini from 1926 onwards and European others, even later. After the Union’s inception, he defended the British Empire from Germany, in relieving Namibia and against the incursion of Von Vettou with his Askaris in East Africa along with capturing Vichy Madagascar. As Chair of the Imperial Defence Committee, he coordinated both world wars, beyond merely the European spectrum and set up the Royal Air Force in 1917, realising its necessity. Not only did he secure South African involvement in World War 2 –against the isolationist and Nazi sympathies of his own Vice Premier and coalition Partner Barry Hertzog by a narrow margin of 80 in favour to 67 against, he led the SANDF against the Nazi supporters of the Greyshirts and Oswald Pirow’s New Order along with against the Afrikaners’ led by Malan and Verwoerd to prevent Adolf Hitler gaining Southwest Africa and South Africa. He also liberated Madagascar from the Vichy collaborationists and modified Union defence policy to fight abroad in North Africa and Italy. “What South Africa needs above all things, in contrast to the storms and upheavals of the past... is tranquillity! But that can only be secured by the removal of all grounds of justified discontent and the application of Liberal Principles to the government of the new Colonies, by a statesmanlike trust in the people of the land, of whatever race, and grant them and fair and equitable condition, under which they work out their own solutions. In our opinion, the only securing of the British connection lies –not in the ostentatious loyalty that the enslaved profess to those of imperialism and aggression, but in the trust and goodwill of the people inhabiting there... Let those here come to realise... that under a mutual acknowledgement of simple respect, dignity, liberty and diversity, peace and civilisation can prevail, and that there is such a universal principle of justice and equal responsibilities for all... with the freedom of scope to follow national ideals and destiny...”Appeal to the 1905 Liberal Government upon their accession to office.Internationally, he continued Rhodes’ vision –of winning a decisive role for at least one African nation, securing not only its autonomy but its international influence, out of proportion to the old hierarchy. In doing this, he embodied the desire of all African patriots, to be heard and to influence the destiny of the world... He was a central architect in the desire for peace, after World War One, thus formulating and establishing the League of Nations. He even foresaw its paralysis, without the US joining. Yet, he was versatile enough for war... With this ideal, he assisted in the drafting of the Preamble, Charter of Rights and of the UN itself. Such was his renown, that the restrictions of Lend Lease, that the US compelled all others –especially Britain to accept, was waivered for SA –even in the case of being permitted to carry its products in its own ships. His visions for the mandate of SW Africa and for Southern Rhodesia included in the Union; would have strengthened the African potential and destiny as would have been the Pan African Empire incorporating southern Mozambique in exchange for liberated Tanganyika and the three High Commission Territories of Swaziland; Basutoland and Bechuanaland. Smuts also liberated Abyssinia from Mussolini in 1941 on behalf of the Emperor Haille Selassie. If Smuts had been permitted to continue instead of the ingratitude of a fickle and capricious electorate, both Namibia and South Africa –along with many neighbours, would have been spared the disasters of Apartheid. Both he and his successor, Sir Villiers Graaf, would have adopted harmonious development according to merit and would have gradually evolved in time, to the liberal Cape and not the Apartheid tragedy.“Isolation has gone and segregation has fallen on evil days. You cannot resist the urban influx. You might as well try to sweep back the ocean with a broom.”Jan SmutsJan Hofmeyer was progressive enough to serve as a constant rejecter of the institutionalising of apartheid by removing the Cape’s non racial franchise. As a finance minister, he laid the basis for the continued and sustained economic growth that would distinguish South African macroeconomic policy for the century, avoiding irrational exuberance and turbulence for stability. As noted by the Carnegie Corporation; South Africa’s solving of the poor white poverty existence via extensive welfare, infrastructure and public works programmes remains an impressive tribute to poverty reduction by any standards; such a victory achieved by the 1950’s. South Africa, Egypt, Liberia and Ethiopia remain as historic and contemporary testimonies to what African nations could have become, if they had been spared colonialism and interference in internal affairs by outsiders.Preceding apartheid and still a world discoverer at present lay in mining technology. As a reflection of the Cradle of Africa, Professor Raymond Dart and others came up with the indigenous origins of humanity (as outlined in the chapter above). In 196, Dr Barnard and his (black) assistant performed the first world heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital. South Africa had the most powerful army on the continent –capable of operations simultaneously in Southwest Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, the Capavari and in South Africa itself. It could afford to devote 20 % of its GDP to armed forces and was one of the top 10 arms manufacturers in the world, under apartheid, capable of innovations such as the Rappel armoured car capable of travelling 900 miles over harsh bush terrain. Both the SANDF and the Rhodesians were the most mobile armies on this planet, aided by the versatile Bushmen as trackers, requiring only 1 person in support for every soldier in the front, compared to the cumbersome and pathetic US Armed Forces –including the overrated SEALS, who were so cumbersome and pathetic, that in Vietnam for example; they necessitated 7 in background support for every soldier in supportHelen Suzman, Alan Paton, Archbishop Huddleston, all are remarkable not just as resisters to apartheid, not just professionally but as people acclaiming the best of Africa. Helen Suzman stands out as the sole anti apartheid legislator in a Parliament of several hundred, the only formal and legal recourse for justice, being the lone voice to stand out for more than just her constituents of Houghton but for all the disenfranchised and all the ostracised as the singular Progressive party MP from 1961-1974 and with only a handful up until 1990. From 1941 -1944, she was Assistant Statistician to the Accountants of the War Supplies Board. From 1944-1952, she was a part time Economics History Lecturer at Wits University. She became a member of the Institute of Race Relations Council,“I want to put it to the Government, whose partnership policy can still become the leading light in Africa. I put it to the Government in a position of strength, for concessions made at a position of weakness are of no use at all... This is why the Federation partnership between the two Rhodesias and Nyasaland failed. Of course, in my opinion the government could go in a different direction: in the interests of common justice and decency, in a multi racial partnership –a country where merit, not race should be the benchmark. But while, I do not expect change in this path... –yet one day it will pass... we could still make adjustments economically and socially and stop deviating from advancement...I am not talking about petty apartheid –as damaging to the prestige of our reputation abroad though it might be, as symbols of an inherent malaise that is fundamentally impractical. Without overthrowing these prejudices, I am talking about being realistic, about enhancing our economic and social foundations... about regaining our humanity, our compassion and our sense. I am talking about the senseless policy of group area segregation banishing non whites from urban areas....” Helen Suzman Addressing the National AssemblyIsolation from the world politically and economically blockaded, apartheid attempted autarchy and in the process, pioneered import substitution. Iscor, Armscor and Denel, Mossgas and most of all: the synthetic fuel program of Sasol. To this day, Sasol’s hybrid process is a unique African solution to lessening dependence on foreign supplies of this fundamental resource. More than that, Sasol created more than just fuel –achieving domestic production of. Tongaat Hulett was similar. The interlinking dolosse of harbours that act as wave breakers were a local idea by Aubrey Kruger, a TRANSNET worker in 1966 In addition, what could be more advanced than creating an atomic bomb ratified by the South Atlantic explosion monitored by the Puerto Rico Arecibo Observatory radio telescope and United States space satellites? –especially during ostracism from the world and during the 1970’s/ 1980’s. The South African Weather Service is over 150 years old –even more impressive, given that it predates the 101 years of South Africa’s autonomous status. The pinnacle of Northern research was replicated, under justified censure, hostility and restrictions –in the Southern Hemisphere... in the Second World.... in Africa! Not only was South Africa one of the fewer than a dozen countries to have had nuclear capability... –it is the only committed pacifist among all of them, being the sole country to forfeit its arsenal, capacity and program voluntarily –having renounced the arts of war –for that of diplomacy from Presidents Botha’s detente; De Klerk’s negotiations; Mandela’s pacifism; Mbeki’s negotiation and Zuma’s diplomacy. The role of Anglo American –whose CEO is influential enough to sit on the boards of De Beers and BP; amid others from Denel to Old Mutual to De Beers and SAB Miller –the second largest world brewery, demonstrates that those of Africa are capable of economic influence in the world –whilst supporting their country and their continent, investing in its future potential. Anglo American in particular –acted as one of the single most significant investors in Africa –and was the largest foreign investor in the USA ISCOR, SASOL, ARMSCOR and the Industrial Development Corporation were examples of triumphant autarchic industries. South Africa’s economy proved fairly resilient against decades of UN sanctions. De Beers controls the world diamond supply –and Anglo American; many of the minerals. Trade extended from Cape Verde and Mauritania to Peru, Europe, Australia, Canada and most of Africa. Apartheid South Africa extended business credit to villages via the Development Board, to large industries via the Industrial Development Corporation and smaller via the Development Bank and Decentralisation Board, along with export subsidies. The ANC successor from post 1994 continued this support via the Land Bank and others. Recognising the constraints of geographical morphology, South Africa set about countering desertification via the Orange River irrigation scheme and the construction of various small dams. It imported water from Lesotho via the Malibambaso hydroelectric scheme, to counter potential water shortages and constructed the Cabora Bassa Dam in Mozambique, while the Rhodesians constructed the Beitbridge railway in 1974. During the 1980’s South Africa was only one of 11 countries in the world that could feed itself and still export food. “Parents; you should rejoice for having given birth to this type of child! A child who prefers to fight it out –with the oppressors rather than be subordinate to drunkenness, frustration and lethargic, indolent compliance and submission. A child who prefers to die from a bullet–rather than to allow a poisonous education which relegates him, his parents and his country to apposition of perpetual subordination! Aren’t you proud of the soldiers you have given birth to? If you are proud; -support them! Do not go to work on Monday!”Soweto Student Representative Council uprising, September 1976... One could even argue that the philosophy of apartheid as evinced by the architect Verwoerd, was a in itself, something so lurid and comprehensive; that it too was launched as a product of an African mind –however dissolute and contemptible, it did influence South Africa, Africa and the world... –who united against it. Forsooth, one of the rationale behind apartheid, was its recognition of the latent ability within each non white African –which if uncastrated, would exponentially surpass each white African –economically and politically, to subsume them –without need for their dependence! Verwoerd feared, being intelligent enough, the growth of endemic entrepreneurship and based the cornice of his system on denying it. The heroism of the Defiance Campaign and the 1976 Soweto riots demonstrated convincingly, throughout its existence, the people of SA would not submit to tyranny unlike other parts of the world. When students from Hector Peterson died –rather than accept the alien indoctrination of Verwoerd’s innovative Bantu Education and the compulsory use of the Afrikaans tongue; they showed their heroic resilience; which the dispirited youth of today in this globalised placid and docile world of inequality; injustice and globalisation“I believe in reforming and improving policies if it is out of convictions and realistic ideology. We are prepared to eliminate worn-out practises and discriminations that impede the future. South Africa will not follow the suicidal path of oppression.”Prime Minister PW Botha 1979Incidentally, what does it mean to be African? We are who we are –and to deny ourselves it would be the most brazen and fallacious of follies! Pan Africanists and critics alike have been prejudiced enough to confine it. But, whether one is an “Afrikaner”, a “Rhodesian”, an “English” South African, an expatriate, an “Indian,” –one is primarily and fundamentally: an African! The Afrikaner, whose blood and sweat seeped into the pores of the ash earth has as much right to proclaim himself an African as those not of his skin pigment. One may not be one but surely any honest being recognises their spirit of toil and sacrifice that is their Oath of Allegiance. Likewise, so does the English person, who may have been nominally raised in the shade and light of both continents, but whose heart, spirit and soul, remain quintessentially and forever, African...The largest artificial hole in the world: is the one at Kimberly. The grandiloquent and opulent Sun City resort, with a three tiered rainforest of over 1.6 million tropical plants envision an idyllic lost Africa, with its artificial Valley of Waves and Bridge of Time of fake earthquakes, while the Pavilion Mall in Westville, Natal has to rank as one of the most imaginative outpourings of globalisation’s stagnant uniformity of modern culture along with the Tuscan Montecasino. Pretoria had over 70000 jacarandas planted, while white Johannesburg overtook Los Angeles in the 1960’s as having the highest concentration of swimming pools in the world. The world’s only dodo egg and one of the few coelacanths occurs in the East London Museum. Even one’s home academic and garden Victorian city of Pietermaritzburg –Mgungdlovu/ Msunduzi, has germinated internationally renowned health strategies as well as a municipal Tatham Art Gallery with art by Pablo Picasso, Henry Matisse and Degas. A working camera obscura still surveys Grahamstown –famous for its Art’s Festival. In 1919, the first African and second world snake park: Fitzsimmons was started in Port Elizabeth. Outshoorn was the feather capital and is now the ostrich capital of the globe. The Post Office Tree at Mossel Bay is historically unique and significant globally. Since 1929, Table Mountain in the Cape has had cable cars. Cape Town probably has the most sister cities of anywhere in the world: Haifa; San Francisco; Aachen, Buenos Aires, St Petersburg and Menes in France. Within a year of introduction in apartheid South Africa in 1976, television rapidly expanded from the world’s fasted growth rate per capita from 0 to 670000. Electricity production expanded from 3.8 000 million kilowatt hours in 1936 to over 80 000 million kilowatt hours four decades later. Radios expanded from 139000 in 1936 to 2.5000000 in 1976. 98% of white South Africans received education of some sort. The consumer had access to 27 different vehicle assembly plants and produced vehicles –more than in Europe. Despite sanctions and boycotts, the efficiency and reputation of South African Airways –in contrast to the white elephants of other African nations (with the exception of the profitable Ethiopian Airways)m it served as the African carrier, from 115000 in 1960 to 2.5000000 17 years later. 40 % of the world’s gold has been mined in Johannesburg –one of the world’s most modern major cities only founded in 1886 and is the only major city –that is inland, not bordering a river or an ocean.Culture before the dismemberment of this system, voiced itself through diverse persona –from Alan Paton to Kwaito music of Zola to Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela. Sophiatown -before its obliteration ranked amid the cultural enclaves of Africa. One of the top world choirs radiates on par with the Renowned Vienna Boy’s Choir –is the Drakensburg Choir. The Grahamstown Arts Festival is world famous and in 2003, SA hosted the World University Debating Championships. The National Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria is designed so that a shaft of light illuminates through the ceiling at noon 16 December –The Day of the Vow/ National Reconciliation, reflecting the central plaque “We for thee, South Africa,” in light. 64 terrazzo wagons guard it, while the 92 metre Great Trek marble frieze is the planet’s largest. The National Women’s Monument in Bloemfontein, signals the torment and deaths of 26370 Afrikaner women who had the distinctive privilege of being the first to endure the English invention of the concentration camp. In linguistics too; South Africa remains at the zenith in contrast to the English elder generations who deplore its contemporary linguistic deterioration, with the only Academy for English in the world, founded in 1961 to advise usage (Grammar phone) to assist officially, to award prizes and to sponsor lectures, seminars and tutorials In addition, South Africa honours 11 official languages along with honouring a tongue, the Afrikaans National Language monument in Paarl –as the only one in the world, to commemorate 100 years existence as a recognised language. Constructed by the noted sculptor Jan Van Wyk and 57 metres high, it consists of a hyperbola, low wall and three semi spheres, each symbolising the contributions of three continents –Dutch, Malay and Khoi – (Europe, Asia and Africa) as pivotal in construing this modern language. The vivid Dinosaur Park near Nelspruit, replicating these fauna in a rare cycad terrain remains unique. The State Theatre in Pretoria has the world’s highest (55 metre) flyover tower for storing equipment and the world’s single largest print frame (27metres by 17 metres). One of the most advanced world communication centres has its own constructed suburb in Auckland Park. In contrast to the British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC, the headquarters of the SABC stretches over 15 hectares with 3 kilometres of buildings and over a quarter of an acre of television equipment.Ruth First could have passively accepted the role of the typical suburban housewife –but like Bram Fischer she defied racial conventions and the life of comparative affluence (white South Africans were in the top five of best living standards in the world in the 1960’s and 1970s –to quote one popular fact: they boasted the highest concentration of tennis courts, swimming pools and other symbols, in their quarter plus acre lots outside that of Beverly Hills California). But like Helen Suzman, ICU, the Black Sash, those from Sophiatown to Sharpeville to Soweto and the Torch Commandos’, Alan Paton and other African patriots who did not let racial polarised filters cloud all; she chose the path of heroic defiance and resistance. An academic and activist, she served in exile as a radicalising historical lecturer at Durham (a plaque still marks the spot of her dwelling) as well as an intuitive observer and commentator on the initial stages of Colonel Gaddafi’s rebellion and revolution in Libya. Steve Biko formed the pro Black People’s Convention and the SA Student’s Organisation, giving up studying medicine at the University of Natal in 1972 and he lived from (1946-1977). Archbishop Desmond Tutu, another South African and individual human being who deserved to win the Nobel Prize, whom retired in 2763 AUC, as Dean of Johannesburg, could have colluded with the National Party regime and resided in a white area, but chose to live in Soweto and used his Cape Town residence to oppose them. He trained as a teacher but over Verwoerd’s Bantu education indoctrination introduction chose the Church, to defy the apartheid government more potently.The struggle against apartheid is remarkable in unearthing heroes and heroines from Walter and Albertina Sisulu to Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Albert Luthuli. Albertina Sisulu can be defined as the matriarch of the ANC struggle, born October 21 1918 and recently dying 2 June/ Skirophion 2011 AD/ 2764 AUC. This comrade of the ANC personified the tenacious will and valour of women in changing their circumstances for the better in their continent, since founding the South African Federation of Women in 1954 and being one of those many women who protested the extension of the pass laws to women –marching on Pretoria in 1948. She also founded resistance in the Western Cape as a co founder of the United Democratic Front in 1983. Her husband, Walter Sisulu retained his convictions under the pressures of being imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada and others –in his case it was for 27 years. Apartheid undoubtedly enacted its role of making the Republic of South Africa; South Africa! Not only was this nation spared the failures of exogenous imperialism and dominance, with the most potent of infrastructures but, more fittingly, through the liberation movements, the communities and through individuals from Suzman to Beyers Naude –the former Afrikaner Broderbund member and the National Party supporting Dutch Reformed Church’s most gifted protégé who defied his heritage to join the struggle –and alone in the church; preached non racism, it ensured that they would not stomach tyranny from any race or sector! Unlike the fading wisp of the northern Hemisphere, it ensured a thriving politically educated masses, led by a cadre who knew politics and had rural roots, -with the ability as revolutionaries, to compensate for their lack of previous experience denied them, to administer the country through the millennium and globalisation, unscathed...A COVENANT FOR ALL:Without foreign intervention –Africa can efface solutions to her own problems and this is most perceptible in its peaceful transaction to global integration and the form of Northern hemisphere multi party political activity. South Africa ended apartheid peacefully –without resorting to a civil war –an achievement rarely attained in the turbulent strife of this and the previous century, thanks to the skilful negotiations by the ANC, supported by veterans of the struggle –from other resistance groups too –of myriad organisations from the media to the South African Council of Churches, the Institute of Race Relations, the Progressive Party, COSATU, the South African Communist Party and many others. Indeed, the English government would make usage of ANC negotiators and training to achieve a ceasefire agreement with the IRA and Northern Ireland. The historic Groote Schuur Minute of 1990, which suspended the struggle and enacted negotiations, provided a turning point. What remains unique and often historically forgotten, is that over 70% of the whites rejected apartheid in a government referendum of the electorate in 1991 and this prompted the government that it no longer had support and had to negotiate. Races could have precipitated a civil war but they chose a negotiated peace for the sake of the survival of South Africa. Their example, serves as a covenant model of mediation for all as did the peaceful example of the first multiracial, universal democratic elections of April 27th 1994.“Africans want a just share in the whole of South Africa, they want a stake in society and their own destiny. The ANC is engaged in a struggle, for their fundamental right: to live and to thrive...” “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which, all persons live together in harmony with equal oppourtunities. It is an ideal, for which I hope to live for and achieve... But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die...”Conclusion of the Rivonia Trial, Nelson Mandela“I meant everything I said. The blood of many patriots has been shed for demanding conformity with civilised standards. If I must die, let me declare for all, that I will meet my fate, like a human...”Proposed Death Final Words.What could be said of Nelson Mandela –perhaps the very symbol of the African Renaissance; that refutes any ridiculous concept, that we cannot produce great prophets, leaders and individuals? Perhaps it is summarised in the 67 minutes of helping others in the internationally confirmed Nelson Mandela Day –his birthday on 18th July. Or possibly it is the willingness to use his prison number on Robben Island 466/64 in a fund raising concert, his Nobel Peace Prize; his acclaim around the world and willingness to champion humanitarian causes and philanthropy, while condemning vice; whilst remaining humble and true to himself.“Life has its own way of forcing decisions upon those that hesitate.”Nelson MandelaHe was educated at Clarkebury and then Fort Hare, which with Healdtown, Lovedale and St Mathews were early incarnations of multi racialism in Africa, centred on the ideology of a British Empire public school but with progressive elements and with pragmatic vocational training, (many are gifted elsewhere. Lovedale and Fort Hare in particular were famous throughout the continent, raising generations of future leaders and intelligentsia in other countries: Desmond Tutu, Herbert Chitepo, Kenneth Kaunda, Oliver Tambo and Julius Nyerere as some of the alumni. Fort Hare College –then University was opened in 1916 by Union Prime Minister Louis Botha, on the basis of meritocracy to all races and unusually encouraged women from its inceptions –no use educating men and a new generation of rulers, if their wives are ignorant or in themselves, cannot become rulers. Its first female professor Jill Jabavu soon supported this thesis and Professor Z K Mathews taught it. Mandela was elected to the Students Representative Council. When he found how much it was the usual democratic farce with pretensions of representing them (so typical of prefect structures, student unions and politics itself) but actually desiring to control them, he aimed to resign in protest and was threatened with expulsion –for that would betray its mirage.“A leader must keep forces together –you cannot do this unless you allow dissent. People should be allowed to criticise their leaders, without fear or favour.” “You mustn’t compromise your principles, but you must not humiliate the opposition. No one is more dangerous, than one who is humiliated.”Nelson MandelaHow many retain their purpose and nobility of character, especially under duress of great conditions –especially in imprisonment? How many see each person –not as a remote or alienating part of the system but fundamentally, as a human being? Who else would have tried to find out about the warders –in their own language? On Robben Island, he and the other Rivonia trial defendants set up a university and offered classes to the inmates and studied for their own. Punctuality was preserved in him. The spirit of reconciliation is amid the worthiest spirits to emulate –but one of the most arduous and tenebrous to accomplish. Donating a third of his presidential salary to the Children’s Fund, he committed himself to philanthropy. A definite turning point –to rank with those of the Union in 1910, the cessation of apartheid peacefully in 1994 and the decisive 1948 election where Smuts lost 3 seats short for the National Party and introduction of apartheid; is that of the Rivonia Trial. The consequences of not sentencing Mandela, Kathrada and others to life imprisonment on Robben Island instead of the death penalty; would have changed the fate of South Africa; the destiny of the continent with which it is entwined and its continued influence in this world as a paragon guardian of our continent’s interests from the World Cup and potential Olympics (Africa’s first) to BRIC -the economic leaders of the present and future –replacing the G7 and Europa over the next few decades, to the AU and the World via the African Renaissance, the culture and the technocrats “You don’t lead by your position but by the strength of your ideas.”“I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant –of you, the people! Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.”Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Speech, Cape Town 1990, upon his release from prison.He warned the people, when campaigning...“Do not expect to be driving a Mercedes the day after the election or swimming in your own backyard pool. Life will not change dramatically except that you will have increased your self esteem and become a citizen in your own land. You must have patience. You might have to wait five years for results to show. You might have to wait a decade or 15. If you want to continue living in poverty –without clothing or dreams –then go and drink in a shebeen... –But if you want better things –then you must work hard with us... to make it occur.... We cannot do it all... –you must do it, yourself...At his Presidential Inauguration Address, he reflected with pride at the accomplishment of SA... “Today, all of us, by our presence here confer hope and glory to newborn liberty.... Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted far too long, must be born a society of which all humanity can be proud of... We, who were outlaws and ostracised not so very long ago, have been given the rare privilege to be hosts to the nations of the world, on our own soil... We thank all of our distinguished international guests for having arrived to take possession –with the people of our country; of what is, after all, a common and auspicious victory for justice, for peace and for human dignity...We have at last attained our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all of our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, depravation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. Never, never and never again, shall it be that this beautiful land shall witness and experience the oppression of one by another. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement...”Nkosi Sikelele Africa!Bitterness and revenge may consume all but the most selfless and purest of souls, but not Nelson Mandela! He took tea with Betsy Verwoerd in the Afrikaner enclave of Orania in the Northern Cape. In 1995, he symbolically united all when he ran onto the field, in a Springbok rugby jersey to celebrate South Africa’s victory of the World Cup –after decades of boycotts, where a symbol of the old regime became one of hope and confidence for the new... He showed the magic of forgiveness and reconciliation... It is a symbolism of reassurance that all Africans are a part of their hinterland –where their allegiance, hearts and spirits linger, as well as their bodies... President Zuma too acknowledges this, with his first Cabinet in 2762 AUC, including those from the Freedom Front of Afrikaner culture to the old tripartite alliance to those of all spectrums and his reassuring meritocratic appointment of the old technocrats –including Pravin Gordhan and the lodestone of SA’s modern economic triumph: Trevor Manuel. Again, Madiba’s contributions to world peace which are genuine (and not merely a promise to do something, like the 2009 Nobel Prize to the new US president), he shared the 1994 Nobel Prize with FW De Klerk –the other winners were the eminences of Albert Luthuli and Desmond Tutu –as winning a this Prize for those Africans was actually foundered on achievement –not the mere promise to change –as the new American President pledged but backfired. He won the 1979 Nehru Prize for International Understanding, among others –which he had to accept in absentia, whilst imprisonment. He avoided the extremities and alienation doctrine of Pan African Black Consciousness and looked for the contribution of all individuals and all Africans –of whatever race.Nelson Mandela believed in listening to all people’s perspectives gracefully before venturing his own. He addressed prison warders and civil servants in their native tongue of Afrikaans –and allowed their heritage to remain unsullied by political correctness. He included both the IFP opposition Buthelezi (as Minister of Home Affairs) and the National Party leader who had set him free: De Klerk (1 of 2 Deputy Presidents) in his first Cabinet along with the apartheid finance wizards Chris Liebenberg/ Derek Keyes. The Cabinet, judiciary, media, Parliament and various tribunals were all composed harmoniously in a Rainbow Nation –with liberty. He had lunch with his Rivonia Trial prosecutor Percy Yutar. Internationally; he restored South Africa’s place in continental and planetary affairs as a serious force (aided by his vice president and successor Thabo Mbeki –who was then aided by the capable Dr Nkosazana Zuma the Foreign Affairs minister from 1999), countering the isolation and ostracism under apartheid. Nelson Mandela repeatedly chastised the African Union and Commonwealth to deal with those regimes such as General Sami Abacha’s regime (1993-1998) in Nigeria –having the moral dignity to do so, even if it didn’t work. His Makhasane campaign (Let us build together), persuaded rural people to end their rent and bond boycotts.“The time has come for Africa to take full responsibility for her woes and use the collective wisdom it possesses to make a reality of the idea of the African Renaissance.” -Nelson Mandela to the Zimbabwean Parliament, May 1997.Post Mandela South Africa, if anything has unequivocally trounced the ideas that we African’s are hopeless and doomed. South Africa formulated not only the economic response and reconciliation process of its residents to its issues, it not only negotiated a peaceful political transition averting civil war and confirmed democracy in its four Presidents so far (From Nelson Mandela to Jacob Zuma) but inaugurated the essence of the African Renaissance, driven by the former president Thabo Mbeki (with his sponsorship of NEPAD and commitment to foreign affairs), throughout Nelson Mandela’s presidency and his own. The ANC has not obsessed itself with race, -for all Africans –of whatever creed played a part in the struggle and recognises the necessity of all living racial harmony. Nor, has it devolved and convoluted into “Zimbabwe”... But perhaps, that is testimony not only to the fact, that both the liberation movement and the apartheid state, were able to negotiate –without external meddling but also from not destroying and augmenting everything that makes South Africa such a pivot to Africa and to the world... Perhaps, it is because the inhabitants had the backbone and the spine to resist tyranny and suppression so that they finally ended up with the Constitution and leaders they deserve. If it works –don’t obliterate it! Equally, if it doesn’t –resist wholeheartedly! The genius and vision of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in 1996 and chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with sub poena powers and the right to grant amnesties in exchange for confessing the truth, gave South Africans who suffered under apartheid a chance to be heard. It unified the races of South Africa and promoted sympathetic and empathetic understanding/ reconciliation not vengeance. Most of all it averted the high probability of a civil war. It has been copied in Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Chile and Argentina.“The whole world is moving into a colour phase of history, with results none can foresee and South Africa should dread most. Still, the worst, like the best, never happens.”Field Marshall Jan Smuts, after the pivotal 1948 election loss...It probably had the most gifted and merited Independence judiciary, media, cabinet, Parliament and bureaucracy with the new tripartite alliance from 1994 in its history and institutions which would distinguish themselves from most equivalent elsewhere in Africa and even the First World. Electricity, sanitation, education and healthcare were all rapidly extended under the Reconstruction and Development Programme. Over 120000000 received government welfare aid, to make South Africa the major 2nd World welfare state country, -reducing poverty far more than in Brazil and Mexico. Even during the end of apartheid the government spent a greater percentage of GDP on welfare than the First World and most 2nd World. Stability and order –socially, politically, culturally and economically is an impressive achievement. In four years, 5000000 received clean water and 500 houses per diurnal average. Academically, Rhodes, Stellenbosch, the Universities of Witwatersrand, Cape Town and Kwa Zulu Natal all hold distinctions in various fields -the last three within the top 500 in the world.... and are far more reasonably priced for postgraduate qualifications of decent calibre than the overoptimistic and overpriced offerings of the Firs World.“I am an African... The strong repressors had annulled the injunction of Divine equality but... that immoral society, which had deprived many of their self esteem and made them victims... while others became criminals, which had no sense of worth... We have overthrown this. We have prevailed! I am born of a people who will not tolerate oppression, who will not allow fear of death, torture, oppression, banishment, silence –or persecution to result in the perpetuation of injustice. We honour the endurance and patience of ordinary people who do not despair when things go wrong and who will not permit the behaviour of the few to result in the description of our country and our people as barbaric and to lead it to destruction... Our constitution ennobles the sacrifice and toil of our people...I envision a future society as a future community, a future world... –which enables the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means and rejoices in the diversity and characters of our surroundings and our people. As a phoenix, Africa rises from the ashes. Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now. However improbable it may seem to the sceptics, Africa will prosper... The African Renaissance will dawn... There will be an African Century!Former President Mbeki, 1996 Constitution inauguration.Fundamentally; all politicians and civil service must remember this precept of taxpayer’s revenue: it is not our money –it is theirs! Once the money is allocated it is only the beginning! We make the repeated plea today; that the money gets where it needs to get to. If the money is committed to education infrastructure; then all of us... must ensure that the money buys what it is meant to. It is a task in the first instance of parliamentarians but fiscal responsibility, accountability and education, is our future. We are the guardians of other people’s money –it is not our money...”The Honourable Trevor Manuel...There are many individuals whom exist in South Africa, whom empower the lodestone upon, which its reputation rotates. One of them is Trevor Manuel: perhaps the most competent of all financial ministers until his elevation to coordinate several ministries of economic planning. Without formal academic training –even an economics linked undergraduate, master’s or PHD degree, it is this individual who personally instigated the continued prosperity of this country, aided by a technocratic enclave and supported by the visionary Nelson Mandela, the technocrat economist Thabo Mbeki, the aware interim one of Kgalema Motlanthe and the pragmatic Zuma administration whom has elevated him to coordinate several economic linked ministries. Unique to the world and to governments was the formation of his “Tips for Trevor.” This allows people a forum to make economic suggestions, comments or data and assist in compiling the budget. Unlike some, he and his Treasury technocratic cadre such as Maria Ramos of Transnet, Tito Mboweni of the Reserve Bank, Pravin Gordhan of SARS... were prepared to act...not be subordinate underlings waiting for others to strike! It is the Treasury who collectively formulates the Budget - not one individual, (which incidentally is ranked by the Open Budget Index as one of the least opaque budgets in the world).“Nor do I ever wish to be beholden...”More sophisticated, advanced and courteous than virtually all of the First World – (who only has time for the connected, the wealthy, corporations, the media and lobbying groups), he responded to grass roots communication. He actually communicated with humble mortals –unlike the Northern Hemisphere deme kratia plebeian representatives who so brashly ignore supplicants, petitioners, advice and even eulogising encomiums. Curiously, there are more social welfare recipients than tax payers –and yet a surplus has also been possible. He personally initiated an international financing facility for immunisation. Prioritising the apartheid debt and avoiding the “Zimbabwean” expedient of printing money; resulted in sound monetary foundations; so as the pound depreciates; the rand remains stable. He realised economics is about people –and the money entrusted to the state; is to be used responsibly; it is the tax payer’s – not the government’s. He avoided bailing out or nationalising Saambou –placing it under administrative curatorship; until the Treasury had resolved its issues and then sold it for a pittance to a private healthier bank. Bank monitoring and stringent supervision/ financial controls prevented the contamination or invention of certain flaws such as negative equities and subprime mortgages; where reserves were built whenever it did not endanger the economy while SARS was made accessible to people.“The world is not of our own making...”The success that the Union and the Republic of South Africa has had historically as an economy and presently can be testified in the sheer fact that, unlike countries such as the UK, it has never had to be bailed out and restructured by the bureaucrats of the World Bank/ IMF and has never suffered such extremities of inflation, now enjoys a far smaller proportion of debt to GDP than Europe, Japan and the US. Nor is it deranged enough to have a Chancellor who sells its gold reserves for a pittance during a boom. Such is its soundness, reflecting the faith that the leadership have always placed in their proficient faith in having the most meritocratic financial ministers from Jan Hofmeyer to Derek Keys, Chris Liebenberg, Trevor Manuel and Pravin Gordhan, and departments in Africa –and perhaps in the whole G20; that SA weathered both the recent economic recession –with a surplus and positive GDP growth and the 1997 Asian crisis, without having to bail out the banks, devolve from its policies of uplifting the people or dramatically toss out the old financial regulatory system –still working. The aims of the RDP were to counter the iniquities of the apartheid government... The policy of GEAR entailed macroeconomic stability, a balanced mixed economy, fast growing, yet with low inflation –but also sourced around investment that would help the people and the economic future. It aimed at providing sufficient employments and prospects to utilise its citizens, without enslaving them to the gulf of state sponsored inequality in the constrictive “welfare” states of Europe and the poverty trap. The South African gold trader and statistician, Joseph Kutchen constructed a 2 -4 year business cycle involving bank clearings, wholesale prices and inventory movements. Post liberation struggle South Africa’s macroeconomic innovations lay in the heretical concept of countering globalisation –of liberalising trade but not to surrender sovereignty or economic control. In alignment with its autarchic and pioneering spirit, it has chosen its own indigenous path to investing in its own terrain, its own continent –and abroad –but without incurring the instability of the supposedly more fiscally sophisticated Northern Hemisphere. Restoring simplicity and humanity to any Revenue Service is a valiant accomplishment. As for the servicing of debt and negative forward reserves via inflation linked bonds, liquidity and diversification merits its own economic scholarship. It has been able to finance its own radio telescope -SALT initiative which located 2 new planets in 2011 and is the largest in the southern hemisphere –its accuracy extending to the observation of macrocosmic events 1.5 billion years after the origin of the Universe (purported “Big Bang”), its own Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Scheme and Coega Industrial Development Zones. It is the only African nation and only one of 11 to possess a permanent Antarctic research station on the continent.It learnt to avoid the mistakes of development mired “Zimbabwe.” Protection of labour is constitutionally enshrined in the rights to strike, boycott, join a union, and be paid for work and to collective bargaining –all of which are unobtainable in the unwritten constitution of one of the most influential historically of economies and countries: United Kingdom. Many so called reputable organisations and countries from the UN to the US to the UK offering illegal unpaid internships would be denounced justly in the courts and unions of SA. To cite from the FTSE, of thriving firms include names such as Anglo-American, De Beers, Aquarius, Harmony, Impala, Old Mutual, BHP Billiton, Unilever and the world’s second largest brewery SAB Miller. Our international bond and credit rating based on our ability to repay debt; has only increased since the end of apartheid so that we now rank above Russia, Brazil and India, on par with Ireland and are in no threat to have it downgraded by the three international rating agencies as the US; UK, Greece; Portugal and France have done. Our local companies have always done well abroad –in Africa –and even in Shanghai –as the first branch of the rib and steakhouse franchise: “Spur” since 2005. England, Asia have no equivalent franchises to our very own “Spur” and “Steers.”Politically, the ANC must rank as among the most sophisticated of political organisations encountered through any terrestrial dominion, with the most acute political intelligence and capacity to coordinate the electorate and the community in support of it. Other countries could learn from the way it strives to involve communities, to make politics relevant –and above all; not boring, in its harnessing of the youth and cadres within society, with its events, demonstrations and canvassing all. Both it and the Democratic Alliance have established branches abroad –(the ANC’s was operational between 1961-1993 and has been relaunched) -and the ANC has spearheaded the campaign for expatriate citizens to vote and participate in the civic responsibilities. This stands in marked contrast to the apathetic and indolent somnambulists of Britannia. Nationally; its ministers from Trevor Manuel to Dr Nkosazana Zuma; the new AU Chairperson (former Minister of Heath; Foreign and Home Affairs) have all done excellently.The Cape cart is also endemic to this nation. The word’s second oldest air force is the SA Aviation Corps (SAAF) with a distinguished history in both World Wars –in the Second, they drove the Italians out of Africa and the Nazi’s out of Italy, with the Rhodesians such as Ian Smith –and even the RAF owes itself, as previously mentioned, to the singular vision and inception of Field Marshall and former Union Prime Minister Jan Smuts. The aeronautical devotion and connection ranks in the top ten with 741 airfields. In transport, the Gautrain, microlights – (the International World Microlighting Championships were held in my home small village of Cato Ridge between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in 1996 and the new Sling class of microlights released this year in 2764 AUC/ 2011 is a purely South African designed and built aircraft) and the luxurious Rovos Rail and Blue Trains... again i have been rated as being able to compete with standards anywhere on Terra. The Apple Express remains as one of the world’s few narrow gauge functioning railways. In fact; most of South Africa’s existing central railways were completed by 1914 –within the first four years of Union. The Port Elizabeth engineer Eric Mayersfield conceptualised “dolos” or interlocking, breakwater blocks now used in world harbours. The Shovo Kalua project of 2011 aims to empower the rural youth in their access to education uniquely by providing 1000000 bicycles along with safety and repairs training.Ushaka Marine World in Durban, rates as one of the world’s largest aquariums. One of the world’s longest urban streets stretches continuously for 26 kilometres –Pretoria’s Church Street. Pretoria was also the first city in the southern hemisphere to possess flush glazed skyscrapers since 1988. Jumma Masjid Mosque there; is the largest in the entire southern hemisphere –evidence of South Africa’s long historic religious tolerance dating back to the Huguenots and no equivalent of anti Jewish pogroms. Finally, upon the foreign terrain, its influence has and remains decisive as a G20 member and as a founder member of the United Nations and the Atlantic Charter, serving with grace on the Security Council. It remains a tribute to South Africa’s independence; that it won independence, without relying on Russia, China and the West, aided by fellow Africans but negotiated by the people, its revolutionary vanguard and the apartheid government whom finally submitted. South Africa’s foreign policy is one of seeking peace and mediation by attempting to understand the background and views of all parties involved –as its recent involvement in Syria, North Africa and the Sudan proves –It is not to blatantly impose itself forcefully –like the belligerent UN. In fact, the first US consulate in Africa was set up in Cape Town in 1799. It has even provided advice about urban riots to the British government and rightfully sneered at the feeble attempts of England to sort out its August riots in London, Manchester and Liverpool. It also believes that the people of a country should solve its own problems –and not rely on others to prop them up –such as foreign invasion forces; who will never win against a hostile domestic population. The recent Royal Wedding in England of Prince William can be counterpoised by Africa’s own domestic equivalent of the 2764 AUC wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco to Charlene Wittstock of Benoni, Johannesburg, South Africa. The future heir and progeny to the ruling Rainier dynasty of Europe could arise from African loins. The role of the SA Institutes of International Affairs and Race Relations; in acting as voices for the strangled, reflect this. Invited to join the new superpowers of the 21st century (BRIC –Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as the UN Security Council, the voice of South Africa as part of Africa cannot be silenced. Support for those whom the West has ostracised from cupidity, indifference or callousness –has been reciprocated with a lack of retaliation under so called “terrorism.” The democratically elected government of HAMAS and the Palestinian concentration camp referred to as the Western Bank, the historic sovereignty of Tibet and Cuba are but a few of the causes ignored by the North, yet vociferously defended by venerable academics, individuals, government and other dignitaries –along with the less globally subservient media. The quality of those such as the Mail and Guardian and various masters of caricature such as Zapiro are on par with the West... Respect for religion in Africa –and observance of its influence in moulding foreign affairs does not appear to be mirrored by those leaders, who invite retribution by those vengeful at being ignored.The New Boundaries of the Rhodesian Frontier: (and its Zimbabwean heir)The First Chirumenga or Uprising was launched against the settler survivors of Rhode’s Pioneer Column, who were attacked first in July 1893 in Fort Victoria, under the direction of Lobonguela. In 1934, the Southern Rhodesian African National Congress under Reverend Thompson Samkonge, was formed to try and challenge Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins (who would eventually hold the record at over 23 years of one of the longest occupations as prime ministers in the recorded history of world parliamentary democracy and lead South Rhodesia into virtual independence on a non racial, meritocratic qualified franchise). Joshua Nkomo revived the ANC when he became President in 1957; prepared to use existing parliamentary forums to achieve his aims –as one of the prime signatories on behalf of Black Rhodesians in the 1961 constitution. Prime Minister Ian Smith and Joshua Nkomo were prepared to arrange a democratic transition rejected by Sithole and Muzorewa which would have ended the struggle –Second Chirumenga peacefully which caused unnecessary to millions of Rhodesian –Zimbabweans, still suffering even more three decades later. Nkomo also led an effective bus boycott in Salisbury a year earlier. Another nationalist Herbert Chitepo died March 18th 1975, in the pursuit of a Zimbabwe that would no longer be ostracised by the world as Rhodesia was. Remarkably; President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia appointed a nine man international commission to investigate a suspicious death which included members on behalf of the Organisation of African Unity Liberation Committee, Botswana, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zaire. Another voice of sanity and moderation; who lead ZANU’s paramilitary unit –Josiah Tsongogara died 26th December 1979. Rhodesia from its instigation: was blessed with autonomy and fair governance committed to the advancement of its citizens socially, politically and economically. In 1900, settlers were granted representation on the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council and in 1923 they became a unique quasi Dominion on a non-racial franchise and self-government. The UK merely retained a veto over foreign affairs and non whites –and such is the case of Rhodesia –that it never had to use these powers. Even Nkomo and Sithole, were consulted and ratified the 1961 Constitution, which was that which the Rhodesian Government was prepared to accept, with the government complying with every British request. They gained Federal MP’s during the 1953-1963 Federation. During Smith, the people were to gain a universal franchise with all the opposition MP’s –and leader of the Opposition were black with outnumbering on the externally ignored existence of the multiracial Constitutional Council –whilst could have chosen the A Roll, with the election of Muzorewa, the freest one that Rhodesia-Zimbabwe has known for forty years. Under the current usurper, this progress would stagnate and regress, until it disintegrated into anarchy as exemplified in the exodus towards its neighbouring fellow countries.When considering the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, it is curious to note the plethora of international sympathy –including the British people, in contrast to governments that in themselves were racialist and had no concern for the fact, that all whom are devoted to Africa and the Renaissance –regardless of race, culture, creed, gender, whatever... are Africans and will remain so, whilst faithful. It is astonishing how one of the most successful and vindictive propaganda campaigns –arguably of the history of Britannia’s foreign policy, means the people of Rhodesia are still paying for it forty years later amid the torrent of unjustified hogwash assaulting Smith’s ideals of meritocracy for Mugabe –and his racial besotted and motley band of cronies such as “Hitler”. It is intriguing to cite, the endorsement of Smith –then Abel Muzorewa, by most Rhodesians –without distinction by race. The Federation would have provided the economic and political prospects for the advancement of all three members as evoked in the success of Lake Kariba but all three eventually deteriorated –though Rhodesia did so, only from 1985 onwards... The British refused to pay pensions –even the African military veterans and Smith’s government offered to recompensated them. The British then agreed to pay –but only in pounds sterling; which they had prohibited any Rhodesian –of any race to use; exchange or transact. Yet the Rhodesian government ensured that pensioners of all races would receive compensation.The streets of Salisbury and Bulawayo – were wide enough to “turn a span of oxen in them.” The Selous Scouts and Rhodesian SAS remain as two of the most dedicated and excellent military units to have emerged from Africa, triumphing in most formal counters with mercenaries and counter insurgent guerrillas, until they were betrayed by a foreign government, to whom they had always served loyally and professionally, apolitically and even in the elitist units, the army was multi-racial. The Central Intelligence Organisation was on par with the infamous apartheid BOSS –though not so notorious. Rhodesia became dedicated to community development –and that they should have electoral representation –not only as individual enfranchised voters but in the Senate collectively. The ingenious improvisation of the Rhodesians betrayed by all from Kissinger to Carrington to Vorster. From armoured cars, planes, helicopters and weapons were impressive. Decentralisation was favoured for preserving the rural spirit and identity while assisting them to modernise agriculture, for irrigation schemes and land conservation –the Rhodesian Front tried all this but were spurned. Land Authorities were set up –with the aim of including the people to improve rural conditions –but like the electoral roll, it was often met with indifference –and boycotted by counter insurgents. “It is amazing to think that anyone who lives 6000 miles away, should presume that they understand conditions here...”“There is no such thing as one man, one vote –for in no way are we all equal, apart from the sole connection as human beings (Many, becoming autonomous machines –are barely!), in casting your vote on a worthless piece of paper, where you sponsor into self serving power, those rapacious souls remote from their community or their pledged commitment to the people, until the next elections, with all ignorance of their principles or aims, without the power to recall them for breaching your confidence –or even to effectively communicate, as they become insulated –reliant on internal connections rather than popular endorsement, of those ignorant of our concerns and our very way of life. Our alternative seeks to extend grass roots participation, to debate on issues openly, to allow the people more access to their tribunes and to exercise active democracy as the best form of political education –where one is able to be heard –not silenced, with one’s views or objections. That is and has been our method! We see that Britain does not wish to support our customs and way of life –she seeks to destroy them!”“We have asked to see the British Prime Minister or for him to come here and confront us.... The thing that depresses us is that his representative is here, next door in Northern Rhodesia... and has not the courage or the backbone to consult us... You see for yourselves, the manners of a Prime Minister and a person, of the First World, who fails to take any African –of any creed seriously and who lives 6000 miles away.”“In London, they know of and support these marauders whom assault our people (the insurrectionists trained partially by the UK, who dragged Zimbabwe into civil war,) but they do not intervene or even protest... at the massacre of innocents.”“We have seen Britain does not wish to respect our customs, our structure and our heritage, she wishes to destroy them...”These were but some utterances by those indigenous and witness to the hypocrisy. When one compares Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.... does not the chaos and disintegration not speak for itself? One cannot begin to compare the prosperous country of a surplus, exporter and booming employment and immigration, between 1965 -1975, who showed economic sanctions promote autarchy, achiever of 85% self sufficiency in manufacturing, to the present... First in groundnut yield per hectare, second in soybean and maize yield, Rhodesia also provided an example of agricultural success –its agronomy techniques were exported to the USA in the 1950’s. One cannot compare the paragon of the dawning Africa in this emerging Global Age to that which came after. Under Rhodesia, there was a chance –Sir Roy Welensky the trade union activist, former engine driver and boxer; the architect of the Federation between 1953 -1963; champion of Federal and Northern Rhodesian affairs), Sir Godfrey Huggins (who won South Rhodesia’s virtual independence from Britain in the 1920’s) and others sought moderation in their policies, rejecting apartheid. There were many instances of non white Rhodesians progressing as far as this system achieved. Sergeant Vito in Salisbury became assistant in policing to Superintendent Stoddard, maintaining the renowned order. African Newspapers was a prime example of those favouring critique and integration over social prejudices. Bernard Vito demonstrated entrepreneurial potential –those willing to take risks in poorer areas with his corporation of taxis and other assets. Moyi Muzoduzi Agenla was revered by all, as she led the Native Welfare Society to improve the portion of the voiceless and the vote-less in rural areas and townships, as she became honoured in person by King George VI and the Queen Mother, upon their 1947 Rhodesia visit. Mr Jonas Samurivo –even campaigned for the stereotyped “racist” Rhodesian Front as an MP before he moved to the equally –non racial Federal Parliament. “I have learnt the lesson of the Federation and could not permit this country to drift in the present paralysing state of uncertainty... In that case, matters were permitted to drift and plans for action were formulated too late to prevent the destruction of the whole concept of racial and economic harmony. However, Rhodesia has not rejected the possibility of racial harmony in Africa! We will reciprocate any favourable acknowledgment of this principle. The responsibility for the Federation’s abolishment cannot be put on any of its individual constituents or the people of Africa –but only on the British. Their experiment has failed and now they are trying to force Rhodesia into submission as a distraction.”Sir Ian Smith.Lawrence Vance was a journalist for the multi racial African Newspapers before he moved to Rhodesia House and the Public Relations Office of that prime example of African economic authority: Anglo American! Mr Janhi was the leading interpreter. From Welensky, the Federal Minister of Racial Affairs was himself a non-white African and there are many supplementary examples, in contrast to apartheid South Africa which offered no such chances. Even Mugabe gained 7 degrees thanks to Rhodesian intervention, enabling him to study. Sir Roy Welensky epitomised that the poorest of circumstances and a non Establishment man of trade unions, labour and railways could advance. His extension of Federal citizenship to all –without the expense and bureaucracy of the North and Federal Public Services Act –extended to South Rhodesia in 1960, uphold meritocracy and gave priority to them –training them on the job. His extension of education, housing, the electorate, roads and so forth –which the white subsidized while the black enjoyed free healthcare, drugs, dentistry and sanitation –was beyond the abilities of the rest of Africa –even today! Federal assets were desegregated as well. University College in Salisbury was desegregated from its inception –as was education, healthcare and politics. If the British were so concerned for Africa’s welfare, why did they dissolve the economic prospects of the Federation with its increase in political power and economic prosperity –as Lake Kariba shows? Why did they betray their promise to grant independence upon its cessation –which justified UDI? The so called racist Rhodesian Front continued to support social, economic, academic, cultural and political integration, rather than extending apartheid measures. The new Rhodesian constitution did not interfere with the franchise or the Bill of Rights, freedom of the press or parliamentary democratic structure only those connections to the British government such as the Privy Council.“It is now plain that the British government are not prepared to be brought to any conclusion on the question of independence, except on the most extravagant terms, not because of misgivings of my country’s competence or ability to govern in the interests of the country or the people or the logic or the rightness or the loyalty of my ministers to the Crown but... because they wish to placate the ire of the Commonwealth, who has hypocritically declared their hostility to my government and my country, without justification, provocation or even with full awareness of the situation...”Governor of South Rhodesia, Sir Humphrey Gibbs 1964 (who called upon all loyal Rhodesians to maintain their duty and the rule of law –which they did.)Sir Ian Douglas Smith“We believe that if we had more time, we would have been more successful... We would have liked to continue with our philosophy, which was one of meritocracy –as opposed to accepting the philosophy of one man, one vote (politically educated or not, cultured or not, intelligent or a pillock, draconian or empathetic, virtuous or festooned with vice, decent or disreputable, loyal or treasonous, independent and individualistic or easily indoctrinated by the media, technology and other global imperial agents, economically productive or a welfare state parasitic leech scrounging off the diligence of others...); which I have always censured as precipitating anarchy... of the mob! I have likened it to the counting of sheep... I believe that a system which says and embellishes (to the point of persecuting diversity, true citizens and upstanding individuals), that your most competent, most sophisticated, most gifted and most principled soul has the same voice, influence and say, as the most degenerate, repulsive, avaricious, ignorant, incompetent soul... is madness! I go further and say, while that may apply to Africa, which isn’t so inured in the institutions of Western liberal, capitalist “democracy” but more grass roots and indigenous, lacks the imperative political education and participation from imperialist colonialism; that made it the victory that it was in the Old World... I have a feeling that in countries such as Britain and the US; that if you had a kind of meritocracy rather than that of the apathetic, the vice ridden and the stupid, you would have far better governments than you do: today...”Born amid the terrain of Selukwe and the plains of a misunderstood continent, he represented the quintessence of British ideals –and African; fused into one, whose devotions to meritocracy, fair play and sportsmanship were ultimately betrayed, by the British. His parents too, reflected the notions of selflessness, service and unwavering commitment to their duty, receiving MBE’s for their work in founding the Selukwe Woman’s Institute and overall service to Rhodesia and patriotism to the Crown. He attended Chaplin School in Gwelo, where his charisma and ability to articulate the interests of his fellow citizens first arose from espirit de corps. In 1938, he attended Rhodes University, where he continued to excel in sport, winning the national competition for rowing, almost preparing to represent the Dominion at the Empire Games. When war arose in 1940, he and many other Rhodesians enthusiastically desired to join –indeed it is perhaps historically unique, that conscription was introduced in Rhodesia to prevent enlistment, which threatened its economy, not to encourage it. He became part of Rhodesia Squadron 237 and proved his valour in Tehran, Kirbak, Corsica and El Alamein.After the war, he returned to Rhodes, becoming Chair of the Students Representative Committee. In 1948, whilst farming, he became a Liberal Party MP, by those whom urged him to accept responsibility. In a few years, he became Chair of the Public Accounts Committee –his own austerity and fiscal stringency evident constantly, in his modest lifestyle and salary, driving a small sedan in contrast, to his insecure, flamboyant and ostentatious descendent as leader. Unlike most leaders, he conducted his affairs without ostentation –not requiring a myriad car blue flashing light motorcade or legions of bodyguards. He always remained candid and approachable to his people and was a shrewd negotiator and orator. Upon the foundation of the 1953 Federation of both North and South Rhodesia with Nyasaland, he asked for a clause that upon, dissolution, South Rhodesia would gain her long promised independence but in reply, was told that it was inviolate and absolute. (Hmmmmm!) He became a Federal MP for the Midlands. In 1956, he became Chief Parliamentary Whip and envoy to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. In 1962, he became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, under Winston Field. Throughout, he always defended meritocracy, resisted incursions into apartheid, acted as a moderate and sought merely to protect the interests of the people. As the first native and non foreigner to preside over, as Prime Minister, Smith sought to perpetuate that temerity which had made Rhodesia so triumphant and prosperous at a time when the UK was assaulted by its own economic plight. He held a referendum on UDI and convened the great Indaba He proposed universal suffrage introducing democracy to the masses as an extension to the non –racial franchise, offered 5 000000 acres for blacks to circumvent the Land Apportion Act -of which 6000000 was open to all –and 4000000 acres personally earmarked for removing black Rhodesians from communes and as prosperous farmers and not cause the detrimental agricultural swarm invasion, enabled the Senate and opposition MP’s to all be black and voluntarily conceded power to Muzorewa in a peaceful and far fairer election, then any held by the current usurper of almost three decades, whom defiantly refuses to stand down (with non African support) for the democratically elected Morgan Tshangvari. Uniquely, it is his resilience to the belligerence of the UK for fifteen years of liberty as a nation, despite sanctions and all manner of intimidation and hostility from the greatest agent of colonialism and arrogance; that makes Smith, a true African patriot, prepared to defy the might of the Northern Hemisphere, adhering to his principles. Forsooth, there have been only two colonies that have managed to seize their freedom from colonialism victoriously, without a triumphant counter attack: the United States of America and Rhodesia. He was censured for not submitting to Whitehall and its own machinations!“We are not excluded and ostracised from the Commonwealth because we are not loyal to the Crown or to the ideals of the Commonwealth. Nor is it, judged on merit. We are excluded –as it has outgrown itself and there is no longer room for us amid the motley of small countries recently acceded to the Commonwealth, bereft and destitute of the founding ideals of the Commonwealth and to Her Majesty. I wondered, if in all, there is any purpose in remaining here, against this craven and spiritually impoverished entity, whom has not the resolve to censor this deviation from its vision...”“I have tremendous respect, admiration and loyalty to the Queen; but she is no longer the Queen we used to know... She has become the mouthpiece of party politicians in Britain and cannot speak her own heart and mind, let alone exert one iota of her hallowed and venerable executive power, (as they whittle away centuries of tradition and law –even Habeas Corpus, so that they and Europe –the indirectly elected, untrained and unworthy, fiscally and morally corrupt body of representatives can have all the power –not the meritocratic Civil Service, not the people and certainly, least of all: Her Majesty). Smith evoked the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, when 18 months of evasion and hesitation, illuminated the contempt Great Britain has always had for Africa and those whom are part of it –especially those who refuse to accept enslavement gracefully... When considering, the negotiations and issues raised, one senses this unwillingness of Albion to act and to be candid –one thing that Smith did not desire, always admiring, promptness, efficiency and the strength to be decisive. The infamous Six Principles, upon which the British made negotiations reliant upon, were already provided for, in the Constitution; that three years earlier had been acceptable to all –including Nkomo and Sithole. They include:1: Unimpeded progress to majority rule!2: UK Guarantees against retrogressive Constitutional amendment 3: Immediate improvement in black political life.4: Independence must be acceptable to the population as a whole.5: Progress towards ending racial discrimination.6: Regardless of race, no oppression of the majority by the minority or the minority by the majority.Smith countered this by saying:1: They were satisfied with the 1961 Constitution as basis for independence.2: One cannot support granting a foreign governor control of the police and the Privy Council over the laws, as it is an infringement of a country’s freedom and birthright. 3: Black political life was found in the Senate and in all B roll seats, -including the Leader of the Opposition and the traditional chiefs nothing to prevent them in the A Roll Seats. The African majority Constitutional Council safeguarded civil liberties4: If the British had bothered to consult the people, not coerced or the Indaba, they might have found they had far more convincing authority. Smith proposed election, Indaba and referendum.5: They were modifying the Land Apportion Act –which actually protected rural people from infringement by victorious commercial farmers, allowing more land to be taken up and Smith was resisting the incursion of some, towards apartheid.6: Given hindsight –which Smith often reflected: “I told you so,” after Lancaster House expired, how did the British plan to keep this promise to the Rhodesians and the ordinary Zimbabwean people, once Mugabe’s dictatorship not Muzorewa’s democracy took over? Three decades later; they still have failed to uphold and defend this –ever since they let Nkomo get slaughtered; along with Matabeleland etc...As for other salient points, subversive people endangering the State and populace with definitive proof, ought to be detained –after all: that is the inferred premise of so called Western liberalism and its convenient draconian justification against “terrorists” and a Era of Fear, stifle its opponents. Yet Smith was willing to let them go –provided those like Mugabe gave a genuine standing to abide by the law. They chose civil war instead of forming a peaceful political party and campaigning. The electoral mechanism enabled normal democratic means of readdressing issues –but was never considered by the boycotting ardent nationalists. Armed struggle under Umkhonto We Sizwe was justified for South Africa –as the ANC had no peaceful forum unlike Rhodesia. In London, Smith was prohibited from addressing the public on the BBC Informal talks, a Royal Commission and Commonwealth mediation were rejected for action not evasion. He modified the Land Appropriation Act and did not enact any draconian legislation as might have been expected, working only ever according to the rule of existing law. The unprecedented interference of a Commonwealth conference in the internal affairs of a country, without its right to self defence –for since 1931, Rhodesia’s Prime Minister had attended but was forbidden from 1964; is noteworthy for even Her Majesty did not attend it for the first time. As for the Royal Commission, Harold Wilson decreed to the House of Commons...“I regard the Commission as free in practise to all points, from whatever quarter and when ever pressed for a reply... it is never to wise... to be.... too specific or rigid .... in interpretation, in terms of reference... to be expressed as wide as possible.... We should not be so bold as to deny... and make favourable... the wide possibility for Sir Hugh Beadle and his colleagues to conduct the commission in such a way... as to bring about the result... that we are all desirous for....” (So much for impartiality!)Smith stated to Wilson on the 5th December 1964, after several years of English intransigence. “It is with regret that I have to record during the short tenure of your Government in office, there has been a drastic deterioration in relations between our two countries. Your boycott of our Indaba and referendum of the electorate –planned in good sincerity and faith as an affirmation for independence, had given grounds for suspicion. Moreover, the attempt of your Government to intimidate us through the medium of economic blackmail and threats; to place us virtually in the category of an enemy state, is something which has caused deep resentment in the minds of Rhodesia.” “Today, now that the final stalemate in negotiations has become evident, the end of the road has been reached. It has become abundantly clear; that it is the policy of the British government to play us along with no real intention of arriving at a settlement, which we could possibly accept. Indeed, in the latest verbal communication received last night, we have drifted further apart.Yet, it was Smith who recommended the 1961 constitution! Incidentally, it was passed by Westminster and accepted by Nkomo/ Sithole. It was Smith who honoured the Bill of Rights, the non racial meritocratic franchise; the multiracial Constitution Council, appointed a recommended Commission of Inquiry into alleged discrimination, who continued opening up public facilities to races and who ensured that black co ministers would receive training from former white ministers; so that the efficient civil service based on merit would continue after 1980. It was Smith, who extended the franchise and defended Rhodesia against the reactionary clamour into segregation and apartheid. When it comes to defiance against the world’s attempt to deny Rhodesia her long justified sovereignty. A country in which the crime rate was falling and proportionally has done far more during its existence, for the people it serves than the British did for many colonies –especially North Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It was Smith, who aware of the implications –conceded to release both Nkomo and Mugabe and Muzorewa in 1974. Nkomo was prepared to negotiate for peace. Mugabe –continued slaughtering innocents and destroying the very public infrastructure designed to advance all Rhodesians –of all races –rejecting political participation and mediation; in contrast to the ANC, SACP and the National Party in the Republic of South Africa.Bishop Abel Muzorewa had the thankless job of moderation and envisioning meritocratic lead democracy with universal suffrage based on a philanthropic basis of the Church in an age between those who wanted apartheid on the right side of the Rhodesian Front, those like Smith who favoured Rhodesian sovereignty and merit in the middle, the paternalistic condescension of so called Liberals wanting nominal independence for all races under their “wisdom” on the one hand and those subversives such as Mugabe who refused to value and accept law as the ultimate science whilst participating legally instead of boycotting the rolls, adopting criminal tactics –even and especially when President and from 1985, usurper. Alas, his democratic and reconciliation efforts were chastised and rejected“In the lives of most nations there comes a moment where a stand has to be made –whatever the consequences. The moment has come to Rhodesia. I pray –and I hope that other Rhodesians will pray today, -that our government will be granted the wisdom and safety to bring Rhodesia through. I call upon all of you in this historic hour to support me and my government....”Under Smith the economy prospered with a budget surplus unimpeded by Wilson’s sanctions and internationally illegal confiscation of gold reserves. No other country; had to pay a chartered company for its independence. Why was independence for Rhodesia –whom had earned it wholeheartedly on a colour blind, non racial and non-apartheid franchise –and unlike the North where in over 40 years rule in Nyasaland and North Rhodesia the British had never given the vote to any inhabitant, made subject to British assent, when not only had the British pledged it in the absence of Federation but had granted it all to other countries? Hypocritically, this would suggest that the United States “illegal” secession from Britain would deserve British reprisals –or alternatively no territories fighting wars of liberation –as all did, deserved their freedom –as it was a British privilege not an inherent state right... Incidentally; “Zimbabwe” was less democratic then Rhodesia to commence with –not only did the British refuse to deal with the 1980 electoral violence as promised; not only have they failed for 30 years to address the land question but the sole Presidential candidate and appointment –even in 1980; was the Reverend Canaan Banana (a fitting epithet –given that a country whose currency was on par with the dollar at independence and nominal inflation; is now historically rated as having one of the highest ever recorded inflation rate –whose country has now become a “banana republic”). The economy survived due to sanctions busters and the Rhodesian refusal to surrender, or compromise.Other forgotten highlights of the Rhodesian culture and attempts at fairness –include self initiatives by the Anglican Church to award a 43% pay rise to the African clergy and also appointed Bishop Abel Muzorewa. Under Lord Malvern (1923 -1953), Sir Garfield Todd (1953 -1958), Sir Edgar Whitehead (1958 -1962), Winston Field (1962 -1964) and Sir Ian Smith. Every regional centre had drama circles, theatres, ballet schools, the multiracial autonomous University and Central Hospital in Salisbury. The Salisbury Municipal Art Gallery not only had an extensive European collection of masterpieces by Goya, Rembrandt, Toulouse Lautrec, Reynolds, Constable and Van Dyk along with contemporary sculptures by Henry Moore, it sponsored Rhodesian merit of both genders and all races. 80% of the white urban Rhodesians – concentrated in Salisbury and Bulawayo. The “racist” “illegal” regime sponsored a compulsory usage of a vernacular African tongue such as Shona to all races in primary schools in 1971. This was motivated by housewives, wishing to understand their fellow citizens more coherently...The achievements of the Rhodesians –their impartial, apolitical civil service; their fair judicial system; policy of media freedom (the main opposition paper Rhodesian Herald constantly derided Ian Smith) their glistening economy, decent schools, reliable airline; well maintained railway and road infrastructure, environmental conservation of 12% of the country to Gaia and thriving democracy, were primarily responsible for the government of 1980 Zimbabwe to announce the establishment of minimum wages in all economic sectors, abolition of primary school tuition fees; medical expansion so that those earning less than 150 Rhodesian dollars received it free and an extensive immunisation campaign against tetanus, polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis and whooping cough, and 463 rural schools all within the first year. One cannot understand the world for sponsoring Zimbabwe over Rhodesia –when the former is an unmitigated quagmire and the latter held the highest per school attendance rate in Africa and Latin America according to the United Nations as early as 1964 –with a virtual 100% attendance and high literacy by 1980. There was nothing to stop academic advancement at the multiracial University or medically at its teaching hospital; there was nothing to stop them economically in the prosperous economy –now from surplus to debt in the several billion dollars worth and there was nothing to stop from enfranchising themselves politically. Urban discrimination to public places became abolished as early as the Federation If those who had launched the so called second Chirumenga, had chosen peace not war; the many rural projects and infrastructure ruined by ZAPU and ZANU, would have not needed resolving. As for the so called land question –a mere 39% of all land was owned –not by the British –but by white Rhodesians in 1980. By 2000 and the land invasions; this had dropped to 21% Many of the so called war veterans; hadn’t even been born then.The ANC leader Joshua Nkomo born in 1917, a former railway union steward and Methodist preacher, remained another exponent of political liberty and helped secure further enfranchised African seats and the 1961 pivotal constitution. As a voice of moderation, he led the NDP and then ZAPU as an alternative to ZANU under the Church minister Ndibaningi Sithole, espouser of multiracialism and equality in his 1959 “African Nationalism,” managing to merge in a coalition ZANU PF after 1980The voice of moderation, Bishop Abel Muzorewa has been too often depicted as a stooge of Prime Minister Sir Ian Smith, yet he is the one who should have been president of Zimbabwe. It was he, who could have potentially spanned the ravine between Zanu, Zapu and those stalwarts of Ken Flower’s CIO. Hounded from his first days of office, the North never granted him sufficient time to prove himself, criticising him unjustly from his inauguration. Yet he organised the ANC undertook solitary peace missions to the United Nations and House of Commons. From his home village of Chinyaka he acutely noted that revolutions –true revolutions are indigenous regardless of external conditions, influence or alien and foreign doctrines. Eventually he prevailed to be elected the first black bishop of Rhodesia. After being appointed Assistant Conference Evangelist for Methodism to Dr M.J Murphree, he propagated Galilean monotheism in rural areas. In July 1956, he gained an American scholarship to study theology at the Missouri School of Religion. He vociferously clamoured against intimidation and pressure applied from both sides impartially and how it affected the poor. Whiles others were boycotting peaceful means up to and including Lancaster House; he entered dialogue with Sir Ian Smith before and after his 1975 Mozambique exile.Though this is not a chronicle of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, it does illustrate the duplicity of external powers over Africa, whom underestimated the calibre and probity of those prepared to defend it and actually defied these world powers successfully but are brainwashed against. The Rhodesians came up with their own local form of the Israeli UB2, the “Stalin Organ”, the “Dambuster’s Bomb”; the Leopard and Crocodile armoured personnel carriers and the Rhino –mine proof protected Land Cruiser. Rhodesia’s Civil Service even offered compensation for war damage incurred by the UDI. Wilson was never prepared to let Ian Smith, defend himself, his government and Rhodesia –even banning him from the supposedly neutral BBC and the Queen’s Lunch prior to Winston Churchill’s funeral. Yet Smith allowed the liberal Rhodesian Herald stand as an example of a free press and along with Rhodesians, continued to invite the British representatives and the last governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs –who remained at State House, the chance to express themselves. Wilson was never prepared to honour the obligations to achieve Rhodesian independence and even defied international law by refusing to honour the economic provisions of the Victoria Falls Agreement as well. For fifteen years –despite British blockade and seizure of Rhodesian gold assets at the Bank of England, Rhodesia remained economically free, becoming more politically and socially integrated until the moderate policy of Muzorewa. Throughout that time, instead of boycotting the electoral roll, those dissidents who were opposed to the values of Rhodesia and willingly embraced those of Mugabe and Zimbabwe –to this day without protest as those of SA did not, could have voted on the non racial franchise and campaigned for change on the institutions that Huggins, Todd, Whitehead, Welensky, Field, Smith and Muzorewa safeguarded and founded. From 1985, as the prime defender of civil liberties and the future of his country, Smith was harassed and the law for the President to “declare anything done illegally to be legal and anything done legally to be illegal and if he thinks any election result is wrong to declare it illegal”, was passed. The rights for change –or even continuance, were whittled away: until with impunity, Mugabe revoked the safeguarding Lancaster House Agreement, did not resist the land invasions –amid a surplus of public land and even pressurised his long time protector Sir Garfield Todd into death and revoked his daughter, Judith’s Zimbabwean citizenship in 2002. There is something to be said for the fact that now vindictive recrimination was ever carried out by a Zimbabwean nationalist faction against Ian Douglas Smith who lived in Zimbabwe into the 1990’s before he had to flee to South Africa. It is also noticeable; that even then, in contrast to Robert Mugabe and the new generation of leaders; he was unguarded by bodyguards, drove a modest sedan and lived modestly. Even his worse detractors could not complain of his equivocation over his principles and of personally seeking to enrich himself by embezzling rather than aiding the country.“If yesterday; I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the same national interest; loyalty; rights and duties as myself...If yesterday you hated me... today you cannot avoid the love that draws you to me –and me to you... I will draw a line through the past... for the sake of national reconciliation... for all Zimbabweans...Let us join together! Let us show respect for the winners and the losers... There is no intention on our part to victimise the minority... We will ensure there is a place for everyone in this country. I want a broadly based government to include the whites and Nkomo... To our South African neighbours. We offer peaceful co-existence. Let us forgive and forget! Let us join hands in a new amity. To the world, Zimbabwe will be tied to no one. It will be strictly non-aligned...“The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten. If ever we look to the past, let us do so for the lesson the past has taught us; namely that oppression and racism are inequalities that must never find scope in our political; social and judicial systems... It could never be a correct justification; that because the whites oppressed us yesterday because they had power, the blacks must oppress them today, -because they have power. An evil remains an evil whether practised by white against black –or black against white...”Inauguration Address as “Prime Minister” of “Zimbabwe.”Finally, the warning of Nyerere to Robert Mugabe upon his accession to the office of dictatorship in 1980; best summarises it: “You have inherited a beautiful jewel –keep it that way.” Mugabe did start promisingly for Africa, with his roll at extending health and education to the rural masses and preserving a sound mixed economy for fifteen years. Yet, unlike Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa, it was founded on debt enslavement to US global imperialism –eventually could not be repaid. He honoured Lancaster House for 10 years, -preserving the rights of Rhodesians who did not reciprocate in reconciliation as all races were fortunate to do in SA. Agricultural production expanded thanks to the merit of the farmers until the 1990’s and land invasions. His gestures were rebuked –such as keeping the agrarian technocrat Dennis Norman, along with Commander Wells of an integrated armed force, Ken Flower of the potent CIO and other able officials –as one educated with six proper and non honorary university degrees (three at the Rhodesian state’s expense in prison). Finally, his lack of vengeance against his nemesis Sir Ian Smith and gracious permission to allow him to remain in Rhodesia –and participate in the 1985 elections. However, the electorate responded by allowing Smith to win all 20 of the protected settler seats and Mugabe realised that they would not reconcile with him and his dictatorial proclivities. Overshadowed by the heroic Mandela; he grew resentful at being abandoned by Africa and the world. Yet from Gukurahundi to Operation Murambatsvina, to the land seizures of 2752 AUC, this facade of progress morphed into its true malignant morsure of tragedy... Edgar Tekere, who died in June 2011, served as a persistent critic of Zanu PF and Mugabe since the 1980’s, one of the main voices decrying his betrayal of African socialism and of the Zimbabwean people. He even had the fortitude to split away, forming the Zimbabwean Unity movement and standing against Mugabe as a presidential opponent in 1990. He rejoined Zanu PF in 2005, endorsing Simba Makoni as a rival to Mugabe –realising that dissent from within may be a more effective instrument. Even the Movement for Democratic Change supported and honoured him as a liberation hero. The only legal successor since 1990, President and Prime Minister Morgan Tshangvari as leader of the Zimbabwean Trade Union Congress; (whose South African counterparts COSATU nobly refused to unload arms from a Chinese vessel –supplied to Mugabe to use against his own people), has struggled resplendently in the spirit of self sacrifice to revert this. The assault of uncouth thuggish Green Berets against the MDC acts as another obstacle which was imposed by exogenous refusal to recognise the legitimacy of his government and movement as embracing all suffering Zimbabweans. His persistence in trying to gain international rejection of this farce under its illegal usurper though currently unsuccessful serves to publicise the cause –akin to the exiled Dalai Llama –who with his fellow MDC sufferers such as Roy Bennet; has sought to. When he entered a coalition government in 2763 AUC –he chose the only means short of civil war that the USA, the UN and most of all; Britain: pressurised him into!OUT OF THE OKAVANGO: -BOTSWANA AND SIR SERETSE KHAMA:Under the Bechuanaland Protectorate, “Europeans” had no land property rights –controlled only by local Kgosi. In towns such as Serowe, they could only exist subject to African local approval –building only temporary dwellings –easy to dismantle if banished. It remains comparable to Liberians denying citizenship rights, entitlements and privileges –including voting to those not of black genetic descent.“We seek to create as many jobs as possible, to raise the status and living standards of the majority and to reduce the gap between rural and urban areas, between rich and poor... It is against these objectives that I wish to measure progress...”Sir Seretse Khama addressing the 1971 ParliamentFrom a country without even mineral resources –administered from a capital not even in its own boundaries (Mafeking in South Africa), with 30 university graduates, no public medical laboratory, one founded on agriculture and tribes, marginalised and prostrate before the SA lodestone, came the metamorphosis into one of Africa’s most enterprising, peaceful, stable and prospering democracies. Botswana survived the withdrawal of the South African rand with the Pula which retains its strength45 years later. It also survived having its Railways operated and owned by Rhodesia. For twenty years, it sustained an 8 % economic growth rate supported by the mixed economy and investment policies of Sir Seretse Khama, the financial meritocratic technocrat Masire (and Festus Mogae) and Ian Khama; who managed to secure an equal partnership of profits with the global controller of the diamond market supply: the South African mining consortium Anglo American and the 1967 Orapa kimberlite pipe. It avoided extravagant expenditure and corruption; invested in infrastructure that would directly improve the lives of its people and consolidated reserves to consider the future. It has avoided ethnic conflict and gained the other credentials of a vivacious media and thriving multi –party democracy, which Europe and their Western modelled former colonies value so much; yet has maintained impressively –its own traditional forums. The independence of Botswana in 29th September 1966 was marked with PULA –the miraculous rainstorm in the desert after the drought. Above all else, Botswana prevailed defying the prophecies of proclaimed inevitable doom and doubts hosted by the world.Independence was greeted with the extraordinary attempt at patriotism –the seven submitted candidates for the national anthem were played three times a day for three days. People could then phone the radio or post their choice, to vote. Where else would the winning choice –“Fatse le Ra” by the opposition member K.T Motsele, be chosen? Economically from a 91% dependence on the export of beef and over 77% dependency on Portugal’s Mozambique/ Angola colonies, Rhodesia and South Africa, the transformation of this monoculture into a diverse, balanced one, Botswana’s macroeconomic performance has and forever remained exemplary. The 1966 “Food for Work” Programmes constructed the new capital and government buildings in Gaborone, Serowe Secondary school, a teacher training college in Francistown and an agricultural college. Roads, small dams, soil and water conservation as means of resolving potential drought disasters, were constructed. Farmers were urged to slaughter their least productive cattle and save the best –for higher quality and revenue. Over 69500 kilometres of game conservancies were established. Local San were employed as guides. In the 1970’s Botswana formed a Revenue Stabilisation Fund, to defend themselves against economic fluctuations rather than the foolish macroeconomic policy of failing to save in good times and spending in both recessions and booms, practised by the Northern Hemisphere. Budgetary self sufficiency became actual in 1972. To commence with the archetype amanuensis, who existed in the selfless ideal of the African counterpart of a meritocratic apolitical Civil Service embodying the spirit of Whitehall hegemony, during its proficient zenith... that of Gobe Matenge –the “Public Officer Emeritus”. As censor over Botswana, he acted as the ultimate African informer, a paradigm of selfless service to his country... Civil servants and politicians travelled economy class internationally! Name any other country, with the exception of Nyerere in Tanzania and Smith in Rhodesia, whose leaders and administrators; would be so fiscally cautious! Seretse trusted his experts to run Botswana domestically while he concentrated on what a President should target. The other incumbents have also believed in this. President Khama’s civil servant advisor Ngwe often drafted foreign policy, which he accepted the expertise. Diplomats and bureaucrats were not paralysed, holding up decisions for ratifications –cabling back home but given free latitude to negotiate, each potential scenario having been priorly dissected and analysed as a simulation exercise by the President and others before departure.“I do not disagree with the system –it is a good system.... What upsets one is the way in which it is used by so many for its own ends.... One of the biggest mistakes made over the years is seeing the end training product of “localism” (political correctness/ affirmative action –demeaning to those apolitical “blacks” who have earned their place). The desired end should be a capable, motivation, competence and above all, productive labour force (utilising that of all Africans –of whatever origins or superficial distinctions. If not –we are failing our people and their trove of human capital). “Localism” clouds the issue –measuring success solely in statistics of how many Blacks are replacing Whites –and not evaluating performance on terms of political connections but on aptitude. Gobe Matenge“The time when I must leave you... is near... Please, look after our people! Keep our traditions and teach young Seretse to be a wise ruler one day. The future happiness and freedom of our land and of our people is in your hands... Do not let it be destroyed by greed, stupidity or laziness! Beware the ways of the white colonial man. Accept their knowledge and their education but stay clear of their intoxicating and potent drinks or their flashy goods/ They will use these things to make slaves of you in your own land. Do not let them!”Khama III, Sir Seretse Khama’s father to his children and Bamgwato tribal elders.Africa has always been more prompt at valuing local autonomy and respecting local sovereignty, as emphasised in the African Union –in defending the inalienable right to independence –as Sir Ian Smith exemplified. It proclaims and does not violate –unlike the mouthpiece UN: the sovereign equality of All States –with the right to be heard and with: “No interference in the internal affairs of a member State. Botswana refused to surrender its independence –uniquely –both to liberation movements such as the ANC –denying them a base to operate but at the same time; sheltering refugees from apartheid South Africa and more recently; those from Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. It was blessed with cultural Setswana unity and remained unobsessed with racialism, seeking patriotism. Its chiefs ruled by democratic consensus in the kgotlas. The people honoured the sense of Khama III in educating and supporting Seretse along with Seretse receiving twice as many votes as any other candidate in the first Legislative Assembly elections of 1961.“I think that it is time, that we, ourselves in Bechuanaland, who belong neither to the Union of South Africa nor the federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland or any other part I see, should try to formulate a policy which is probably unique to us... We will teach those countries which, purport to be more advanced than ourselves, that as far as administration and race relationships are concerned, they have far more to learn from us; than we have from them....“I am disturbed to find that there is a tendency to look over our shoulders... Perhaps, I am wrong; -if so; I stand corrected! We want to see what is happening elsewhere instead of getting on with what is peculiar to us and to the country itself... But, we should get on and have no fear that we may incur someone’s displeasure, as long as what we do is virtuous and internationally accepted... And if we are right, (I am afraid emotion may come into this!) we should not bother very much about what others may say... We have ample opportunity in this country to teach people how human beings can live together...”Inauguration of the Joint Advisory Board 1958...“I realised long ago: that a modern country cannot be built on traditional rule of the chiefs. This democratic development is much better for our people! We have to start somewhere and what we have is quite sound... We are working towards more political development but this is pointless, without prioritising economic and social development... we must develop our economy, our health and especially, education of our children; then political development will follow... Our struggle is not against whites... Our task is to use the best of all people –whatever their race and use their merit, to make our country and our people great...”1961 Legislative Assembly InaugurationTshekedi Khama became renowned in the British Empire, for his devotion to the education of his people in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In the spirit of Khama III and Tshekedi, famine and poverty were resolved after independence through the self help projects –food for Work Programmes of 1966. Sir Seretse Khama, like Sir Ian Smith and the Kabuka of Buganda, overcame the challenges of the British and his exile by them to prove himself the greater human being. His marriage which spanned the races, to Ruth Williams was bitterly impeded by them but he worked for reconciliation amid all, never obsessing with tribalism or racialism. Both Sir Seretse Khama and his democratically elected heir: Sir Ketumile Masire (from July 1980) respected political, economic and social liberties. Sir Seretse frequently committed himself to championing democracy and was pleased that he had meritocratic heirs to continue Botswana, should he die. He appealed to civil servants to stay and join Botswana but offered compensation to those who valued immediate profits over loyalty to the continent. He called for exiles to return home –understanding their reticence as he himself had been maltreated by the British, promoted multiracialism and continued to make Botswana a sanctuary for refugees from Zimbabwe, South Africa and elsewhere making Botswana famous for its hospitality. Botswana soon ended its stipend from the British.“We were taught –sometimes in a very positive manner to despise ourselves and our very way of life... We were made to feel that we had no past to speak of. The past, so far as we were concerned, was just a blank page before the colonialists arrived...”“I call upon historians to restore their past to the people of Southern Africa. We must do this for the simple reason that a nation without its past, is a lost nation and a people without a past; is a people without a soul...”Sir Seretse Khama May 1970 Seretse Khama born as the son of Bamgwato monarch Khama III on 21st July 1921; received the finest education available, sharing with others the desire for Africa to uplift itself through education, where they were denied political and economic upliftment under apartheid and colonialist imperialism. He was educated at the elitist Adams College in Natal, Lovedale and Tiger Kloof in Vryburg. He then received education as a leader at Fort Hare before studying law at Oxford in September 1945. He realised what many so called would be reformists and poisonous do gooders that are non Africans that exterior development was meaningless without the consent of the people and their tribunes. It is pointless without living here, without understanding here, without listening to those who actually are aware of reality, believing in African efforts and African solutions to problems. He turned down a life pension and the offer of a well paid job as British consul in Jamaica, if he would renounce his throne in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, if he would forfeit his people or forswear the woman he loved... None of which, he was prepared to do or contemplate! When Britain continuously opposed the mixed racial marriage not only to appease its own racially obsessed bigots but more treacherously to appease the apartheid government of Daniel Mala, whose Secretary of Foreign Affairs: Forsyth threatened economic and political sanctions of Britain, withdrawal of South African support, martial privileges and crucial uranium supplies needed for Britain’s own fledgling autonomic weapons programme.“I should like to go very much. Otherwise, I would not continuously be approaching the Foreign and Commonwealth Office...”“You did not think I was good enough to lead my own people. Now, you suddenly think I am good enough or willing enough to represent Britain and British interests in Jamaica...”Guerrillas were returned to Zambia, Botswana would not provide a base. Despite economic dominance by South Africa, he refused to officially recognise South Africa –which despite the highest potential and power, had the fewest embassies within Africa, of any African nation; -honoured the OAU anti apartheid resolution. Vision for the future; self help; a determination to overcome adversity and careful planning to evolve our own, self sufficient policies, those were the values espoused by Sir Seretse Khama. The aim of his policies was to restore pragmaticism in governance. He believed that conflict in foreign affairs only accelerated violence. Given his callous treatment by white foreigners of Europe, South Africa and Rhodesia, one would have expected at least some retribution –or even nationalisation/ severing of relations with Britain but he prudently regarded it as unreasonable. Suppression of dissent only generated martyrs and tenacious resilience. The mandate of this treatise is to restore common sense to history, via usage of the ideas of African visionaries. It states something in the irrefutable fact that the continent which has been fiddled the most and robbed of its birthright/ potential by others is the one that is most regressing. Africa would benefit if –and only if: it is given a chance by itself...“My main ambition is to help create a country where there is no obsession with race; in which everybody accepts everyone else; where merit counts, rather than race, ethnicity or emotions...”Seretse Khama 1966.Ruth Williams: a former Englishwomen became a Botswanan as the matriarch of independence, willing to stay in Botswana, forsaking the Europe which had discarded her, for Africa. She also worked to serve her people with gracious almonry as a First Lady ought to, with the founding of the Botswana Council of Women for their empowerment, the Botswana Red Cross and the Child to Child Foundation. She met Seretse in London 1947. He admired her sample principled stand against racial discrimination, as a former Royal Air Force ambulance driver against Nazism and the inherent racism of the Allied forces and British public during and after World War 2 –which many future African leaders identified. Later, both would press and compel the British government to appoint a Commission against Discrimination in 1962 in the Bechuanaland Protectorate/ Botswana. Both her and Sir Seretse; faced social, political and geographical ostracism, to be with each other; their marriage defying the attempts of the British, the Central African Federation and Dr Verwoerd’s government to prevent it. They found a South Kensington civil registry after both the racist Bishop of London and the Congregationist of the London Missionary Society had turned them down. They served as the ultimate and conclusive balderdash against mixed marriages being “unnatural”. Although the conservative elders and the Regent Tshekedi Khama had influenced the first kgotla to reject Seretse’s marriage to Ruth, Seretse took the distinctive step of asking the people directly –the first time: “Step up if you do not want Ruth as my wife!” 40 did so, while 6000 voted yes. Botswana itself proved the ultimate refutation against African corruption, racial disharmony, dictatorship rather than democracy and a collapsing, subsistent and dependent, declining economy.“Bitterness does not pay. Certain things have happened in the past and it is up to us to forgive and forget all those and look to the future. It is not for our own benefit, but it is for the benefit of our children and our children’s children that we ourselves, should put this world right...”Sir Seretse Khama, Malawi visit 1967.“I don’t think that capitalism in Botswana is a feature that we can pragmatically prevent altogether. We are equal but they are not equal in their intellectual capacities; in their abilities and willingness to work and their desire to change...”President Quett Masire 1980 Sir Ketumile Quett Masire resigned voluntarily in1998. The noted economist Festus Mogae became president. The second independence leader rallied against graft that ministers often resigned in shame or compulsion –including the vice president. The government was not afraid to grant autonomy to municipalities –despite losing every single urban seat with the exception of Selebi – Phikwe. Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama freely acceded to Parliamentary modification of the constitution to restrict his term of office to 2. He also served as an ardent wildlife and natural conservationist and called for action against Robert Mugabe; who has failed his people –despite revolutionary zeal and promise for the first decade.“My people should not come to depend on handouts. They can lose their pride in doing so and in doing things for themselves. This is a great danger for my country. If people will always think that they will always be fed, helped and given things for free –they will lose all sense of purpose... they will not want to work to develop and improve things for themselves or their country...”Sir Seretse KhamaThe government’s refusal to attempt the failed policies of other African and globalised states yet willingness to experiment to introduced public welfare, old age pensions, education and AIDS instructions marked its difference from other world nations. Its ministers were humble enough to travel economy class internationally. Over a billion US dollars was spent between 2002 -2007, to improve health and awareness and the former Health Minister Joy Phumaphi moved on to become the Assistant Director General of the World Health Organisation. The expansion of healthcare, education and economic progress, shows that from being deprived off under the British as it had no strategic value or resources, independence in Africa was the best decision for the future of Botswana. Botswana does work! Nothing more or less need more, be said of any country, its governance and functionality, defying all predictions. Its prioritising of the environment in preserving the treasure of the Okavango Delta, whilst tarring miles of track dominant in the scrub forty years ago leads it to further commendation. “The first aim of education is the promotion of rapid and sustainable development, to make our lives more purposeful so that they may be worth living... The second aim is pride in our accomplishments, which would lead to a good degree of necessary self confidence...”Given that independence under the British had 30 graduates -10 in politics and 0 secondary schools, educational expansions, demonstrate Botswanan capability. From 1965, the anti apartheid Van Rensburg aided Botswana to set up education brigades starting with Serowe. Artisan and skills training was enacted to manufacture pottery, school uniforms, motor mechanics, plumbers, leather tanners and carpenters. Community involvement in this vocational education was emphasized informally and formally to create autonomous and economically viable productive –with experimental farms and handicraft workshops were set up in Shashe River and Swaney Hill. The government formally adopted his project nationally on the Tanzanian and African approach of education for self reliance. These have long been proven to be much more realistic than one based solely on an overrated university education –too academic for the realities of this world requiring manpower not consumerist indulgence. Vocational training was far better than the abortive efforts in the USA and UK. One of the myriad genius things in Africa is the soundness and quality of its education –even with limited resources and infrastructure. From 1968 -1975 Botswana shared the costs of a joint education with Swaziland and Lesotho in academic cooperation. Subsequently, each fledgling nation sought to set up its own university as a mark of status. The decision in many to choose the high standards of the overseas baccalaureate and the Cambridge International Examination A Level system, made by this government as well as many others with the regrettable exception of South Africa, verifies appreciation of the scholastic best rather than the hogwash of Outcomes Based Education based on ridiculous arts and crafts for the well endowed. These reforms were safeguarded by a network of school inspectors designed to prevent teacher absenteeism (striking fails their pupil’s chance to excel). On a per capita basis, Botswana had the world’s highest foreign reserves of over $3.4 billion in 1992.“Under our democratic multi party system, we are already united! Tribal loyalties are breaking up. People are first thinking of themselves as Botswanan and them as members of a tribe... We have the highest economic growth in Africa! Opposition criticism is useful. It forces us to look at what we are doing wrong and if what we are doing is really as good or as effective as it could be. It stops us from abusing the power and public confidence that the people have temporarily invested in us. An opposition prevents us from making a mess as we know that if we do make a mess, the people will not vote for us in the future...”Seretse Khama 1969Himself, a chief, Seretse forswore his rights for the sake of democracy and a modern State. He continued to defend Botswana against a one party state as his party wanted. Local democracy was also extended –being self sufficient without central state support from 1960’s to mid 1980’s. Since then. Central financing has not exceeded 40% of the total budget. When his Vice President Quett Masire lost his seat in 1974, he didn’t reinstate him. He also warned against nationalisation and defended foreigners plus white Botswanans gallantly. Curiously, even local chiefs and African direct democracy via kgotlas were preserved; perhaps aided by the astute and perceptive Sir Seretse Khama, himself having been elected leader through these. Cabinet ministers and MP’s are obligated to attend their local constituency kgotlas –via direct democracy, hold themselves accountable and explain their actions. The villagers themselves hold direct power –as noted when they vetoed a 1991 Okavango irrigation project.“Democracy, like a little plant, does not grow or develop on its own. It must be nursed and nurtured if it is to grow and flourish. It must be believed in and practised if it is to be appreciated. And it must be fought for and defended if it is to survive...”Sir Seretse Khama: 5th Session of the third National Assembly 1998.THE SOUTHERN STRATA: (Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho)Lewaniba –King of the Lozi was considered important enough to receive a personal invitation –along with other world dignitaries, to the Westminster Abbey coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. He even was gracious enough to grant land concessions in Rhodesia –in exchange for the British modernising and constructing infrastructure. Needless to say; they typically reneged on this legal promise –as Smith, Muzorewa, Mugabe, Nkomo, Sithole and the people of Zimbabwe found out decades later. The land in Lesotho belongs to its people and is held in trusteeship by their ruler King Moshoeshoe II at independence in 1966. Their primary economic value has been hydroelectricity, mohair wool, valuable mine labour and human blood to use in the hospitals of South Africa. The people of Lesotho and Swaziland, deprived by the British and by international aid, did not complacently allow themselves to drink into a stupor. They asked, what could they do for themselves and allowed their minuscule chances of survival at independence to evolve economically, culturally and politically. Both avoided ethnic conflict; respected a mixed economy and avoided racial conflict...Political liberation of Lesotho from the British became the avowed purpose of the Basutoland African Congress under Ntsue Mokhakhe, who worked with the South African National Congress since its creation in 1952, to campaign against self government rather than incorporation into the Union of South Africa. In 1960, they became the Basutoland Congress Party winning 32/ 40 seats in the first election but only entitled to 1 delegate as they were seen by the British as being too radical. The pro royal Maramatlou Party was formed in 1958 and the Basutoland National Party (BNP) under Chief Leabua Jonathan was formed 2 years later. In 1964; the parties agreed to restrict the powers of King Moshoeshoe II who became a constitutional rather than absolute monarch. In 1965, the BNP won 31 seats, the BCP 25 and the MP 4. And democracy lasted until 1970. In 1973, the BNP under Chief Johnson invited consultation from various parties. When democracy failed; South Africa allowed Ntsue Mokhakhe to form the Lesotho Liberation Army on South African soil in 1983 and Chief Jonathan was deposed in 1986. In 1990, King Letsie III temporarily assumed power before passing it onto his father and the BNP lost all seats in the 1990 elections (which was won by the BCP), who became the Lesotho Congress for Democracy in 1997, a year before Mokhakhe stepped down for Prime Minister Pukalili Mosilisi. King Letsie III ascended the throne in 1996. “The most disturbing factor; which I believe is the source of all trouble in Africa is fear! If only we could abolish that fear complex; we would have solved of our problems... Let us consider what fear is... by comparing it to a human being (which is an animal like any other animal)... One finds two kinds of human beings. There is one kind who will bring up their children in a cruel and inhumane manner because they; themselves experienced that or there is another type of person who will nurture his children in the spirit that they are his children; his responsibility and the future prop of his declining years... who only punishes the child if the child deserves it... We have come to the conclusion therefore: that the source of difference between human beings and animals is the degree of cruelty and the effects of raising a child virtuously produces good citizens; but raising a child badly; produces poor citizens...”“There are many ways of stifling the development of a person so that he does not grow or thrive; (that he stagnates and regresses). One way; would be for the one to deny full rights; privileges; respect and courtesy to the other (often the elder to the younger). Another; is to apply economic pressure; so the African has no incentive to develop. Yet another; is to deny him a fulfilling; illuminating, full and fundamental education; that will enable him to stand on his own: as a human... All these are means and ways of trying to debar the progress of the others; the younger; the heirs...”King Sobuzha II’s Response to the Cape Town, RSA, Winds of Change Speech of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan; 1960/ 2713 AUC...In 1963; the NNLC led a major railway and mining strike in protest against dependence on South Africa and absolute monarchy. King Sobuzha II of Swaziland (who reigned from 1898- until his death on 21st August 1982); ranks along with the Pharaoh Ramses II as among two of the longest reigning monarchs in history. Having decided that a Parliamentary democratic monarchy with parties such as the pro-royalist Imbokdvo National Movement (INM), the United Swaziland movement which favoured 50% protected seats for white Swazi and the pro Africanist Ngunu National Liberation Congress (NNLC) (former Swaziland Progress Party), had failed the people, the British constitution was abrogated in 1972 and a 1973 Royal Constitutional Commission then asked the people as to their preferred constitution directly –instead of most which do not consult the people. At least all African nations have a written constitution –unlike the UK which the unhistorical legal and unconstitutional office of prime minister usurps all the power from Her Majesty. In 1983, PUDEMO was formed to mobilise the intelligentsia in favour of democracy and progressive reforms. In 1978, King Sobuzha II issued an Order in Council which aimed for the electorate to directly choose their candidates via local constituencies and individuals via tikundlas rather than oligarchic party mechanisms with their own agendas, promising one thing and enacting the antithesis. The indirect Electoral College then nominated the Senate to counter the monarchy. He recognised and promoted racial harmony; identifying the necessity and the contribution of all races to the future of Swaziland and sought to develop both political and economic sovereignty by distilling merit. Along with King Moshoeshoe of Lesotho; Emperor Haille Selassie and others; he opted to instigate modernisation while retaining the connection with one’s past and one’s cultural heritage... He retained professional contact; cordial and acknowledgement of the British; considered peaceful means of extracting concessions from Pretoria and performed its relations with the Commonwealth; Organisation of African Unity and United Nations well; (unlike so many others... including the G7).It has chosen peace over aggression and avoided armed intervention. It lacks political prisoners; torture and slaughters. The Cabinet was able to often assert its autonomy with its monarch.Swaziland increased the land that it owned itself of its terrain from a third in 1914 to over 45% by independence in 1968. An additional 960000 acres were soon bought from Non Swazi to facilitate the resolution of the land question –buying from Swazi –of all races by the State, was prohibited. Swaziland gained a third sugar mill, grants to chiefs for local development, its own university and Parliament and the initiation of the Tibuye commercial/ agrarian/ industrial network with a surplus from 1973 -1978, while the First World suffered from OPEC manufactured shortages. This utilised everything from land to mineral rights to providing scholarships, cultural subsidies, aid to the Defence Force and university grants. Private investment was actively sought and protected, with tax rates lower than South Africa, a flexible labour policy –a minimum of 51% investor control and free unrestricted capital inflows, while trade was encouraged by membership of both the Southern African Customs Union and the 1979 anti apartheid SADCC. The economy magnified such that by 1980, it was no longer in the list of the world’s 25 poorest countries (as with Botswana) as it had been in independence in 1968 24% of the GNP by 1980 came from manufacturing –and yet, Swaziland is traditionally viewed as primitive!In order to instil a continuance of meritocracy; the Swazi government set up a Department of Education and Training along with imploring the expatriate civil servants to prepare their Swazi replacements –any citizen irrespective of race; within certain time limits. Various measures e.g. the construction of resorts such as the Royal Swaziland Hotel and Casino; aided tourism and the 1969 budget was balanced. A national Youth Service sought to mobilise the youth in espirit de corps; patriotism; discipline and various artisan/ agricultural skills back to their rural village backgrounds. Swaziland held a mature and orderly political transition via Queen Mother Indlovukazi Dezilwe in 1983 and Queen Regent Ntombi from 1983 to 1986. In 1986, King Mswati III ascended the Swazi throne. In 2011, rather than allow an African government insolvency and regional instability, the Swazi civil service salaries were paid for by the Southern African Customs Union and particularly South Africa under President Zuma –who granted a several billion rand loan; shrewdly using customs revenue as collateral. The Swazi have the skills of grass weaving as well as the world’s oldest mine at Ngwenya, which is over 41000 years old, has mined iron ore, haematite and specularite for ritual and cosmetics/“The number of errors we have made is enormous! But our success is that; despite the errors; we have actually built something...”Information Minister Jose Cabaco...The distinctive history of Mozambique; occurs separately from the thlassocracy sultanates of the coast with the Portuguese invasions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; but were often repelled by those Africans who made occupation of the interior arduous. The Gaza Kingdom was able to host an army of 20000 heroic challengers of the Portuguese; from south of the Limpopo to the mouth of the Zambezi. Only after they eventually lost in 1895; did the Portuguese then view Mozambique as worthy of proper colonisation attention. The phase of the liberation wars commenced with the foundation of MANU in June 1960. All three: MANU, UAMZ and UDEAMO would convene in Dar es Salaam under the auspices of Julius Nyerere in 1962. There; under the leadership of Eduardo Mondlane –the first Mozambican doctor, Samora Machel and others; they would form a united movement; for the sake of all Mozambiquans: FRELIMO!“It is necessary to know the temperature inside –and the people are the thermometer...”Samora MachelSamora Machel embodied the selflessness of freedom fighters in Africa; that had the potential to turn into a dictatorial tyrant but subordinated his will and the movement of Frelimo, to improving the lives and existence of his people. His negotiation of peace with South Africa in the Nkomati Accords of 1984, signed with Prime Minister P W Botha, and acceptance of reality, enabled him and FRELIMO to concentrate on the task of reconstructing Mozambique –despite efforts by RENAMO to destabilise the situation. A non smoker, who lived spartan, believed in physical exercise, self criticism and avoided a personality cult, he was born in 1933. In September 1974, he became 1 of a mere initial 250 FRELIMO fighters to challenge the Portuguese –eventually leading into a mass revolution... Apart from supporting the ANC, he supported sides from the Katanga secession to the Puerto Rico quest for autonomy.“The thing that history will record as the principal contribution of our generation is that we understood how to turn the struggle into a revolution. We realised that it was essential to create a new mentality in order to build a new society...”“The truth is; thanks to the Portuguese; -we understand fully what we do not want...oppression; exploitation and humiliation... But as to want we do want and how to get it; our ideas are still necessarily vague... They are born from practise; they are corrected by practise... We undoubtedly, will run into setbacks. But it is from these setbacks that we will learn...”Samora MachelFRELIMO resisted apartheid South Africa heroically as did many SADC countries, -despite being so dependent upon them. Its constitution supports the principle of turning the Indian Ocean and in defiance of the North uniquely into a non-nuclear zone of peace. This was further strengthened when the one nuclear weapon (apart from the Congo) and economic superpower of Africa; South Africa, was unique in voluntarily dismantling its atomic bomb capabilities for peace (which it had detonated in the South Atlantic in 1979); under Nelson Mandela. Unlike ZANU and ZAPU insurgents in Rhodesia but like the SA ANC and Tanzanian TANU; it progressed as a multi-racial liberation movement ... despite the turning point assassination of leader Eduardo Mondlane 3 February 1969 by a petrol bomb in Dar es Salaam. Yet it had the expertise of Vice President Marcelano Dos Santos and President Samora Machel -until his plane crash death 1986, to coordinate independence. From an initial 250 men in 1964, it progressed to over 8000 by 1967. A year later they had a fifth of Mozambique territory, the support of over 8000000 people and fought against the Portuguese numerical superiority of over 50000 troops. The Lusaka Agreement in 7 September 1974 persuaded a peaceful transfer of power from the Portuguese. The strength of Samara Machel of Mozambique and FRELIMO is that they are prepared to accept debate, differences and freedom of critique –even in the Central Committee –there is no personality cult. Democracy was confirmed by People’s Assembly elections in 1977. RENAMO consented to be the main democratic official opposition to FRELIMO in 1994 where an 80 % voter turnout gave FRELIMO 129 seats and RENAMO 112 seats, and the preservation of political pluralism and negotiating of peace are both valiant achievements of the Mozambique government and people. Both Frelimo and Renamo would contribute 15000 soldiers each to form a new national army; while their paramilitary militias would be disarmed. Civilian control of the Ministry of Defence was established for the first time. The United Nations awarded the landmine clearance contract to the noted South African landmine firm: “We do not recognise tribes; race; regions or religious beliefs... (Unlike those politically conscious and correct spineless cowards who spew and ferment such hogwash); we only recognise Mozambiquans who are equally exploited and desirous of freedom and revolution. To be united it is not enough to stipulate that one is united! It is necessary to wage a constant battle against all divisive situations and tendencies; which separates us from who we really are: Africans... FRELIMO espoused a sincere commitment to Mozambican cultural revival under Graca Machel, with a National Dance Festival and an Institute of Culture which would collect indigenous music. In 1975, free education was pledged and free healthcare six months later –and yet the US has not yet... Politically; FRELIMO was highly democratic with a high turnover rate of candidates, candidate choice and set of accountability; whether entering the Party or standing for election; one had to summarise one’s autobiography for public scrutiny and be open to questioning –something that would enliven and evolve Western democracy if imitated. Instead of merely making a speech, each candidate was required to justify their candidacy and participate in public debate.“The hospital is the only contact many people have with their state. And it touches their most sensitive points: health, well –being and their very way of life...”President Samara Machel“The emancipation of women is not an act of charity, nor the result of humanitarian or compassionate attitudes... The emancipation of women is a fundamental necessity for the Revolution, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition for its victory... The main objective of the Revolution is to destroy the system of exploitation and to construct a new society which releases the potential of human beings; reconciling them with labour and with nature...”They had no inhibitions to women emancipation –for women soldiers had zealously proven themselves. It offered 2 month maternity leave, time off for breastfeeding, protection against sexual harassment, protection in work, property, divorce, desertion and child custody cases. Polygamy and women initiation rites were prohibited for without its male counterpart/ polyandry –it was not considered just for the equality of genders –up to Graca Machel –the Minister of Culture and the only one ever to be First Lady of 2 countries –the wife of Nelson Mandela and Samora Machel. Realising that the strength of African entrepreneurship; creativity and toil –lies in the often unappreciated efforts of rural African women, they set up Green Zones. Women took the leadership initiative in several areas along with fulfilling traditional male roles such as construction workers, truck drivers, police, justiciars and tractor drivers, to challenge male stereotypes under the auspices of the Mozambique Women’s Movement or OMM.Their policies of revolution were guerrilla tactics, which mobilised the support of the people against counterattacks, ensured that the educated must work to help the people in liberation zones, to help the people; for no revolution has ever triumphed definitively without popular support, as they knew. FRELIMO democracy allowed janitors to criticise department heads of state for drinking vices, condescending attitudes, graft, ignorance or weakness. The point is that in these and in the 1977 municipal elections and further on, workers felt able to vote freely and express themselves –which is true democracy without fear of the deaths, tear gas, rubber bullets and arrests that the USA, Europe and British government resort to... At CIFEL –Mozambique’s only steel mill after four hundred years of colonialism and Dr Salazar’s rhetoric of the New Order State, 6 out of 12 Party candidates were turned down by the workers. In 1983, they introduced public floggings as an effective deterrent –unrebuked by the masses and between July and September; they expelled the indolent unemployed from cities in Operation Production –seeking to balance urban areas with rural areas. Dynamising Block Groups were set up to prevent anti –white outbursts and sabotage. They maintained a sharp disdain for corruption –even the sister in law of President Machel was purged from the Central Party leadership along with four others expelled in 1978 for power abuse, immorality and discourtesy to females. Worker’s Councils were set up to train social workers and mobilise popular involvement in courts, housing, collective latrines, gardens and individual allotments. Their central policies were:“I: The revolution is socialist, anti- colonialist and anti-fascist; -not anti-white or anti –Portuguese!II: The goal is to liberate all of Mozambique –not simply one part; and FRELIMO must be non –ethnic, non –tribal and non-religious!III: The army is a political force and everyone must undergo both political and military training; to take part in this populist struggle!IV: Mass health, education and collective production of welfare are viewed as significant and must be promoted in rural areas...V: The people should govern themselves and not be ruled by politicians, traditional leaders or priests.VI: Commerce must be influenced for the welfare of the people by the state; -not private enterprise!”Unlike the Western electoral manifestos, FRELIMO honoured their promises. As with many African cabinets; the first governments would include those who had expressed their devotion to their people by fighting for their emancipation from colonialism –those who had earned their place in contrast to the West. FRELIMO with many governments was often based on progressive and qualified intellectuals –unlike in the Northern Hemisphere where the intelligentsia just suffocate, stagnate and wither away in universities. In Dondo; Mozambique local government has become more society orientated and democratic and prevent the waste associated with councillors, from in 1998. Local citizens determine where municipal funds are most prioritised in investing in public infrastructure and the public are involved in sustainable projects such as recycling, garbage collection and street cleaning. Before the World Health Organisation declared the necessity of free primary healthcare at the 1978 Alma Alta meeting, Mozambique had institutionalised a socialised community healthcare scheme for all and it predated the WHO’s attempt at proscribing the importation of Multi National Corporation drug rejects, limiting imports only to essentials. It gave priority to hygiene training, preventive and environmental health policies. It set up clinics, mobile and rural health posts and introduced publicity campaigns in schools and workplaces. It set up nurse and paramedic training –extending to villages; to alleviate pressure on sparse and scarce doctors needed for complex operations in Maputo. It set up its own oral rehydration facility. Workers even elected health and Safety representatives to gain ministry of health training. Within four years; over 90% received tetanus and smallpox vaccinations.Primary school enrolment soon doubled within a few years of winning the war. Secondary school pupils increased from 20000 to 135000. Within four years; infant mortality rate decreased by 70%. Healthcare workers doubled to 4000. Statistically; these social indicators calibrated the victory of Mozambique as a community and as a country under Frelimo. What others fail to realise; is that only social, cultural and environmental measures truly verify the benefits we Africans and humans make. As after five decades of assistance; most aided nations are worse off; -especially economically; we should take pride; in what our people and governments since independence and throughout our history have contributed; achieved and progressed –on our own, as FRELIMO did; without foreigners. This concept should not be especially radical –Yet it remains heretical to all aid organisations and NGO’s/ the First World: for then the most frightening thing of all would materialise: they would be superfluous... The NGO organisations ADEMO and ADEMIMO both are local projects inspired to aid those generally disabled –and those made so, by the war. RENAMO as an effective rebel and guerrilla warfare movement was conceived by Rhodesian intelligence: the CIO under Ken Flower as an “African solution to an African problem” It was made up of those who rejected FRELIMO. They gave African chiefs the power and autonomy that a more modernist FRELIMO rejected in exchange for recruits and supplies.“We dream of the communal village in Africa, about the village where hunger is defeated, where there is no crime, where disease is fought and conquered, where life is collective and productive; where schools end ignorance, superstition and illiteracy, where the new Africa is born, where there is real unity and peace among humans... of all races!”Samora MachelMany of those have been worthily achieved in reality. Perhaps it arises from the honesty of poverty,; but in contrast to South Africa, Mozambique remained a country without beggars, without crime –goods are safe to be left on beaches or on the edge of the road all night, and free of prostitutes from Ponta de Ouro to Maputo to Beira under the Mozambique Youth Movement who conducted an urban campaign against degenerates and social misdemeanours, and with evidence of reconstructing the damage wrought by its civil war, with the new constructed buildings outnumbering others. In 6 years, poverty was reduced by 14%. In 1980, out of a population of over 12000000 people, there were 0 political prisoners and only 3800 ordinary prisoners –in rehabilitation camps that definitely deserved the name/ Ideology was flexible and pragmatically adaptable –by 1980, small businesses had been returned to private ownership and management by individuals. The ruling Frelimo have clearly remained steadfast to their revolutionary and egalitarian principles, not siphoned resources into personal bank accounts. They retained an open immigration policy untainted by xenophobia, inviting Zimbabwean farmers overthrown by land invasions under Mugabe in 2003, to strengthen Mozambican agriculture. Prisons in Mozambique are based on a remarkable concept of rehabilitation –where there are no walls, it is open, self –criticism sessions are held, prisoners have the chance for public education or to learn a useful technical skill. The extensive network of pedestrian facilities, cycle tracks and footbridges are an example; that the wealthier countries of South Africa and the United States would do well to emulate.Zambian identity rather than the colony of Northern Rhodesia perhaps commenced with the Mwanza Welfare Association which lasted between 1912 -1927 under the school inspector Donald Siwale (who influenced and was elected to the Africa Regional Council from 1944 -1958), and the teacher David Kaunda –father of Kenneth Kaunda. The Nchala Association worked for equality of working conditions with their white colleagues. Unlike South Rhodesia which was formed on a non racial; meritocratic qualified franchise in 1920 and ruled by Africans; Great Britain denied North Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Malawi) any vote at all hypocritically; until the eve of Independence. The Mucapi movement from 1933 formed as a reaction against witchcraft and its own offerings of protection; spiritual healing; Resurrection and abolition of sins. From 1935, the Copperbelt with movements and by 1948 won themselves the right to exist as legal African trade unions. In 1937; the North Rhodesia African National Congress –to champion repealing discrimination.“It is a criminal offence for any person to utter any words or publish any writings expressing or showing hatred, ridicule or contempt for persons because of their race, tribe or place of origin.”Penal Code Amendment Act of Zambia of 1964...Under Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia would try to install both harmonious race relations, an ethnically balanced Cabinet prospering copper based economy of record growth and budgetary surplus, and welcoming of talent –especially the fleeing refugees of elsewhere. Micro wave linked towers; updated diesel railways; kilometres of tarred roads, clinics and public infrastructure authenticate this progress with an 1100 mile copper pipeline from Ndola to Dar es Salaam constructed in the 1960’s. In academia, teaching colleges; secondary, primary schools and the new University of Zambia –which offered correspondence courses to more than the 100 graduates the British had ever prepared, prepared the people after Independence along with the expansion of health facilities. UNIP was less tainted by corruption than many countries ruling factions. He resisted a one party state until 1972 preferring the Zambian ANC to weaken itself voluntarily and even then, it was formed in alliance with the opposition –some of whom; had joined from independence –including the trade unions; in that often common way of voluntarily choosing the forum justified by the intellectual arguments of Nyerere. Unions were free to operate –the Mine Workers Union even gained in strength after the Copperbelt boom UNIP voluntarily chose to permit the MMD and other parties in 1990 and Kaunda stepped done two years early even though his term was scheduled to end in 1993. He also cooperated with many of the more reasonable requests of the opposition. Kaunda was also a vegetarian and set up wilderness preserves.“If we want independence to have meaning... whatever we do; Humans must come first! In other words, Uhuru is meaningless; unless humans and humanity are put first... so that he or she, does not just become a meaningless cog in a wheel, but an important keystone, in which our development and progress in the African Renaissance hinges... After all, you want independence to plan for a better future, for your fellow people and for yourself... If I overemphasise the importance of humans it is because our approach as Africans, in Humanism in ubuntu is to include them, rather than those Western and Eastern ideologies focussing on materialism not people... Let us reinvigorate merely their needs and themselves; through active participation... as individuals, through their own efforts. Self help has a double meaning to any individual if properly illuminated and involved to him or her. His or her inner self receives tremendous inspiration and self confidence, and we all know that a human who understands himself or herself has more chance of actually contributing to his own, his family and his nation’s good. His or her spiritual and moral strength stand them in good strength against any outward sign of destruction or disruption of bribery, corruption, drunkenness, hooliganism, ignorance, sloth, ridicule, contempt, bureaucracy... What is required is the harnessing of the people’s imagination; to inspire enthusiasm and to direct them into constructive channels. The forces and tools of human progress are here... let us use them!1964 Independence Address Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda.All tiers of government were based on meritocracy, multi racial and designed to avoid ethnic tension via regional representation at every tier and sector of government. Citizenship was also non racial. Students were perfectly free to dissent; to reject Humanism and UNIP. A coalition government was formed between the NRANC and UNIP in 1962. The judiciary retained their independence and freedom of criticism/ impartiality. Yet; as in many so called “one party states” –from Kenya to the Ivory Coast a multiplicity of candidates presented themselves for constituencies to the electorate. In 1973, 532 candidates contested 124 Parliamentary constituencies and in 1978, 766 contested 125 constituencies. The civil service was encouraged to freely express itself through meetings set up by Kaunda to link them to UNIP politicians, the police and the military. He even retained the expertise off his white staffed intelligence unit, until they betrayed Zambia by collaborating with Rhodesia in state secrets –fired in 1968. Zambia became financially self sufficient by 1973. Between 1964 -1973; Zambia’s imports to South Africa decreased from 20% to 11%. In foreign affairs; Zambia and Tanzania sponsored the Lusaka Manifesto which chose the peaceful approach over non racialism in Rhodesia, Namibia and South Africa. He helped arrange the attempt at solving the Rhodesian question with Ian Smith and the ZANU/ ZAPU counterinsurgents at Victoria Falls in 1976. In 1975, the Namibia Institute was instigated in Lusaka. Harry Nkumbula and Mundo were invited, as leaders of the opposition to join the national government of unity in 1972 but rejected it on principle. President between 1964 -1991, he was born in 1924 at Lubwa Mission in Northern Rhodesia. From 1943 -1948, he taught. In 1947 -1948. He led the Nchanga Mine Welfare Association and was arrested in 1953 and 1955. In 1958, he created the Zambian ANC and a year later, was imprisoned. Agricultural credit, healthcare and education expanded –and Zambia remained self sustaining in food into the 1970’s. Kaunda called for the redistribution of the urban influx –to rural areas; channelling agrarian investment as enticement. He unified Zambia –practising forgiveness and inclusion for all –recognising the contributions of all: even muzungu. Zambia subsidized food, housing, transport and airfares on its national airline for its workers –especially during the copper boom period. The Kariba Dam and Kafue River hydroelectric project, the Ndola to Dar es Salaam oil pipeline, the tarred Great Northern Road and the Southern province Mwaamba coal mine along with the TANZAM railway linking Tanzania with Zambia, all acted as economic stimulants to enhance potential development. They also had geopolitical significance of reducing dependency on Rhodesia, Mozambique and South Africa with the inclusion of the tarred Kipiri highway. Colin Morris and Kenneth Kaunda articulated themselves in the 1960 publication of “Black Government.” Lusaka formed the base for South Africa’s ANC in exile as well as other apartheid freedom fighters at a time when only other African countries were prepared to offer concrete aid and facilities while the West denounced them as being pro Communist and then hypocritically denounced apartheid South Africa whilst trading with it. A lack of venality is noticeable in the simple fact that after leaving State House, he had nowhere to live –having not invested in corrupt second or additional mansion homes as many British MP’s have claimed –or in the USA where wealth not ability is the prerequisite for a House of Representatives or Senate, Congress holder. Only his fellow Africans in the Commonwealth ensured that he had shelter provided. In 1985, Kaunda was elected as Chair of the Frontline States.“What use are prisons if they are not going to help change prisoner’s attitude to society? What use are they, if they do not teach useful skills to inmates that they can use, once they have been released? The primary responsibility of the prison sector is to bring errant sheep back into the fold. It is to change prisoners into better human beings: NOW!”Kenneth Kaunda“If the owners of socialism have withdrawn from it, who are we Africans to continue with it?Frederick Chiluba. The trade union leader Frederick Chiluba became president democratically and only won two terms, (1991-2001), the third was rejected in favour of a new president. When his wife, pointed out that he had embezzled –two years after stepping down from office, he was placed under house arrest and indicted. In his defence –he preserved democracy, sustained economic progress –and unlike other leaders that the world and Africa have known: tolerated satire and invective –without resorting to measures of defence, litigation or censorship; that many would have censured him for as draconian. The government critic and former British engineer –husband of Zambia’s leading indigenous feminist Sara Longwe; the naturalised Zambian Roy Clarke... defended the freedom to criticise against presidents Chiluba (who graciously permitted it) and Levy Mwanawasa –another democratic Zambian presidential incumbent who succeeded him in 2001. The IMF and World Bank publication: “Euro-money”, voted the Zambian finance minister Ronald Penza –the world’s second best. President Levy Mwanawasa died in 2008 and was replaced by President Rupiah Banda –who continued his predecessors magnanimous policy towards Zimbabwean refugees, and acting as a vocal opponent of Mugabe’s slaughtering of his own people in SADCC and the uselessness of the West –along with Botswanan President Ian Khama. Despite no recognition or enumeration; the Zambian Africans Chumi and Susi defended and carried the corpse of Livingstone over the great expanse of terrain between the Chitembo village in Zambia to coastal Baagamoyo; then escorted it across several thousand miles of ocean to London, Soon they were promptly forgotten in stark ingratitude by the West and unknown by our own continent. The illiterate and charismatic theocratic martyr: Alice Lenshina was born in Charimo, Zambia. She aimed at revitalising her breed of the Galilean faith with piety, and zealous observance of a devoted life. As founder of the Lumpa Church, she called for the confession of sins, freedom of religion, mixed congregations and became politically active in her crusade against poverty. This brought her into clashes with the aspiring UNIP, which convicted her as a rival in 1962. Kapelwa Musondo even proposed the nationalisation of crime: -“If it Pays –It’s Time We Took It Over!” If theft were formalised in a guild system –with a limited set of crimes per year –and the uncertainty reduced; included in the tax and employment system; with its own education and health system –and unofficial crime dealt with more effectively thorough self policing. After all –to reduce crime; they’d merely have to work less –more efficient; then the police or courts. At least it is another African approach to a universal phenomenon which pre-empts a similar (fictionalised idea justified by Sir Terry Pratchett and his Discworld Ankh Morpork Thieves’ Guild System decades later) “This is the trouble of Africa today –too many ignorant people who do not know anything about history. And if they do know anything about it, they do not know how to apply it and interpret it. That is why Africa is a mess. That is the tragedy of Africa... –too many ignorant people are in positions of power and responsibility...”Dr Hastings BandaDr Hastings Banda of Malawi was the only one who considered diplomatic ways through official recognition, could help to remove the barriers of entrenched apartheid in South Africa, colonialism in Mozambique and Angola, and scorned armed intervention in Rhodesia and Namibia. If nothing else, it remains a unique perspective –given hindsight, negotiation prevailed –not military conquest. The Malawi Development Corporation from independence used foreign advice and resources to industrialise and modernise his country via schemes such as sugar production and the Nkula Falls Hydroelectric Scheme. The commercial elite of Malawi were proud not to conserve their wealth in foreign bank accounts but to invest it in projects that would help their country and boost their fellow citizens’ chances. Indeed, Dr Banda urged civil servants, MP’s and ministers to have faith in their country and make it prosperous by investing domestically. From 1965-1980; Malawi sustained 5% GDP growth –with a balanced budget; sustained food autarchy and considerable foreign reserves –conserved by the fiscally orthodox Dr Hastings Banda. It was also aided by a renegotiated deal with apartheid South Africa; which remitted part of the salary of migrant workers to be paid in Malawi and not South Africa so that it would aid domestic consumption. The Malawi Congress Party constantly mobilised women and the youth –as many African revolutionary parties have done. Malawi sought to reassure its white citizens by reserving 5 seats in the 1970 Parliament for them; by appointing people on merit not race and by a firm commitment to private investment and property rights.A new capital at Lilongwe and a new university at Zomba were two more independence programmes instated along with the Nacala railway to Mozambique. In 1962, Soche Hille College to train teachers as inaugurated. At Mpenza, an Institute of Public Administration was opened that same year. The elite Kamazu Academy has been compared in prestige –as Malawi’s Eton. Other educational achievements were the Chancellor College –the Great Hall of which, was personally paid for by President Hastings Banda, Banda College, Malawi Polytechnic, Lukoni Farmer’s Institute, the game conservation and Forestry College at Dedza, the Kamazu Teacher’s Training and Nursing Collegiums along with secondary schools in Zomba, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, Blantyre and elsewhere. These schools owed themselves to Dunduzo Chisako and Masuko Chiperembe. The international airport was upgraded. The Shire River received a hydroelectric power system. A medical school at Blantyre was set up to promote local liberty medically. Outpatient charges were abolished. Sugar and ethanol production was introduced for the first time at Nchalo and Dwangwa. Instead of concentrating the army, it was divided between Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Zomba. The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation provided an indigenous alternative to the BBC Overseas Service and Radio Zambia.The role of local councils was to utilise endemic, parent, pupil and domestic support/ funding in preparing a blueprint for Malawi’s new schools. They would provide labour, classrooms and three teacher houses, while central government would proffer a library, laboratory, hall and three more teacher houses. Each secondary school received ?18000 to support it along with scholarships for 10 students. A Send the Student Fund was established through voluntary donations to send Malawi students of exceptional translucence to university campuses in East Africa –Makerere, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi to promote pan African loyalty and scholarship rather than those traitors sent at public expense to the EU, UK or Ivy League and then emigrate rather than return home to aid their country. Encroachment and the formation of the one party state was contested when his leading ministers resigned in protest in 1964. Other movements which continued to call for a freer Malawi included the Socialist League of Malawi, the Congress of the Second Republic and the Malawi Freedom Movement.“What I do know is simply this: your way of life –is your way of life. Our way of life is our way of life. There are certain things which we agree upon, let’s think more of those things, let’s work more from the basis of those things which we agree, on which we see eye to eye... Those things which we do not agree, which we do not see eye to eye, will take care of themselves...”Dr Hastings Banda Addressing the Apartheid South African GovernmentIn 1896, Dr Hastings Banda was born into the Chewa tribe in Kasungu district. When he was thirteen, he walked over a thousand miles to better economic and social prospects in the Union of South Africa. There can be no greater proof to confirm the value that he placed –as so many other African leaders –and Africans did: the value of education: -perhaps because they saw it as the ultimate chance to escape... They appreciated the chance to make something for themselves –utilising scarce opportunity –and valuing something because of its rarity and significance. Generations from Nyerere –to Mugabe with his seven degrees –to the French Academy of Immortals and Senghor –to those cadres and leadership of FRELIMO, the PAIGCV -and the ANC... Walther Sisulu, Govan and Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada... and others who studied on Robben Island; to those from Smith to Kaunda to Kenyatta and Nkrumah; who invested in educating their people... testify to this.. As a mining clerk Dr Hastings Banda attended night school in Johannesburg to train further. Fortunate enough to acquire a scholarship, he gained a degree in history and political science in Indiana University and then gained a doctorate as the only black student at the University of Chicago in 1931 –showing what can be accomplished if we persevere –regardless of the criticism of others. He then gained a medical masters degree at Tennessee, Glasgow and Edinburgh –so that he could practise medicine anywhere in the British Empire and became an elder of the Church of Scotland. He then became a practising doctor and gained contact with eminent future African statesmen forming the Nyasaland African Congress in 1950 –being invited back. He was elected its President in 1958, returning to Malawi –after spending over 40 years away from it. In August 1960, a qualified franchise and constitution was granted, elections in 1961 under the Malawi Congress Party –who’s first Cabinet even, had the mettle to resign in protest at the betrayal of egalitarian means by Dr Hastings Banda. Several of them even revolted such as the persistent censor Chiperembe –compare that to the craven, and fawning sycophants of many countries who chose to remain in power over principles. Again, there is a lot that the world could learn from Africa in politics, governance, diplomacy, enlightenment –but also in ethics, principles and humanity... He favoured meritocracy and gradual integration into the civil service –relying on expatriate technocrats to train their eventual Malawi inheritors. Whatever his issues concerning his peaceful relations with apartheid South Africa, at least no one can consider him a hypocrite. Dr Banda was generally candid in contrast to outside Westerners –from Israel to Western Europe, the UK, Japan and the United States who called for UN sanctions but if anything increased endorsement and investment of apartheid after the Sharpeville massacre in 1961. He abdicated, without controversy in 1991 when the Catholic bishops of Malawi called for his resignation with civil society. He even graciously admitted his mistakes –as did Nyerere, and publically apologised via the main paper of the Malawi Congress Party.When Hastings Banda left the country, the three man Presidential Council set to administer Malawi in his absence, relieved him of his ministerial powers and the National Assembly under the Malawi Congress Party repealed his life presidency, lowered the presidential minimum age from 40 to 35 and allowed other parties –of their own initiative... In 1993, Bakili Maluzi of the United Democratic Front; democratically became the next Malawian president. Hastings Banda received African justice of being placed under house arrest in January 1995. An independent commission of inquiry investigated the deaths of MCP members. In 2005, the Malawi Prime Minister apologised for failing his country publically and in influencing the choice of his successor. Malawi expanded food production from independence to the 1990’s without Western aid. President Bingu Wa Mutharika ascended in 2004.To conclude the Southern Strata chapter: Lesotho and Swaziland have survived as monarchies in an age which is increasingly reducing this alternate source of government. Both have survived despite minimal resources and prospects with a decent economy, resolution of the land question and racial harmony. Mozambique is known for democracy under FRELIMO and FRELIMO’s approach to education, healthcare and urban problems –from crime to beggars to prostitution along with the sponsoring of the Indian Ocean Zone of Peace. Malawi is known for its education, its alternative approach of dialogue in foreign affairs with South Africa along with its economy. Zambia achieved racial harmony, avoided ethnic conflict and managed to retain democratic choice –even under a one party state...NAMIBIA AND GAIA:“I, Ngati; live in the Kalahari. I know all the water holes and pans around here, the places where the animals come. When you track an animal, you must become that animal... You feel a tingling in your armpits when an animal is close. These are the things we know... when tracking is like dancing... to the Oracle... you are invoking Gaia, when you are doing these things...” (You become more than a processing, synthesized entity, you become alive!)The Khoikoi or Bushmen of the Kalahari as the eminent Laurens Van Der Post and film: “The Gods Must Be Crazy,” comments favourably; have learned to live with Nature –not to encumber her and isolate them from her. Excellent trackers, their satisfaction without synthetic adornments and superfluous materialism is reflected in their sense of community. They have no chiefs and make communal decisions with equality of gender. They have no word for good or evil –indeed the most one can be is mischievous and they are satisfied with their portion in life, correctly believing that the gods and nature provide only valuable or useful things –and to have gratitude. Their adaptation to the desert, allow them to survive, where modern humanity could not –on its own, using wild sisal for burstings. Compassionate to their valiant prey, which they only kill for nutritional necessity believing the prey has as much right to survive as the hunter and apologise, with nullifying poison arrow tranquilisers. They have a healing trance dance releasing the potency of other animals to reinforce their own energies, as epitomised in their rock art. Their very survival is a form of enlightenment.They have been viewed as a lingering fragment of the first humanity providing a sense of continuity, renouncing materialism and sharing all goods in common in the true form of communism unadorned by ridiculous theories. It is they who pioneered the bow and arrow, thousands of years ago. Along with the dart and blowpipe above; these missiles provided a turning point in modern humanity as we became the only animals that could satisfy our nutritional requirements by killing from a distance –along with the earlier form of traps in North and Eastern Africa. Domestic crop cultivation and pastoral animal husbandry, though not practised by the Khoikoi, extends this African role in forming our species identity and dominance. They did however, construct sophisticated pit traps with sharpened stakes at the bottom for prey and tidal traps of piled stones for seafood. A bored stone and stick penetrated underground roots.Namibia has its history but from independence on 21st March 1990 (internationally, although its first multiracial government arose in 1975), its ecological consciousness is its greatest contribution to the salving of Gaia. It is the first country in the history of the world, to enshrine environmentalism in its very Constitution. Its promotion of ecological tourism, dune conservation and park formation surpass Northern Hemisphere attempts. Article 95 calls for an Environmental Protection Ombudsman who supervises environmental queries and concerns and it calls for: the promotion of people’s welfare via pro-ecological measures and 15% of the terrain is conserved while other land attempts aim at community based sustainable management. The inducement of conservation via property rights was launched in 1967 AD in giving game ownership to landowners, encouraging game farming. The declaration of a 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone has promoted sustainable fishing since the 1990’s. Namibia ranks after Mongolia as the least densely populated country in the world and like Gabon, refutes the conception that all African countries suffer from overpopulation; when these two are blessed with space and a reasonable population, ecologically aware...“There are some who will say that they are sympathetic with our aims; but that they cannot endorse the usage of violence to achieve those objectives... I would answer; that I am not by nature, one of violence; but South Africa is not truly prepared to listen to opposition; whether violent or non violent... It does not want to hear any opposition to apartheid peacefully or through war... Since 1964, SWAPO meetings have been banned, despite popular protest from the people of Namibia. We have found ourselves voteless in our own country and have been long deprived of the right to meet and state our opinions. Is it surprising that in such times, my countrymen have taken up arms? Violence is truly fearsome to behold but who would not defend his property against armed robbers? And we have been robbed of our country...“A court can only do justice in political cases if it understands –and purposefully attempts to understand the position of those that it has in front of it. The state not only wanted to convict us but also politically: to justify the position of the South African government. We will not even bother to justify this legal farce by presenting the other side of the case because that we know; that a court that hasn’t suffered the same way that we have... cannot understand us. This is perhaps why it is said; that one should be tried by one’s peers instead... We have felt from the very time of our arrest; that we were not been tried by our equals but by those who professed themselves: our masters and that those who have brought us to trial; view us with such disrespect; do not even grant us the courtesy of referring to us with our surname –only our first (As in the Belgian Congo –where Patrice Lumumba also noted it). Had we been treated as equals; it would not have been necessary to have this trial: -it would not even been necessary to have a discussion because our perspective; could have been known and understood by those who have been set to judge us...It suits the government of South Africa to proclaim its erroneous claim of ruling on behalf of the people of Namibia. This is evidently not true... SWAPO is the largest political organisation in Southwest Africa and it truly represents the people... We know that the whites do not take Africans seriously as politicians –only as agitators. Many of our people, -through no fault of their own, have had no education at all. This does not mean that they are stupid. This does not mean that they do not know what they want and what they deserve... Nor does a human have to be formally educated to know that he or she wants to be with their family and not where an official chooses to tell them to live –apart; to move freely and not require a pass to earn a decent wage; to be free to work for the person of his or her choice, -for as long as he or she wishes and finally: to be ruled by the people he wants be ruled by and not those who rule him because they have more guns than he... “My lord, we found ourselves here in a foreign country, convicted under laws made by people we have always considered to be foreigners... It is the deep feeling of all that we should not be tried here in Pretoria... We are Namibians and not South Africans. We do not now, and will not in the future, recognise your right to govern us, to make laws for us in which we have had no say; to treat our country as if it were your property and us, as if you were our masters. We have always regarded South Africa as an intruder in our country.... Only when we are granted our sovereignty will the struggle stop. Only when our human dignatas is restored to us, as equals of the whites, will there be peace between us...”“I do not claim that it is easy for humans of different races to live at peace with one another –given our history. I myself had no experience of this in my youth and I find that it still surprises me; that humans of different races, could live together in peace. But, I now know it to be true and it to be something for which we must all work towards. The apartheid South African government creates hostility by separating people and emphasizing their differences. We believe; that by living together; people will learn to lose their fear of each other We also believe that the hostility of the whites is based on their desire to be privileged and superior; and that when whites no longer see themselves as outsiders –part of South Africa, Europe or Southwest Africa –but as a part of Namibia; and share with us –all of our hopes and dreams –working with us to attain them... that this fear will disappear...”Toivo ja Toivo, Treason Trial Pretoria High Court, 1968. “I came to realise that we could expect no progress if we continued peacefully, from those who ruled us and that my children could expect no better life than I... A peaceful struggle was not possible! We of SWAPO, were not allowed to hold open meetings, to assemble and to petition –and our leaders were victimised, our supporters targeted and humiliated... I believe that we were and remain justified in taking up arms for the future of our people; to liberate them from poverty and ignorance... so I went into the forests with the others. The struggle against South Africa is an unequal one. I have seen the power of apartheid South Africa at Ungulumbesne but David slew Goliath because he had right on his side and I have faith that we Namibians will prevail because, we above others, have right on our side... Eliaser Tuhadeleni, Co-Defendant in the Treason Trial Pretoria 1968The history and brilliant lustre of rebellions marks the history and brilliant lustre of the African Renaissance! Africa owes its independence not to the efforts of colonialism but to the toil of pressure, revolt, resistance and revolution. Many of its most inspiring individuals contributed to the struggle. In Namibia, it started with the Ovambo in 1859, who refused Portuguese penetration and an invasion fleet, thereby preventing the Portuguese from gaining another territory. Namibia was settled between 1770 -1870 by those Africans who refused to submit themselves to the British in the Cape. Chief Hendrik Witbooi’s refusal to capitulate to the German colonialist troops in 1893. He fought a final nine day battle in the Nauklaft Mountains, until the German General Schutztrupper attacked Hoorken Kros stronghold in 1894. From 1904 -1906, he revolted again. Chief Frederick Mahero even sought to check the Portuguese and German invaders by forming a mutual defensive treaty with the Cape Colony government. As usual, the British lacked honour in Africa by giving it away to other colonial forces while pillaging Walvis Bay for itself. The 11 January1904 Herero rebellion under Maherero resulted in their close extermination –over 80% in one of the first major genocides of the 2oth century, for such were they feared by Von Trotha, while an Ndonga warrior troop also attacked the occupiers. King Manduma of the Ovambo resisted both the Germans and their South African inheritors during World War 1 along with destroying Portuguese forts, yet eventually succumbered to scorched earth tactics as the Portuguese could not defeat him in an open battle. A turning point occurred in 1920, when the League of Nations granted the Union of South Africa, a Class C mandate in Southwest Africa/ Namibia as a loyal reward for its assistance in both World Wars. The Rehoboth attempt at secession and autonomy from the South African administration in the 1920’s, the 1922 Bondelswaart Revolt over a denial of paying a dog tax and the Ovambo uprisings of the 1930’s all exhibited a negation of accepting South African rather than Namibian governance. In 1946, the majority of Namibian chiefs rejected patriotically; the continued mandate of South Africa administrating Namibia. The UN did nothing for the next 21 years, revealing its impotence from birth by anti African forces. The two primary defenders of African nationalism –Ethiopia and Liberia called upon the United Nations to terminate South African trusteeship in 1960. The UN and the International Court of Justice dismissed their case scornfully. They would only condemn the apartheid regime 6 years later –passed by one vote. Sam Nujoma with Toivo ja Toivo the regional secretary for Ovamboland, founded the Ovamboland People’s Organisation in 1958 renamed SWAPO in 19th April 1960 with the other SWANU resisters, which had a paid membership of several thousand within the first three months. They would continue to defend the existence of a multiracial society in their boycott of municipal services ad protests to defend the existence of the multiracial Old Location (one of the rare exceptions to full segregation that would be futilely and fruitlessly campaigned for –as with Sophiatown in 1955 and District 6 in Cape Town South Africa). Sam Nujoma –combat name Shafishuna –lightning, launched the armed struggle of SWAPO in 1966, when a peaceful resolution was exhausted. On the 7th August 1967, 37 staunch Namibian patriots would defend their lives, their cause and the right of the Namibian nation to exist in the Treason Trial (in parallels to the Rivonia Trial which convicted Nelson Mandela and others to life imprisonment on Robben Island) conducted in Pretoria, South Africa. Only five received five years –the rest 20 years hard labour or a life sentence.“We have adopted equality of the sexes and are committed to ensuring that this equality is fully exercised in our movement, in the interests of promoting unity of purpose and creating the total liberation of our motherland. It is the collective responsibility of both men and women to eliminate male chauvinism as well as promoting this equality of the sexes among the members of SWAPO and the people of Namibia as a whole...”Sam Nujoma – SWAPO President May 1988From the 1970’s to independence in the 1990’s all segments of Namibian society, were united in wishing to be free from South Africa since the UN recognised SWAPO as the sole mantle representing the Namibian people. Hosea Kutako led the formation of an independent African Church in Namibia free of European or Afrikaner dominance. On 13th December 1971, the Ovambo Strike involved over 21000 workers and was prompted by the refusal of South African Prime Minister Balthazar John Vorster to the Open Letter calling for full independence, by Bishop Aule and Pastor Gowaseb, on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the majority of Protestant and general Namibians... aided by the formation of the Council of Churches in 1978 –only the Afrikaans Dutch Reformed Church refused to join in the crusade for liberty. The strike was also a refusal for indentured slave labour, a basis of a uniform, countrywide salary based on merit not race and freedom of work and to be with their families.“The tasks before SWAPO at present and in the immediate future are: the liberation and winning of full liberty and independence for the people of Namibia by all means and the electing of a democratic people’s Government... This can only be achieved by the realisation of genuine and total sovereignty in the spheres of politics, the economy, defence, social and cultural affairs...”To those ends, SWAPO has resolved:A: To persistently mobilise and organise the broad masses of the Namibian people so that they may actively participate in the national liberation struggle...B: To mould and heighten in the spirit of the national liberation struggle, the bonds of national and political consciousness among the Namibian people.C: To combat all manifestations and tendencies of tribalism, Chauvinism, ethnic orientation and racial discrimination, wherever this plague may surface...D To unite all people; particularly the working class, peasant farmers and progressive intellectuals into a vanguard party capable of safeguarding national independence and of being a non exploitive, classless society based on socialism and humanity...SWAPO Political Programme.The multi racial Democratic Turnhalle Alliance established a Namibian government in 1975 under the leadership of Dirk Mudge and involving several disparate ethnic factions; abolished petty social apartheid such as the Immorality Act but without SWAPO’s involvement, failed to unite the country. They now serve as a credible official opposition to SWAPO in independent Namibia. It was South Africa, who called for international recognition and summoned the 1978 Geneva Conference of all parties –including SWAPO and the DTA. SWAPO agreed to contest elections and a ceasefire, when South Africa finally chose to grant full independence in 1990. Under their auspices, women were militantly involved –up to 90 % of the transporters were female. The SWAPO Women’s Council launched community projects, literacy drives and mutual female support through crèches and political/ social emancipation and education, a recurrent feature of many liberation movements from various ANC’s to Frelimo to the PAIGCV. SWAPO under President Sam Nujoma negotiated with the SA government for the restoration of the Walvis Bay enclave annexed by the British, -which was returned in 1994. An International School was set up in 1991 in the capital Windhoek with 127 students from 23 countries as an African experiment approach. President Hifikepunye Pohamba succeeded Sam Nujoma democratically in March 2005. Sunburn in the Namib and Kalahari is countered by the African (Himba) form of sun-cream –a combination of ochre and butterfat. Namibian rock art is over 25000 years old. The Ovambo are matrilineal in the basis of tribal chief succession and have historically not been adverse to the occasional female leader. Kolmanskop in the desert had a casino, theatre, orchestra, bakery, a soda water plant offering free ice, a hospital, 4 skittle alleys, and homes for 700 people, a swimming pool and a playground by 1908, within a decade of foundation along with one of the world’s first desalinisation plants. The local pub accepted diamonds as payment for a pint if money ran out. The modern economy has also done admirably. Communications are aided with an efficient network of tarred roadsCountries such as Namibia have remarkably solved the racial question; -given their history of tense conflict; not only in abolishing discrimination but also in avoiding vengeance. They’ve provided extraordinary attempts at reconciliation and integration and appreciation of merit and ability not race. It is the same in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana. Namibia has prioritised Gaia before exploiting the planet Gaia for short term gain. It has a fine history of defying foreigners and its economy, politics, media, are among the most stable, open and prosperous in Africa.THE ECOLOGICAL QUINTESSENCE:“Beauty in Nature is Holistic.”South African Founder of the Philosophy of Holism and Statesman Field Marshall Jan SmutsAfrica as a continent is the most ecologically aware and non-isolated from its Gaia source. The establishment of parks, reserves and sanctuaries from the most hallowed and world oldest Kruger Park –which, is even older than Yellowstone established over 110 years ago when R.K Loveday suggested it to Paul Kruger to those of the Serengeti and Okavango, combined with the expertise of conservationists from Dr Ian Player to the Bushmen. Tai National Park in the Ivory Coast preserves the rare biodiversity of a 50000 year old tropical rainforest of which very few samples remain anywhere. The Gorilla Sanctuary in Rwanda, where Dian Fossey conducted her notable research, along with game reserves in Kenya and Loango National Park in Gabon, downwards have been turned into spots of ecotourism. This will now expand across national borders and natural frontiers with the Elephant Corridor from 2012 AD/ 2765 AUC –the world’s first cross country park incorporating Kruger, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, in sensitive awareness to pachyderms and others who transcribe and know not of the artificial restrictions of humanity. Ideas for parks spanning South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, such as the Kalahari and Caprivari Strip have also been proposed and partially implemented via the Kgadigadi Trans-frontier Park. Nigeria’s Sacred Forest is centuries old in protection. One of the first world freshwater lake underwater parks was established at Lake Malawi and Cape Maclear. Malawi also formed the Nkhotaka Game Reserve, the Lengwe National Park and the Loime National Sanctuary. In Johannesburg, its Zoological Gardens replaced cages with natural enclosures and moats during the 1960’s. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, in addition to being exceptional in its provision of facilities, trails and gardens for the blind, is also the World’s first and only Botanical Garden Heritage Site. African cities are notable for their parks –both Johannesburg and Pretoria alone have over 100. The Franklin Game Reserve in Bloemfontein is the only one encircled by a city in the world. Durban has one of the few world Dodo skeletons preserved in its Natural History Museum. Elephant populations expanded in Zimbabwe –especially in Hwange National Park, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Game was primarily preserved in the game reserves of Kenya, thanks to the formidable toil of the white Kenyan Dr Richard Leakey, who commissioned game rangers to shoot poachers on sight –which worked.The Ngorangoro Crater Conservation Area was set up to protect wildlife but also allow the Masai the perpetuation of their historic grazing rights along with the Masai Mara and the Serengeti National Parks. Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe was founded on the basis of common sense of actually being self guided and free to leave one’s vehicle and roam around. Greenpeace itself, is currently headed by a South African:“Our wealth is our animals. Everything revolves around them!”Chief Oumar Ba, Yoly region Senegal Operation Noah under the ranger Rupert Fothergill (commemorated in a Zambezi island), saved over 5000 animals from drowning. Last year, a 10 year plan to protect 50000 chimpanzees with community support to stop poaching and to expand their jungle territory was ratified by Zambia, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Kenya’s Samburu District, a Warrior Watch of local morans has been formed to spot wildlife and potential confrontations/ conflicts with humans in exchange for food and education along with being taught ecological literacy. Kenya imposed a ban on hunting in 1977, its presidents later flamboyantly burning accumulated tons of it as a symbolic gesture of commitment, and with many African countries from the Seychelles and Mozambique to Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Rhodesia, Botswana, Mauritius, Swaziland and South Africa devoted to nature conservation and to the ban on hunting, whale poaching skins, rhino horns, ivory, crocodile hides and other ravishing of nature selfishly craved and desired by the Chinese and Japanese. The West, China and other superpowers would never put fellow souls above mercenary and short term profits –long term catastrophe. Yet in Africa, whether domestically or with game, it makes no sense to maltreat animals malignly –as they provide your own chance of survival. Often they provide social and economic status from the Tuareg to the Masai. The South African response to the preservation of the 50,000000 year old coelacanth species after South Africans Smith and Courtenay Latimer discovered it in the Comoros and identified it in East London 16 February 1939 and a Comorian fisherman: Ahamadi Abdallah found another in 1952, has been enshrined in legislation requiring an official permit to film, discover or catch it. Rhodesia set at least 12% of its total land surface aside for keeping its environment pure. Within 14 years of Kenyan independence with three parks, it rose to 15 –with 2 marine along with 16 nature reserves. Rhodesians, South Africans, Kenyans, Zambians, Namibians and those of Botswana; pioneered game reserves, sustainable farming and nature conservancies; -making ecotourism sustainable rather than terraforming the wilderness into rows of suburban, drab, monotonous and bleak municipal council dwellings... A founder member of the World Wife Fund and the Southern African Nature Foundation, Dr Rocco Knole served as the Chief Director of South Africa’s National Parks for 26 years. They, and not outsiders, have resisted the incursion of multinational corporations to erode our environment –from Ugandans preventing over 21000 hectares of Malbo rainforest being sold to the Sugar Development Corporation. The Chinese constructed Meroe Dam, which threatened to displace over 60000 local inhabitants in the Sudan, was also gallantly disputed by locals. In the Ivory Coast –Lidou –or the Human Right’s League fights against illegal chemical dumping by another anti-African corporation –Dutch Trafigura BV in Abidjan. Ken Saro Wiwa, the Nigerian playwright and environmental activist, of MOSAP does the same against the anti-African oil conglomerates such as Exxon, BP and Shell who taint the Niger Delta but for all their “corporate social responsibility” putrescent midden of propaganda; retard rather than advance local African communities... In 2005 Earthlife Namibia championed the cause against the installation of a uranium mine in the ecologically delicate and pristine natural contours of the Namib –Nauklaft Preserve. The Kimmur Suyatek Rights Group challenged the abandoning of calcium fluoride waste in Keria Valley in East Africa’s Rift Valley. Mali under Cheikh Amadou has long come up with a system of regulations and measures for sustainable ecological conservation, via common agreement, fishing and timber rights, grazing permits and soil protection to present erosion, desertification and the tragedy of the commons, that the Northern Hemisphere so long forgot –and Asia continue to forget. These condition nomads, fisherman, pastoralists and others, to remain sensitive to the limitations of geography while remaining self sufficient in food, until the colonial French came along and devastated it, impoverishing a large sector of Mali. Cultural traditions have often been responsible –at least indirect attempts to preserve certain species, even if due to taboos. The Ewe people hold silk cotton trees to be especially sacred along with girdled palm trees, while amid the Wanika of East Africa; the splicing of a coconut tree is viewed as profound a crime as matricide. Amid the Basoga of Central Africa; arboreal deforestation –even of a single tree unnecessarily is treated especially seriously as the angry spirit invokes disease and death upon the offender and their progeny...The Zimbabwean government, academics from the University of Zimbabwe’s Applied Study Centre and the Zimbabwe Trust from 2742 AUC gave access to wildlife control rights and privileges, to rural communities in over 20 of the country’s 55 districts. Tourism revenue is either paid out to local citizens via cash dividends or allocated to expenditure in public infrastructure such as clinics and schools. Culled meat is also given as another resource to make communities autonomous and self sufficient. In Mutare, Zimbabwe; a local initiative has managed to persuade youth to collect and recycle paper from businesses in exchange for money from local paper mills while rural women transform organic tosh into compost. Egypt’s Association for the Protection of the Environment, has tried to improve the conditions of garbage collectors and encourage their recycling efforts as distributors along with improving the urban environment via playgrounds, parks, schools etc. The Masai in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya received financial compensation from the Kenyan government for loss of their grazing rights. Mauritius adopted an environmental action plan as early as 1989 which banned the dynamiting of fish and the dumping of effervescent much /or untreated waste being dumped into freshwater lakes, rivers or the sea. Hotels with 75 or more rooms; were meant to limit their discharge –by having their own sewage treatment and water purification plants. The extraction and sale of coral was banned.Other modes and systems seek to insulate and isolate globalised society into an artificial plane of existence, whereas our continent daily reminds us of its temperament and every experience we endure reminds those who eke out their survival... Not all environments are mutable or adaptable! Terraforming is not always equivalent to Enlightenment! The human species has exponentially increased beyond its ecologically optimum critical balance of equilibrium. Like the Aborigines, in coalescing with Gaia and in awareness of our environs, our perceptions, appreciation and symbiosis with our planet and with Ujaama –are greater as the South African head of Greenpeace: Kumi Naidoo will assert.When it comes to ecological literacy, from the San trackers to the Tuareg to the Masai to the Boers and South African English descendents, a considerable proportion have at least an inkling –if not more conscious wisdom and ability to read, than the brazen self proclaimed experts of outside, both in their zones and in our continent. There are myriad sentient examples extending to the intelligentsia, farmers and leadership, who are frightfully and rightfully aware of it. Many of Africa’s leaders since independence have viewed the natural world as another resource to be conserved for their people. Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the South African Inkhatha Freedom Party and a Zulu Chief committed himself to retaining wilderness in nature sanctuaries rather than overdeveloped and exploited for tourists and to work with game conservationists such as Nick Steele and Dr Ian Player for a multiracial and unitary approach to environmental concern that transcends apartheid ideology. The Latuka of the Nile, remove leaders for withering crops. The Bodio theocracy of Ghana and their priests were overthrown if fishing yields diminished from overexploitation; crops lost fertility due to desertification or if they suffered from deforestation. The Sultan of the Ussukuma people, Nyanza, Lake Victoria and the chief of the Loango in Gabon can be deposed for natural disasters such as a failure to rain in an intense drought, a plague of locusts or other natural disasters. Sao Tome and Principe’s example to refuse oil drilling of avaricious and guzzling gluttons ruining their pristine environment, MOSSOP’s campaign in Nigeria’s Oil Delta and the Seychelles’ decision not to exploit La Dirogue’s tropical beaches voted as among the world’s best; illustrate long term environment over short term profit. What use is all of the money in the Universe, if you have polluted the only known, life sustaining planet so much, that you cannot survive? Those of Madagascar view crocodiles as relations and consequentially, never murder one unless in retaliation for a crocodile attack. When they do, they apologise to the deceased crocodile and Gaia, granting a funeral and an honourable burial. The Jebel of Nuba in the Eastern Sudan are prohibited from killing blackbirds. Gabon’s M’Benga people plant trees to mark birth –especially a pair for those two born together on the same day. As long as the tree thrives, they will thrive –If they fail to look after the trees, they will suffer –providing an arboreal incentive. The Cameroonians believe too, that the life of a person is bound with that of a tree. It was a feature of ancient Egypt –theriolatry –or animal worship was a primordial part of its faith –and the killing of an exalted animal was considered sacrilegious. Many enjoyed the same rights as humans –and received the last rites of mummification for the Afterworld. Bombastis has a cemetery reserved for sacred cats (the Goddess Bast), Saqqara held the catacombs of the sacred Apis bulls and Tebtunis in the Fayoum held sacred crocodiles. Horus beheld falcons as sacred, Thoth –baboons, Hathor –the cow; Anubis –the jackal and Amun the ram.In education the efforts of Dr Sue Hart, another African who sought to revive passionate enthusiasm for the rights of animals and become emotionally concerned for their plight in her “Animal Ark” series along with handbooks and documentaries for school audiences. The Rhodesians had their own education scheme at Mushandike. The 1971 Forest Act in South Africa enabled the Minister to set aside wilderness areas and within 6 years, 184500 hectares was personally set aside. The concept of wilderness areas differs from conventional parks as compelling all visitors to take their trash with them –and not contaminate the earth by burying it –exposed to baboons. It involves emphasis on walking trails and horses but forbids motor vehicles, planes and powered boats. Legislation and legal commitment to the environment in Africa continues for the last several decades since independence to surpass the short sighted guzzlers of China and Southeast Asia. Nor, are they as impotent as the “Environmental Protection Agency” of the USA joke that has long been mocked as impotent. Each African nation has ratified Kyoto and its heirs along with supporting myriad conferences on climate change and sustainable development –several of which were hosted in Africa. The worlds’ leading US and Chinese economic and military “superpowers” have yet to affirm the same level of commitment to their planet and fellow Earthling denizens.“We believe that the youthful leaders of today; mankind’s most precious natural resource, can be strengthened in body, spirit, mind and character by a wilderness experience which assists them to orientate their personalities to the great whole, the total environment, by an awareness of Nature’s processes in the cycle of life that determines the fate of all living things; that the wilderness will derive benefits from the labours of these leaders when they endeavour to assist the conservation of the natural environment and that the quality of the city environment will be enhanced for those who live and work there by leadership inspired by the ideal of designing with nature...”Wilderness Leadership School Creed.In October 1977, under the instigation of Dr Ian Player, Sir Laurens Van Der Post (who spoke of the enchantment and wisdom from natural sounds) and others, South Africa hosted the first International World Wilderness Congress. He joined the Natal Parks Board as a relief ranger in1952 after being inspired by the need of a sanctuary away from the pressures of the modern world on a 200 kilometre trail between South Africa’s Pietermaritzburg and Durban. In 1955, he was sent to curb poaching by both black and whites in the Umfolozi Game reserve, which he personally fought for as the first wilderness area in South Africa secured in 1956. He was amid the first to realise the urgent necessity of endowing the public with environmental education and to involve the local community in providing a sufficient incentive to consolidate wild fauna and counter poaching. In 1957, he took six schoolboys on a Lake St Lucia Wilderness Trail and a year later, started the Wilderness Leadership School with multiracial trails and involvement –in the face of apartheid South Africa. In 1964, whilst chief conservator for Zululand, he established the notion of filming reserves for publicity along with broadcasting documentaries to Anglia Television in 1970 and 1973 –the usage of the media to try and summon support. In 1974, he left the Parks Board to serve the cause of the International Wilderness Leadership Foundation. In 1959, he introduced walking trails to the Natal Parks Board. His is the story of one of many conservationists in Africa, who tirelessly worked to safeguard natural habitats.The precedent of eradicating rulers on the precept of environmental catastrophe is an admirable African example, which is another one wishes, the so called developed world can learn from Africa. Instead of bailing out parasites, degenerates and pillocks, perhaps the G8 and others would invest in an environmental balanced and sustainable economy –their jobs ought to depend on it. To nullify the threat of removal; the Labari, the Lalabo and the Lokyu of the Upper Nile all studied meteorology and their environment and constructed villages on the tops of mountains to benefit from orographic relief precipitation. Various empires from the Meroe to the Ghana and Malian; deliberately imposed limits on their terrain to not burden their planet onerously. Zimbabwe came up with CAMPFIRE – Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resource Education, in the 1980’s to teach locals the importance of conserving the 12.9% of countryside reserved for the ecology.When it comes to innovation in developing environmental technology and accepting standards, Africa surpasses and excels those shot term plutocrat First World consortiums and governments. For instance, the first CO2 measurement product ratings –for its cement were endorsed by the company AfriSam, which also developed slag not clinker, as a cement extender; -which has under half the worlds average carbon footprint emission of 414 kg’s rather than 890 kg’s. In Swaziland; the Courtauld’s pulp mill worked out a recycling process that does not contaminate its water.South Africa has with its Southern hemisphere counterpart; Australia, despite its reliance on mining, sought to target the protection of the environment through potential Pigouvian taxes and environmental protection measures, along with dune conservation measures on the coast, choosing ecology in a National Park over a new platinum mine (-As Sao Tome and Principe did with oil), whilst most Western countries particularly China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the USA still fail to realise that without defending the irreplaceable ecological quintessence, they mangle irrevocably their own future economy and chances for survival. Africans in any case, have long known the value of their continent and Gaia, from ancient artificial limits on their empire expansion from Mali, Songhoy and Bornu, to Ethiopia, Monomatopa and Nubia. And so one concludes with a quote from a black South African game ranger...“It’s up to us –up to you –to see that our children and their children after them, will see the rhino and the lions and the giraffe in the wild. We, the custodians, as human beings, the curators of our planet Gaia; must guard our wild places where the animals, birds and insects live as they have always lived, in symbiosis and peace... We too, you and I, are part of nature –part of the wilderness...”Whether in technology; in Constitutional and legislative protection; whether in creating wildlife preserves and sanctuaries, in literacy, in individual efforts, in customs, history, culture or priority; it remains transparent that Africa has made a difference environmentally and is endowed with an attitude, that no other continent on this planet shares; one lacking in the others that prefer profit to the future... Our ecological quintessence remains an integral facet of Africa’s legacy... which we alone can bequeath as ours to the rest of the world and a poignant part of our Renaissance as many countries and archipelagos –such as the archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe, who refused to exploit its oil resources with the perils of malevolent external interference and irreversible desecration, choose the winding, unpopular but necessary path of environmental consciousness over the popularist highway of immediate material consumption and gratification...CONCLUDIUM:“Surely there must be politicians and business people, youth and women activists, trade unions, religious leaders, intelligentsia and professionals from the Cape to Cairo from, from Madagascar to Cape Verde who are sufficiently enraged and passionate about Africa’s condition in the world to join in our mass crusade for the cause of the African Renaissance. It is to this we say... The call for Africa is a call for renewal! The call for an African Renaissance is a call to rebellion... We must rebel against tyrants and the dictators; those who seek to corrupt our societies and steal the wealth that belongs to the people... (We must rebel against those who would deny our heritage and our legacy; who deny us a chance to prove ourselves, a chance to inscribe our history and a chance to attain our potential legacy...without external interference frustrating our advance...) To be a true African is to be a rebel in the cause of the African Renaissance, whose success in the new millennium is one of the great historic challenges of our time...”Former South African President Thabo Mbeki: the Nigerian, October 1998... In conclusion, It is all too simple to mask Africa as inconsequential in the world... of having a voice and having its own ideas... its own thoughts.... its own philosophies... oral sources.... wisdom... sense... means of rectifying many world quandaries –especially with ignorance. It is simple to forget that Africa has sustained the rest of Terra since the dawn of Humanity’s Cradle and still continues to do so, despite the invective. It is all too simple and convenient to recite a litany of woes and tragedy... It is foolish that this continent provides nothing to the gods or to eternity. Yet can history be so unbalanced? It was we Africans who gained our own independence through a bitter struggle and defying the preordained colonial charter of our fate. For over 60 years, we have tenaciously and resolutely defended the prerogatives of every nation to self-determination against outsiders. Historically, Rhodesia along with the USA; still remains only one of 2 global colonies ever to defy Whitehall. The Sudanese Parliament also decided its own choice –the UK and Egypt. To all those apologists who still recant such decisions as “illegal” –then their own secession by virtue is illegal –as ever since Rome and –before that Egypt, countries according to their logic, -even if enslaved, subjugated and coerced in annexation, cannot be legally free –unless with the consent of Africans. However, that is a decision, which we Africans deny. The categorical imperative that Africa has fought for and embodied: is that only we Africans; are the masters of our fate and determine our own legitimate sovereignty! This is historically long been established and accepted as the most basic of rights and liberties by virtually all members –ever since the inception of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa 1963. Its African union descendent in 2002.It is simple for outsiders to dismiss us as inferior and inadequate but they lack the perspective sub specie aeternitatis Africanus. They lack cogniscence of our history and our identity, they refuse to let us be heard and to participate, but we denounce them and we will launch this epoch, this African Renaissance as a concept primarily our own –with –or without the world and despite their efforts to obstruct us... Once we draft our own legacy, once we are free from outsiders –or given the chance; we and we alone shall triumph...Let one compare this continent and its legacy to those of others. In ecological literacy and conservation, even if not in technological progression; Africa surpasses the other continents in natural concord and symbiosis. In trade, its emporia were more cherished by the vessels of Admiral Zheng He than the Old World. How many other countries have respected boundaries to the extent of not meddling in other countries’ internal affairs... the source of aggression... that other; more potent continents... forget? Who else has considered the Peer Review Development Mechanism –to assess fellow governments and heads of state? Yes... there may have been flaws... Yes; with hindsight, there may have been errors and faults... Yet; it was the IMF and Western powers, caught up in Keynesian policies –along with Russia and China who advocated foreign socialist –or capitalist ideas; ignoring African reality... imposed government enterprises and investment on African states... then hypocritically adopted privatisation and Friedman monetarist ideals, two decades later....“I speak of this long held dogma –that defies and denies African exceptionalism because it continues to weigh down the African mind and spirit; producing in Africans and the rest a condition; which in itself, contests any assertion that she –our continent, is capable of initiative; creativity, individuality and entrepreneurship; dragging her as a leaden weight... An essential and necessary element of the African Renaissance, is that we must all encourage the one; who carries this leaden weight –to rebel and to assert the principality of her humanity; -the fact that she, in the first instance, is not a beast of burden, but a human and an African being... Africa will regain her place among the continents of our universe... And in the end, an entire epoch of foreign colonialism progressed to its ultimate historic burial grounds because from Morocco and Algeria to Guinea Bissau and Senegal, from Ghana and Nigeria to Tanzania and Kenya; from the Congo and Angola to Mozambique and South Africa; Africans dared to stand up: to say the new must be born, whatever the sacrifice we have to make; -Africa must be free! We are convinced that such people have a legitimate right to expect of itself that it has the capacity to set itself free from the oppressive historical legacy of poverty, hunger, backwardness and marginalisation in the struggle to order world affairs, so that all human civilisation puts as the principal objective of its existence the humane existence of all that is human... The simple phrase -: “We are our own liberators is the epitaph on the gravestone of every African –of all races, creeds and backgrounds; who dared to carry the vision in his or her heart; of Africa reborn...” Thabo Mbeki: The African Renaissance Address United Nations University of Japan 9 April 1998.Let one ruminate upon this modern epoch –of surviving Africa –and of surviving Europe... In Africa, one is not ostracised, one is not exiled from the empathy or understanding of its people.... One is not compelled to assert one’s citizenship.... Its empathy, hospitality, humanity, ubuntu... –but above all emotional and spiritual intensity offer blessed respite from the strictures of the secular Northern Hemisphere and its cohorts of followers... One does not have to diurnally affirm or prove one’s Africanness –even to bureaucrats –yet one does so to virtually all: in the bias and hostility of the Old West (as referred to in one’s excursus: Why One Loathes Britannia!)This history has asserted the roots of who we were and also: who are we? Now, we ask –what shall we –what can; we as Africans became? The history of Africa has hitherto been one of political, social and cultural emancipation! It is currently gained in the valiant pursuit of economic emancipation! This treatise now aspires to intellectual, psychological and spiritual emancipation of the African spirit, from the perspective of the meritous parts of our past and present, to inspire our future... To paraphrase the Unilateral Declaration of Independence: ... To us has been given the privilege of the first continent in the last six decades to have the determination and the fortitude to say, “So far and no further” ... We Africans have rejected the doctrinaire philosophy of surrender and appeasement... The decision which we have taken today is a refusal by Africans to sell their birthright. We may be a small community, our sovereignty threatened by the world but we are a determined people who have been called upon to play a role of worldwide significance. Thus, by not tolerating the injustices which are perpetrated against us, we resolve the passage of the unilateral declaration of independence. We have struck a blow for the preservation of justice, civilisation and ubuntu/ humanity, and in the spirit of this belief we have this day, assumed our rightful sovereign independence!Thus, the fate of the world, if Africa were to disappear would be tragic. For it is Africa that retains itself without submitting to the materialism, degeneracy and the disastrous ways of globalisation! The next century is destined to become the African century! Already, countries like Nigeria and South Africa already provide oil and arms to the West. The future is Africa’s! –other territories have sacrificed themselves, in suicidal libations upon the marble altars of Hades for the chimera of global imperialism... For too long, has the development of Africa been stifled, threatened and its impotence facilitated by the fabricator propagandists of the other areas... For too long, have its persuasion of the Western and Eastern Hemisphere, been unhindered, yet this contrasts with the superficial impact of the Western, Chinese or Russian impact on Africa, (validated through imposing new African problems without any new practical solutions). Even where they have attained a temporary resolution; -without a willingness to listen and to understand Africa –the land, the people, the ways and the history... they only foredoom all with their accursed patronising, their hypocrisy, their ignorance, their benighted philanthropy slavery and their prying... To isolate it sub specie Africanus aeternitatis; to sense it from the endemic perspective, unfiltered by bias and prejudice towards this poor hinterland... that is the task of this history, to illuminate and elucidate the individual and collective accomplishment of groups or of individuals... The development of Africa, its character and its future has long been stifled by the external world but as the Renaissance commences, it can be: reversed. It is etched by its leaders –who as statesmen or as tyrants; have outshone the mediocrities, nonentities and narks of the Northern Hemisphere/ G7. The impact of the African Renaissance has been not only drastically reduced by colonialism and local catastrophes but also by imposing alien, foreign balms not endemic remedies –or by grass roots participation...One cannot deny the predicaments of Africa –but we should focus on the solutions –not the problem! One cannot deny the disturbances in Africa but they do not undermine what we have contributed to the world; from the ascent of pre formal history –and formal history itself...Quintessentially, to be African, to revel in African lore, history, scholarship, culture and values, is to assert your autonomy of a planet which has seriously undervalued its members. We spurn this ostracism... we reject this dehumanising assault on our birthright, honour, dignatas and auctoritas! Every foreign solution based on the terminal and fatal pestilence blighting ignorance of outsiders, generates its own problems. The Renaissance refers to the rebirth of vitality and our spirit and that those who are African, do not need outsiders. It is not original –for that caters to orthodox conformity it yearns back to historical antiquity.“If there is to be such a Renaissance it can only come from within the continent and must be spearheaded by Africans at every level. A Renaissance that makes Africa viable and gives it a voice in world affairs would be to everyone’s advantage. Whether it can be achieved... remains to be seen!”Thabo Mbeki 1997.We as Africans; -should be proud of our identity and the pioneering accomplishments of our attainders. In this hitherto neglected area of scholarship; I challenge all Africans to take up this second armed struggle –against globalisation, neo colonialism and those that would pulverise the very souls, identity, character, virtue and heritage of our sacrosanct and venerable continent: Let it be: The 4th Chirumenga –but one which embraces all Africans! To those whom would purport the fallacious propaganda that if it weren’t for the North,; Africa would still be living in mud huts; let this history be the first of many to refute you... We enquire: Did we choose your ways? Did we ask for your perfidious conniving? Who invited you –in the first tsunami of colonialism and the new Typhoon of neo-colonialism? We do not ask for much, we merely ask that in this new age, since the 1990’s will be the start of an African century, of a new chapter in the history of Terra: we merely request a chance to prove ourselves...The difference between African intelligentsia and the Old World; is that ours are emerging; while theirs are stagnating! Ours are thinking and acting; while theirs are dormant! Ours contributed to the emancipation of the continent, people, culture and economies of our hinterland; theirs to its disparaging regression and their own termination... One only has to compare the more active youth –in body, mind and spirit –forsooth in life itself... rather than the decadence and morsure of the perishing wastrels outside...Pivotal documents tangentially pinpoint our African solutions and visions! The Freedom Charter; the Arusha Declaration; Emperor Selassie’s Address to the League of Nations; Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence; Nelson Mandela’s defence at the historic Rivonia Trial –and that of Toivo ja Toivo in Pretoria, for Namibia; Patrice Lumumba’s, and Ellen Sirleaf Johnson’s Constitutional Addresses. Pivotal moments in African history include: the construction of the Pyramids and the later foundation of Alexandria with its august institutions; the Battle of Adowa; the Wind’s of Change Speech and subsequent independence of many African nations. Our leaders and individuals are to be commended for the liberation of Africa from colonialism and our contemporary phenomenon of global imperialism –without external funding, direction and patronage (though often they patriotically helped each other). (Did Asia help Asia? Did South America help South America –apart from those of Bolivar? Did Europe/ USA/ Canada/ New Zealand, Australia help each other? They respect the inviolability of a country’s domestic borders and sovereignty –for the most part. The African ideas of ECOWAS, NEPAD, the Organisation of African Unity (African Union), the Peer Review Development Mechanism; SADCC, the East African Community and so many others betray the fallacious tripe that denies our efforts at diplomacy and cooperation.Africa is purer for being less tainted with the acquisition of materialism –prising what we have rather than what we have not! It is futile to seek what cannot be, what is impossible, meaningless or worthless and a great many outsiders, would be better satiated if they could accept this... Most who have alienated themselves to the ways, character and quintessence of Africa; are artificially insulated from catastrophe, chaos and uncertainty... They do not know what it is like to endure prodigious exertions and miles upon miles, to have unreliable power connections, to toil or suffer under the conditions of drought/ other afflictions of Gaia, under Apollo’s burnished chariot of Helios, to be educated under a tree, survive in the wilderness; experience hunger; genuine intensity of crime and expressions of passion, political agitation and riots, exhaustion... it is an entirely different world; to which these water saturated, pale, languid, bloated carcasses that barely register a trickle or flicker on the resonance graph scale calibrating life; have been artificially inseminated by globalisation social conditioning! By their very innate limitations and flaws not only are they less human than the majority of Africans –who live permanently with the reality of Gaia, Demeter, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades... but they are constricted by their bias; unable to benefit from what Africa has to offer to the world....We surpass the West in pragmaticism and in common sense, in logic and in passion; not necessarily in technocratic progress but like the Aborigines: in fulfilling our Macrocosmos designated mandate of terrestrial and ecological curatorship... Symbiosis with Gaia is more distinctive in nations which actually believe in conservation, sustainable development and eco –tourism. We also have had from Independence; generations of individual leaders; who have imprinted themselves on History rather than being mediocrities. Even our tyrants have taught us lessons. We have also nurtured many statesmen rather than political leaders: (In the words of the Rhodesian Prime Minister; Defier of Whitehall and the British Empire in being one of only 2 territories (with the United States) to win its freedom on its own; Sir Ian Smith: A statesman thinks of the next generation –a politician the next election...) I have heard one criticism as notably poignant: “Name 10 good African Leaders!” To which I reply with more..: “Nelson Mandela; Julius Nyerere; Leopold Senghor; Sir Seretse Khama; Emperor Haille Selassie, Sir Ian Smith; Sir Sewoosagur Ramgoolum, Thomas Sankara; Samara Machel; Joaquim Chissano; Sir Dawada Jawara; Ellen Sirleaf Johnson and Festus Mogae... –many of them statesmen; intellectuals or technocrats and noted authors. If you want prophets –apart from Sankara; Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Jerry Rawlings and Senghor; Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral rank highest among the potential candidates –followed by others such as Augustine Neto. Martyrs to their people –and gifted servants include: Tom Mboya... All were untainted by the stigmas of personal vice in their ardent and sacrosanct quest; they purified themselves selflessly; with the cause and spirit of the African Renaissance...Other spectacular, colossal, monumental and grandiloquent achievements that the world could learn from Africa –is in peace and diplomacy. For example; the great majority of African nations since independence have honoured the OAU cardinal tenets of sovereignty such as respecting the inviolable sanctity of borders–and non interference in other countries’ internal affairs. Former President Mbeki’s revival of the African Renaissance, his forming of NEPAD, the African Peer Review Mechanism and his peaceful negotiation of the recent secession of South Sudan. History doesn’t often remember those who preside over prosperity and those who formulate peace... mostly those whom precipitate chaos and war... Yet, there were many astute liberation heroes –who lead colonies to become independent African nations; through the pursuit of negotiations. Quite a few proclaimed and practised reconciliation... Kenyatta; Nyerere, Mandela, Zuma, Sir Seretse Khama, Kenneth Kaunda and –even Mugabe for the first fifteen years... The art of diplomacy is one of our great virtues dating beyond Liberia and South Africa to Egypt...The pursuit of justice in dealing with the war criminals of the Rwandan genocide by President Paul Kagame; the peaceful negotiation and aversion of civil war in South Africa via negotiations between the ANC, SACP and COSATU alliance and the apartheid regime –with President De Klerk –and the following Truth and Reconciliation Commission –along with the peace, stability and prosperity of the Gambia, Botswana, Namibia and Mauritius –and the stability of Tanzania, Cape Verde and are to be commended. The negotiation of a peaceful new Constitution for Kenya and independence for South Sudan –by Africans and for Africans, where foreigners failed.“The Colonial Powers must reverse the Scramble for Africa. Your time is past. Africa must be free. Scram from Africa!”Tom Mboya 1958This is a tome for Africans not only to reject the flaws of external nations and entities –but to embrace our Africanness –to take pride in our contributions; history and heritage... This is a treatise which seeks to revitalise the African Renaissance to show that we are just as equal to the West –and in many things; we are superior... Rather than focussing on what we have not achieved... and our considered “flaws”... this volume aspires to ruminate and ponder upon what they have... It is difficult to think of an epoch; a country; a territory, state or achievement; an empire; an area or in some integral part of the world... that has not dawned in Africa!Do we, as Africans really need this process of global imperialism and global hegemony? What has globalisation ever attained for Africa... –except to ensnare and engulf it? For every argument against Africa –there is a counterexample! Forsooth –in the Congo; in Rhodesia; in Angola; in Darfur –the Sudan and in Somalia; -wherever the West, China, the old Soviet Union or the Arab world –to nominate the most glaring examples, intervenes; they precipitate disaster! Either they can solve our problems –or they cannot! In over 5 centuries of interference, they have failed to listen to us, as Africans and surprisingly; they have failed...As they cannot; we as Africans should embrace As one who has been illuminated, educated and resided in two continents; my soul now speaks for Africa; after the compilation of this odyssey... I call upon all true African patriots -honorary –domestically and outside our hinterland –of all religions; creeds; environments; cultures; histories; genders and races; to augment our African potential; to fulfil our destiny... for this is the time of Africa... A new epoch is dawning; a new age of Africa is being inaugurated; this shall be the first of many; in a new chapter in the history of the world... in the legacy of humanity...When; one is asked why quintessentially; one is African –and rejects being European; I point to their loss of Ujaama... of humanity... in this age of sterilised technomancy and global imperialism... When one is asked; why does one espouse the African Renaissance; -it is because one has forsworn allegiance and given up on most non African; globalised entities... When one is dismissed by one’s own forbears and lineage on the European spectrum but knows only Harambee and Ujaama on one’s African ancestry, -I defy prejudice dictated by pigmentation, hypocrites and condescending outside xenophobes ... forswearing all loyalties other than to Africa! To all those traitors who have fled henceforth from the boundaries of Africa; we Africans renounce you, unequivocally and unabashedly! Europe, Asia, the Americas and Oceania –as experience verifies; are not so welcoming –to the muzungu and non muzungu alike! For those that point to our flaws –perpetual critiques demanding why one has composed this panegyric –it is readdress the balance of history! To Africans; let us unite and reflect on our history! Let us mediate upon our translucent future! The next century will become an African century! Aurora will ignite an aureal epoch, an age of our continent’s glory... not our stagnation... an era of a holistic vision... the African Renaissance! ...REFERENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY:Preface:The Unilateral Declaration of Rhodesian Independence, Sir Ian Smith’s Cabinet 1965The ANC Freedom Charter 1955The Arusha Declaration 1967 Northern Africana Quadrant References:The African Emperor: Septimus Severus: Anthony Abray, B.T Batshurst 1996. The Periplus of the Ethyrean Sea Rome in Africa:-Susan Rawn, Evan Brothers Publishing 1969.1434: Gavin Menzies Bantam Press 2007A History of Modern Tunisia: Kenneth J Perkins Cambridge University Press 2004.Endgame in Western Sahara: Toby Shelby, Zed Books 2001Hassan II: The Challenge! (Autobiography) 1978 Macmillan London Isias Afwerki’s Inaugural Address to the Organisation for African Unity 1993.I Didn’t Do It for You: -How the World Abused and Abandoned a Small African Nation (Eritrea)! Michele Wrong, Harper Perennial 2007.Modern Algeria: The Development of a Nation: John Ruedy; Indiana University Press, 1992.Millennium: Felipe Fernandez Arnesto 1996Stanley’s Description of Magdala Page 157, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781 -1997, Piers Brendon, Vintage Books 2008.Tunisia: Crossroads of Islamic and European Society: Kenneth J. Perkins, Westview Press 1989Aegyptus: -The Scarab’s Carapace, Alexandria, Cairo and the Mediterranean;18th Dynasty Eber PapyrusManetho’s Egyptian History.Strabo’s Geographica.An Introduction to Ancient Egypt T.G.H James, British Museum Press 1987.Chronicles of the Pharaohs, John A Clayton, Thames Press 1992Hatshepsut –The Female Pharaoh: -Joyce Tydlesley, Penguin Publishers 1994. Philo’s Alexandria: Dorothy I. Sly Routledge 1996.Ptolemaic Alexandria: P.M Fraser 1970. The Oxford History of Egypt –Oxford University Press.The Crystal Sun –Robert Temple 2001Great Wonders of the World: Richard Ash, Dorling Kindersley 2000A Short History of Egypt James Jankowski One World Publications 2000Egypt: From Alexander to the Copts: Edited by Dominic W. Rathbone. British Museum Press 2004. Sadat and His Statecraft: Felipe Fernandez Arnesto, Kensal Press, 2006Dido’s Carthage:Daily Life in Carthage: Charles Picard, Macmillan Company 1961.Carthage: B.H Warmington, Trinity Press 1960.Strabo’s GeographicaThe Histories of Diodorus SiculusThe Ethiopian Exception to Africa:Haille Selassie’s Address to the League of Nations 1936. Haille Selassie I: Peter Schwab Ethiopia: Transition and Development in the Horn of Africa; Yohannes Abafe and Mulato Wubnuh, Westview Press, 1988.My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress (Autobiography): Emperor Haille Selassie 1976.Medieval Africa 1250-1800: Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore 1987.The Emperor and the Shah of Shahs:A History of Modern Ethiopia (1855-1991) Bahru Zewde, James Currey Publishers 2007.Nubia, Kush and the Sudan;A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day: P.M Holt and M.W Days Longman Group 1990.Egypt and Nubia, John H. Taylor, British Museum Press 1991Western Africana Quadrant References:Cameroon: Dependence and Independence: M. W De Lacey, Westview Press 1989. Gabon –The Development of a Nation, Marc Aicard de Saint Paul, Rudge Press, 1987 Contemporary Leaders of Africa: A.J.P Van Rensburg Haum Books 1975...Contemporary West African States, edited by Donald B Cruise O’Brian and Richard Rathbone, Cambridge University Press 1989.New Currents of West African History (1940-1978): Frederick Pedle, Macmillan Press 1979. Niger –Personal Rule and Survival in the Sahara: Robert B. Charlick Westview Press 1998. Reclaiming Heritage –Alternative Images of Western Africa: Michael Rowland and Ferdinand De Jorge, Left Coast Publishing 2007. Sir Milton Margai’s Independence Address 22 April 1963.President Joseph Momah’s Inaugural Address 1985.Visions of Africa: David Wall New Holland Publishers 1998West Africa: A Rough Guide: Rough Guide Publications; Richard Trillo 1999. A New History of Sierra Leone: Joe A.D Alie, Macmillan Publishers 1990.Sierra Leone: 1787-1987: Two Centuries of Intellectual Life, Edited by Mary Laof and Christopher Fyfe, The International Affairs Institute, 1987.Ashante and African Democracy; Benin and Equatorial Guinea:Amazons of the Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey: Stanley B Alpernern. Small is Not always Beautiful: The Story of Equatorial Guinea: Max Linger, C Hurst and Co Publishers 1988The Golden Bough: Sir James Frazer: Dover Publications 2002.The Wonga Coup –Adam Roberts, Profile Books 2009The Ghana Prophets: -Nkrumah and Rawlings.Civilisations: Felipe Fernandez ArnestoThe Histories of Leo Africanus, 16th century.The Collected Works of Kwame Nkrumah 1970Ghana: Coping with Uncertainty! Naomi Chozm and Deborah Pelkw: Westview Press 1986Ghana –Politics, Economics and Society: Donald I. Ray: Lynne Reine Publishers 1984.Ghana: The Politics, the Issues; the People: An Oxfam Country Survey: 2008, Rachel Nayler. An Oxbridge of the African Renaissance: MaliThe Mali manuscriptsThe Histories of Africa, Leo Africanus 17th century...A Social History of Timbuktu: The role of Muslim Scholars and Notables (1400-1900), Elias W. Saad, Cambridge University Press 1983.Mali –A Search for Direction: Pascal James Imperato, Westview Press, 1989.Mali –A Prospect of Peace: An Oxfam Country Profile, Rheoul Drisdele, 2000 The Meanings of Timbuktu –Shuel Jeppe and Souleymane Bachir, Human Sciences Research Council 2007 Burkina Faso and Liberia:Burkina Faso: New Life in the Sahel: Robin Sharp; Oxfam 1990.Thomas Sankara Speaks (Autobiography): The Burkina Faso Revolution (1982-1987), Pathfinder Publishing, 1989. Liberia’s Past and Present, Nathaniel R Richardson, the Diplomatic Press, 1959.This Child Will Be Great: Memoirs of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Harper Perennial 2009. Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea:Sekoure Toure’s Guinea –Ladipo Adamolekum –Methuen and Co Ltd 1976 Cape Verde: Politics, Economics and Society; Colm Foy Pinter Publishers 1988.The Liberation Struggle –Amilcar CabralThe Fortunate Isles: Cape Verde –A Study in African Transformation: Basil Davidson: Century Hutchinson Press 1989.Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and the People’s Leader! Patrick Chabral; Hurst and Company 1983.1969 Major Programme of the PAIGCV1977 3rd PAIGCB Congress, Report of the Supreme Struggle CouncilThe Nigerian Colossus:The Honourable Gentleman: Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa: 1997.Nigeria: An Introduction to Its History: Michael Crowder and Gudha Abdullahi, Longman Group 1979Nzeogwu, – Specimen Books 1987, Olusegan Obasanjo The Farmhouse Dialogues, General Obasanjo 1990.Senegal:Senegal –A State of Change: -Robin Sharp, An Oxfam Country Survey 1994.Senegal – An African Nation Between Islam and the West, Seldon Geiler Westview Press 1982 Ujaama and the People:Into the House of Ancestors: Inside the New Africa: Karl Maer. John Wiley and Son Inc 1989.A Medical Requiem:Urbanisation and Health in Pietermaritzburg: 170 Years in an African City, Dr Julie Dyer, Natal Publishers 2011. Camping with the Prince and Other Tales of Science in Africa –Thomas A Bass, Lutterworth Press 1990.Into the House of Ancestors: Inside the New Africa: Karl Maer. John Wiley and Son INC 1989.Popular Mechanics: (magazine) November 2002.Visions of Africa: David Wall New Holland Publishers 1998The Cultural OdysseyAfrican Art in American Collections Survey 1989: Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram, Smithsonian Institution Press 1989.African Reflections: Art from North-eastern Zaire Enid Schildlorout and Curtis A Kolme; University of Washington Press, 1990.A History of the House: Edited by Ettore Camesasca, Collins Publishers, 1971.Guinness World Records 1997, 2001, 2005, Guinness World Records 1997, 2001, 2005 Plundering Africa’s Past: Edited by Peter R. Schmitt and Roderick J McIntosh. 1996 Indiana University Press.Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection; Kate Ezro, Metropolitan Museum of Art Press, 1990Kilwa and the Portals to the East References;1421 –Gavin Menzies. Bantam Press, 20031434 –Gavin Menzies. Bantam Press, 2007.Empires of the Monsoon: Harper Collins Publishers, Richard Hall 2000Men and Monuments of the East African Coast James A Kirkmann, Lutterworth Press 1964. Correa’s Lendas da India (15th century)A Modern History of Somalia: I.M Lewis, Longman 1980.Central Africana References: The Fragmented Legacy: Central and South African History: Robert C. Collins.Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa (1880=1985): Patrick Manning 1993, Cambridge University PressGreat Lakes of Africa: Jean Pierre Chretien, Zone Books 2003. King Solomon’s Mines Revisited: William Minter 1936.The History of Central Africa –the Contemporary Years Since 1960, edited by David Birmingham and Phyllis M Martin, Layman Publishers 1999.The Kingdom of the Kongo: Anne Hilton, Clarendon Press, 1987...Bakongo administration clerks defence and student’s reply: Abiolo Weekly 1960. Kenyan OAU delegate Joe Murumbi’s OAU Refutation and Censoring of the UN Congo intervention November 1964. Works of Patrice Lumumba –to 1961Central African Republic: Thomas O’Toole Westview Press 1986.The Last King of Scotland: Giles Foden, Faber and Faber 1998.Uganda’s Decade of Reforms: 1986 -1996; Editor J.B Mugaji; Fountain Publishers Ltd.Uganda Now: Between Decay and Development! Editors Holger Hanan and Michael, James Currey Publishers 1991.Ascending Mount Kilimanjaro –Kenya: A Modern History of Kenya: (1895-1980) W.R Oching, Evan Brothers Publishing 1989.Decolonisation and Independence in Kenya (1940-1993); -edited by B.A Ogot and W.R Oching, James Currey Publishers 1993.Harambee, Facing Mount Kenya –Jomo Kenyatta.Kenya: The Promised Land: An Oxfam Country Profile, Geoff Sawyer 1996.The Nauru 1963 Farmer’s Address by Jomo Kenyatta.The Challenge of Nationhood: Tom Mboya, Andre Deutsch Books 1970.The Archipelagos:The Comoros Islands: -A Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean: Malyn Newitt Westview Press 1984.Mauritius: Democracy and Development in the Indian Ocean: Larry W. Bowman: Westview Press 1991. Sao Tome and Principe: Economics, Politics and Society, Pinter Publishers 1989...Pages 58-74 Zanzibar: Tradition and Revolution, Bradley Martin, Hamish Hamilton Ltd 1979.Paradise Raped, Life, Love and Power in the Seychelles, former President James R Mancham 1981. The Seychelles, Peter Vine, Dal Nippon Press, 1989.The Seychelles: Unquiet Islands: Maureen French Westview Press 1987.A History of Madagascar –Mervyn King, Ipswich Books 1998.Madagascar: Politics, Economics, Society: Maureen, Frances Pinter Publishers 1987. The Arusha Declaration and TanzaniaMwalimu: The Influence of Nyerere: -Colin Leglum and Geoffrey Mai 1995 Africa Wind Press.Launching the African Associations –Dodona. Tanzania: An African Experiment: Rodger Yeager: Westview Press 1989.The Arusha Declaration, Education for Self Reliance and Other Works of President Julius Nyerere 1967. The Arusha Declaration Ten Years After, 1977The TANU Leadership Code and Guidelines.South Africa: -The South African Lodestone and A Covenant for AllThe Freedom Charter/ South African ConstitutionThe African Union –its Charter, Constitution and ArchivesThe Collected Volumes of Field Marshal and Prime Minister Jan Christian SmutsA Long Walk to Freedom –Nelson Mandela 1990Nelson Mandela: Anthony Sampson 1998A New History of South Africa: Bernard Mbenga and Herman Gilliomee, Tafelberg Publishers 2007. Choice Not Fate: The Life and Times of Trevor Manuel: Pippa Green Penguin Books 2008.First Drafts: South Africa’s History in the Making: Alistair Sparks Jonathan Ball Publishers 2009.Adam’s Calendar Article Getaway Magazine July 2011.The History of South Africa – Rodney and Davenport The Mail and Guardian – South African newspaper 2009 -2011The Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of South Africa –The Real Story 1992Maropeng –The Cradle of Humanity:Africa and the World: Peter Duignon and Lewis H. Goure Chandlers Publishing Company 1972 Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age: Richard Rudgley 1996. Riddles of Stone –Hugh Earles, Wits University Press 2007.Monomatopa, Mapunguwe, Great Zimbabwe and Angola:Zambezi –Journey of a River: Michael Main, Southern Book Publishers 1990Out of the Okavango: BotswanaBotswana: Politics and Society; W.A Edge and M.H Lekorwe, J.L Van Schaik Publishers 1998. Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and his Nation: Susan Williams, Penguin Books 2007Reasonable Radicals and Citizenship in Botswana: Richard Werbler, Indiana University Press 2004.Seretse Khama, Gys Dubbeld, Mashew Miller Longman, 1992.Seretse Khama: 1921 -1980, Neil Parsons, Thomas Thlou and Willie Hendon, Macmillan 1995. The Rhodesian Frontier:The Welensky Story: Gary Alligham, Macdonald Publishers 1962. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia 1965!Bishop Abel Muzorewa –Rise Up and Walk: Sphere Books Ltd 1978.The Great Betrayal –Sir Ian Smith, 1997, Blake PublishersDinner with Mugabe: Heidi Holland, Penguin 2009 The Southern Quadrant References:Mozambique –The Revolution under Fire: Joseph Hanlon, Zed Books Ltd 1984.Mozambique –From Colonialism to Revolution: (1900-1983) –Allen and Barlora Isaacman, Gower Press 1982.Mozambique by Jens Erik Torp; Pinter Publications 1989Mozambique –Rising from the Ashes: An Oxfam Country Profile: Rachel Waterhouse 1996.Humanism –Kenneth Kaunda 1966.A History of Swaziland –Dr J. Masebulayo, Lonman Publishers 1998. The Autobiography of King Sobuzha IIKing Sobuzha’s Response to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s Cape Town Parliament, Winds of Change Speech 1960.The Kingdom of Swaziland: A Profile, Robert H Davies, Dan O’Meara and Sipho Dlamini, Third World Books, 1987. Kwacha: An Autobiography: M.W Kangawe, East African Publishing House 1975. Tracing the Footsteps of Dr Hastings Kamazu Banda, Reverend Dr K.J Mgani; Dozure Press 2005.AA The Motorist’s Publication Places to Visit in Southern Africa: 2005.Namibia and Gaia:Globetrotter Namibia: Willie and Sandra Olivier, New Holland Publishers 2001.Namibia, the Nation After Independence, Donald J Sparks and December Green, Westview Press 1992Namibia: The Facts, International Defence and Aid Agency Publications 1989.To Be Born a Nation: -The Liberation Struggle for Namibia: SWAPO Department of Information and Publicity, 1981Toivo ja Toivo’s Defence Address Pretoria High Court Trial 1968. The Ecological Quintessence:Africa Geographic Magazine September 2010Ecological Intelligence: Ian McCallum, Africa Geographic Press 2005.Voices of the Wilderness Edited by Ian Player Jonathan Ball Publishers to commemorate the Inaugural 1977 World Wilderness Congress in South Africa.Generic Africana References:Tropical Africa: Tony Binns, Routledge Publishers 1994.Personal Rule in Black Africa: Prince, Autocrat, Prophet, Tyrant: Robert H Jackson and Carl G Rosenberg, University of California Press 1982.Nationalism and New States in Africa: Ali A Mazrui and Michael Tidy, Heinemann Educational Books 1987.A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa: Howard W. French, Vintage Books 2005 Africa –Altered States; Ordinary Miracles: Richard Dowden Portobello Books 2008. Africa: -A Modern History, Guy Arnold, Atlantic Books 2006Africa Betrayed: George A Ayittey, St Nicholas Press 1992.Africa in World Politics: -Edited by Donald Rothschild and John W Horbone, Westview Press 2009.Africa Today: Know Africa; Africa Books Ltd 1981.Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future: George B.N.A Ayittey, Palgrave Macmillan 2008Africa since Independence: Paul Nugent Palgrave Macmillan 2004.Africa’s Men of Destiny, A.J.P Van Rensburg, Gutenberg Books, 1981.African History: A Very Short Introduction: John Parker and Richard Rathbone Oxford University Press 2007.An Atlas of African Affairs, Zueon Il Griffin, Routledge 1990Cambridge History of Africa 1940-1975: Cambridge University Press 1984.Civilisations, Felipe Fernandez ArnestoIn Search of History: Grade 12 Learner’s Book, Jean Bottaro, Pippa Visser and Nigel Worden: Oxford University Press 2010.Invisible Governance –the Art of African Micropolitics, D Hecht and A.M Simse, Autonomedia 1994.Mail and Guardian –newspaper sources from 2009 -2011Man Made Wonders in Africa, David Van Lill, Lapa Publishers, October 2006 Old Africa Rediscovered, Basil Davidson, Victor Gollancz Press, 1961.The African Encounters, David Lamb, Methuen 1983The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence: Martin Meredith Jonathan Ball Publishers 2006.The Trouble with Africa: Robert Caldisi UNESCO History of Africa since 1935, Edited by Ali A Mazrui, Heinemann Press California 1993.Visions of Africa: David Wall New Holland Publishers 1998Concludium: The African Renaissance: Thabo Mbeki, the Nigerian (media) –October 1998.Thabo Mbeki: The African Renaissance Address United Nations University of Japan 9 April 1998.TABLE OF AFRICAN HEADS OF STATE SINCE INDEPENDENCE:Chad:Francois Tombalbaye (1960 -1971) General Felix Malloum 1971 -1978Hissene Habre 1978 - 1990Idris Debry 1990 -Morocco: King Hassan II King Mohammed VITunisia: Habib Bourguiba 1956 -1987Ben Ali 1987Algeria: Ben Bella (1962 -1965)Boumedienne 1966 – 1978Chadli Benjedid1978 -1992Lioumiou Zedouf 1992 -1999Abdelaiz Bouteflika 1999+Mauritania Ould Daddah (1960 -1978)Ould Salek 1978 Mohammad Louly 1979 Mohammed Haldaluk 1980Libya: King Idris I (1952-1969) Muammar Gaddafi 1969 -2011Transitional Council 2011 CEWestern Sahara: Polisario since 1973 (illegal continued occupation by Morocco)Eritrea: ELF and Prime Minister Isias Afwerki (1993+)Egypt: (post Pharaoh) King Fuad I (1922 -1952) President Nasser (1952 -1971)Anwar Sadat 1971 -1989 Hosni Mubarak (1989 -2011)Ethiopia: (from modernisation in 1855)Emperor Tewewodros (1855 -1868)Empress Zawaditu (1916 – 1930)Yohannes IV (1868 -1893)Haille Selassie I (1930 -1974)Menelik II (1893- 1911)the Dergue –Lt Colonel Mengistu (1975 1991)Emperor Iyyasu (1911 -1916)(Meles Zenari (1993 -The Sudan:Mahdi Mohammad Ahmed (to 1885)Khalifa Abdullah (1885-1898)Jaafar Numayri 1969 Gabon: Leon Mba (1960 -1967)Omar Bongo (1967 +)Cameroon: Amadou Ahidjo (1960- 1982) Paul Biya 1982Togo: Sylvanus Olympio (1960 -1963) Nicholas Grunitzy (1963 -1967)Eyadema 1967 -Niger: Hamori Diori (1960 -1974) Seyni Kountche (1974 -1991)Ali Saibou 1987The Ivory Coast: Felix Houmphoet Boigny (1993) Professor Laurent Gbagbo 2000Sierra Leone: Sir Milton Margai (1961 -1964) Sir Albert Margai (1964- 1967)Siaka Stevens (1967-1983) Joseph Momoh (1985 -1992)Valentine Strasser (1992 -1996): Ahmed Tejan Kabbah (1996 Mali:Modibo Keita: (1960- 1971)Moussa Traore (1971Alpha Oumar Konare 1992- 2002Amadou Toumani Toure 2002+Benin: Hubert Maga with Sourou Migan Apithy 1961. -1962, President Apithy and Prime Minister Soglo 1962 -1965. General Soglo from 22 December 1965, Lieutenant Colonel Alphonse Alley/ Major Maurice Koundete 1966 – 1968 Emile Zinsou 1968 - until 10 December 1969 for President Koundete 1969/ 1970. -Apithy, Maga and Ahomadegbe, 1968 -1972/Mathieu Kerekou (1972- 1991, 1997 -2005)Soglo (1992 -1997)Yayi Boni 2005+Equatorial Guinea: Macias Nguema (1968 -1979)Obiang Nguema (1979Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah (1951 -1966) General Ironsi (1966 -1969)Dr Kofi Busia (1969 -1972)General Acheampong 1972 -1979Dr Hille Limam. 1979 -1981 Jerry Rawlings (1981 -2000). John Kufour 2000 -2004Atta Mills (2004Upper Volta/ Burkina Faso: Maurice Yameogo 1960 -1969 Gerard Ouerdraogo (1979 -1983) Thomas Sankara (1983 -1987) Blaise Compoare (1987 -Liberia: Joseph Jenkins Roberts(1842 Governor 1847 -1855 President)Stephen Benoon (1856 -1864). Daniel Howard (1912-1920)Daniel (1864 -1868): Charles King (1920 -1930Edward Roy 1868 -1871William Tubman (1930 –1971)William Colemann William Tolbert (1971 -1979)President H JohnsonSamuel Kenyon Doe: (1980 -1990)Dr Garretson: 1900 -1904Charles Taylor (1997 -2003)Arthur Barclay (1904 -1912)(Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2005+)Nigeria: Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1960 -1966)Major Nzeogwu 1966Murtala Mohammad 1975Olusegan Obasanjo 1976- 1979, 1999+Shehu Shagari (1979 -1983)General Buhari 1983 -1995Sami Abacha 1995Cape Verde:Amilcar Cabral to 1973.The PAIGCV/ Aristides Pereira to 1991Antonio Monteiro 1991 -2001 Jose Marie Neves 2001 -The Gambia: Sir Dauda Jawara (1960 -1992) Guinea: Sekoure Toure 1958 – 1984Lansana Conte 1984 -Guinea Bissau: Amilcar Cabral: to 1973Luis Cabral (1975 -1979)Nino Vieira (1981 -Kumba Yallah Senegal: Leopold Senghor (1960 -1980)Abdou Diouf (1980 –Abdaye Wade Somalia:Siad Barre 1970 - 1991 General Aideed (1991 -1993) Islamic Brotherhood 2002+Djibouti:Tanzania: Julius Nyerere (1962 -1985) Zanzibar: (Albeid Karume (1964 -1972)Aboud Jumbe (1972 -1978)Kenya: Jomo Kenyatta (1964 -1978) Moi Kabuki (2002+) Daniel arap Moi (1978 -2002)Democratic Republic of the Congo/ Zaire: Patrice Lumumba (1960 -1961)Joseph Mobutu (1965 -1997)Laurent Kabila (1997 –Uganda: Dr Apollo Milton Obote (1962 -1971) (1980 -1986) Idi Amin (1971- 1979)Yoweri Museveni (1986+Rwanda:President Kayibanda (1962 -1973)Juvenal Habyarimana (1973 -1994)Pasteur Bizimungu(1993 -2000) Paul Kagame 2000Burundi: Ntare V 1966 Michael Micombero (1966-1972)Jean Bagaza 1972 -1976 Pierre Bagoya 1987- 1992, 1996 -Melchior Ndaye 1992 -1993Cyprian Ntaryamina 1993/1996 Congo Brazzaville: Abbe Fulbert Youlou 1960 - 1963Massamba Debat 1963 -1968 Sassou Ngesso 1992Francois BozizeAngie Marie Patasse 2000Central African Republic: David Dacko (1960 -1966) (1980 -Emperor Bokassa I (1966 -1979Andre Kolingba 1992 -1995Jean Paul Ngoupoema 1995Mauritius: Sir Sewoosagur Ramgoolum (1968-1982) Sir Anerood Jugnauth (1982 –, 2000- )The Comoros: 1975, Ahmed AbdullahAli Solih 1976- 1978Ahmed Abdullah and Mohammed Ahmed (1978 – 1989)The Seychelles: President James Mancham 1976 Albert Rene 1977 – James MitchellSao Tome and Principe: Prime Minister Pinto da Costa (1979 -1991)Miguel Trovada (1991 -2001)Fradique Menezes (2001+Madagascar: Prime Minister Philibert Tsiranana (1960 -1972) PresidentAlbert Zefy 1993 -1996Didier Ratsirika 1996 -2002Marc Ravalomanana and Amery Rapiona 2002Botswana: Sir Seretse Khama (1966-1980) Sir Quett Ketumile Masire (1980 -1998) Festus Mogae (1998 -2004) Ian Khama (2004+South Africa (Union 1910, Republic 1961, Multiparty Non-racial Democracy 1994): Prime Minister: General Louis Botha: (1910 -1919) P. W Botha (1978- 1989)Jan Smuts (1919 -1924, 1939 -1948) F.W De Klerk (1989 -1994)J.B.M Hertzog (1924 -1939) Nelson Mandela (1994- 1999)Dr Daniel Malan (1948 -1954) Thabo Mbeki (1999 -2009)J.G Strijdom (1954-1958) Kgalema Motlanthe (interim 2009)Dr Hendrik Verwoerd) (1958- 1966) Jacob Zuma (2009-2018)B.J Vorster (1966 -1978) Cyril Ramaphosa (2018+Rhodesia: Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins (1924 –1953) Winston Field (1962 -1964)Sir Garfield Todd (1953 -1958) Sir Ian Douglas Smith (1964 -1978)Edgar Whitehead (1958 -1962)Zimbabwe: Bishop Abel Muzorewa: (1978 -1979) Robert Mugabe (1980 -2000)Morgan Tshangvari (2000-2017 de jure) Emmerson Mnangarawa. 2017+ Angola: Dr Augustine Neto (1975 -1978) Eduardo Dos Santos (1979+)Swaziland: King Sobuzha II 1982 King Mswati III (1986+Lesotho:King Moshoeshoe to 1990, then to 1996King Letsie III (1990, 1996+)Mozambique: Samora Machel: (1975 -1984) Joaquin ChissanoZambia: Kenneth Kaunda (1964 -1991) Frederick Chiluba (1991 -2001)Levy Rupiah Banda 2008+Malawi: (Dr Kamazu Hastings Banda: (1964 -1993)Bakili Maluzi (1993 -Namibia: President Sam Nujoma (1990 -2005) Hifikepunye Pohamba (2005+) Chronology of African History Summation:3000,000 to 1,800,000 years before the present; the alleged ancestor of modern humanity: Australopithecus Africanus evolves in Africa.1.800,000 years ago, Zinjanthropus emerges1000,000 years ago –Homo habilis and Homo erectus are formed. Fire is mastered at Makapasi. 500,000 years ago – Homo sapiens –modern humanity dawns...250,000 -25,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, pottery and tools first arrive and the great migration from Africa to other continents intensifies.1000,00 to 800,00 years ago, the oldest recorded historical art in the Western Cape, South Africa is painted.45000 -35000 years ago, the spread of the Sangowan culture from West to East Africa.20000 years ago, the settlement of Adam’s Calendar serves as one of the oldest in Africa and Earth.The Kingdom of Kerma: 4500 years ago -3500 years ago.The Egyptian Empire is united under Pharaoh Nasser (3100 BCE – : The Kingdom of Nubia: The Kush Empire: 3011 Years agoThe Carthaginian Empire is started by Dido in 814 years BCE. It defeats its Tyre motherland 625 years BCE. Hannibal and Hasrubdral annex Hispania in 221 BCE, the Alpine expedition invading Italy with elephants is launched in 218 BCE and a year later, defeats the most powerful Romans at the Battle of Lake Trasseme. Kingdom of AxumThe Ethiopian Empire starts Great Zimbabwe is constructed: pre-1240 Mapunguwe: post 1240: The Ghana Empire 500 CE1421: The fleets of Zheng He visit East AfricaThe Mali Empire: The Funj Sultanate 16th centuryThe Empire of MonomatopaThe Bornu Kingdom 18th centuryThe Kingdom of Ashante:Benin until 1893The Sokoto CaliphateHausaland (16th century) The First Sierra Leone Republic lasts for 8 years between 1792 -1800 before the British annex it. Modern Madagascar is unified under Radama I in 1810: The first welfare state in the world is formed The Republic of Liberia is founded in 1847: The Battle of Adowa (Ethiopia defeats Italy) 1896 in the first decisive African victory since Hannibal: Menelik II saves Ethiopia as one of two African nations never to forfeit its independent existence. The Anglo Boer War: (1899 -1902). Britain’s last attempt at imperial expansion is humiliated by an army of 50000 Boers against 500000 imperial troops. Although Britain wins –it is a Pyrrhic victory as eight years later, Britain concedes independent Dominion status to South Africaand pays ?3000000 in compensation for war damage. Thanks to the guerrilla tactics of the Boers, Britain is forced to use guerrilla tactics. The First World War (1914 -1918) and the Battle of Delville Wood (1916) in which many South African volunteers sacrifice their lives for the British Empire in Belgium;The defeat by SA of German East Africa and Southwest Africa, in 1917 and 1914 respectivelySmut’s partial drafting of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations 1919.The independence of Egypt in 1922, full in 1953):The betrayal of Haille Selassie by the League of Nations and the chemical warfare of Mussolini invading Abyssinia in 1935.World War 2 (1939 -1945) (South Africa’s liberation of Ethiopia, Madagascar and North Africa, Smut’s devising of the Atlantic Charter and United Nations)The former Italian territory and UN trusteeship of Libya achieves independence in 1951The Central African Federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland (1953 -1963) is devised by Sir Roy Welensky of North Rhodesia and Lord Malvern of South Rhodesia.: The Freedom Charter of the ANC in South Africa is announced at the Congress of the People in Soweto in 1955 which provides the eventually adopted and implemented blueprint of a free, democratic and multiracial South AfricaThe Suez Crisis 1956 – in which Egypt under President Nasser humiliates Britain and France in reclaiming the Suez Canal for Africans1956: The Independence of Morocco and Tunisia Protectorates1957: Independence of Ghana –the first colony1958 Sekoure Toure gives Guinea freedom1960 – The Year of Independence for many colonies: - Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Benin, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Togo, 1960’s: The PAIGCV starts the armed uprising in the Portuguese territories of Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe. FRELIMO start the liberation war in Mozambique.1961: Sierra Leone and Tanzania are free. South Africa becomes a Republic and leaves the Commonwealth and Harold Macmillan makes his Winds of Change Speech in Cape Town in which Great Britain concedes the independence cause of African nations.1962: Algeria (free since FLN liberation war) and Uganda gain independence.1963: Foundation of the Organisation for African Unity in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and liberty for Kenya and Zanzibar1964: Malawi and Zambia are liberated1965: The Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia occurs in which they refuse to let Whitehall determine their fate and resist the world heroically for the next fifteen years. The freedom of Gambia occurs and Africa’s World War –Congo starts...1966: Independence of High Commission Territories of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland1967: The Arusha Declaration is created by TANU and Julius Nyerere in Tanzania as an indigenous expression of Ujaama and African socialism:1975: The Comoros are autonomousIn 1975, the founding of ECOWAS occurs in West Africa1977 The Seychelles, Djibouti are free.1977 equals the end of the East African Community (1963 - 1977) which economically united the three divergent economies of capitalist Kenya, collectivist Tanzania and mixed economy Uganda.1990 Independence of Namibia under SWAPO: 1993 Independence of Eritrea is recognised under the ELPF. Operation Black Hawk Down in Somalia ends in an unqualified humiliation for elite US units and UN troops.April 1994: The first multiracial democratic elections in South Africa. Walvis Bay is returned to Namibia1997: The concept of the African Renaissance is articulated and announced by President Mbeki The founding of the African Union to replace the OAU occurs in Durban South Africa, July 2002. The restoration of the Mali Manuscripts takes place in 2006 as a reminder of the African past accomplishment.The Arab Spring 2011 CE/ 2764 AUC: a series of popularist revolutions across North Africa which removed President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. South Sudan finally achieves a peaceful independence from the North. South Africa is invited to join the three emergent nations: Brazil, India and China in forming the economic entity BRIC INDEX:Adulis: 150Africa: art, architecture 141/ 142, cuisine 146, culture, photography Pages 141 -148 Diplomacy 269,Ecology and environment Pages258 -264, film 133Leaders 268, literature 143/ 144 Medical contributions, Pages 133; music 142Poetry 143, Renaissance -throughout, religion 146Scholarship and Technology 69 -80, sport 147, theatre/ drama 143,African journalism: 95African time: 198Africa Union: / Organisation of African Unity: 269,Aids education: Senegal/ Uganda: 138Aksum: 45Alexandria: Pages 30 -34, Great Bibliothecae, Pharos, Museion – Page 31, Eratosthenes and Hiero 32, Alfonso I: -See Kingdom of Kongo:Algeria:Alodia Kingdom 53/ 54Alwa: 54/ 55ANC: -African National Congress –see South Africa:Angola: 202 -204Apuleius: 12Arusha: 153, 154 - 162Arusha Declaration: 1, 104, 157Ashante:Athanasian Creed/ stylite movement: 34Automatic pool cleaner: 71Benin: -Oba, bronzes, Botswana: 234, 241, economy/ independence 234, education 239, Gobe Matenge 235, Sir Seretse Khama 237, Sir Tshekedi Khama, 236Burundi:Cairo:Cameroon: 60 -63, agriculture 62, Ahmadou Ahidjo 60, Paul Biya 62, Cameroon Oil Pipeline 61, youth 61Cape Verde: 113, Amilcar Cabral 113, democracy 114, education 115, health 116,Carbon dating –Cheikh Diop: 71Carthage: 39 -44, Central African Republic:Chad:Comoros:Congo Kinshasa: -- 172- Patrice Lumumba 172Congo BrazzavilleContinental Drift/ Alex Du Toit 205Cradle of Humanity: 195 -200, Adam’s Calendar 197, Dr Robert Broom 195, Dr Raymond Dart 195, fire mastery; the first tools, first art, first weapons, Mary and Richard Leakley 196, Mpumalanga Ruins 197, Sangowan culture 197, Wilton of Rhodesia 197,Djibouti: 153Dr T.O Lambo: 136East African Community: 269Eber papyrus: 133ECOWAS: 267Egypt: Pages 23 -39, death 27, exploration 28, literature and scholarship 26, medicine, The Pyramids 25 –Tel el Amarna 23, women 28.Ecology: – Africa: 258 -264, Elephant Corridor/ Kruger Park/ Cape Maclear Park 258, Cheik Amadou 260, Dr Ian Player 262, Dr Sue Hart 261, International World Wilderness School and Congress 262, literacy 261, Mauritius 260, Operation Noah –Rupert Fothergill 259, Equatorial Guinea: 87/88Eritrea:Ethiopia: Gondar 46, League of Nations appeal 49, Solomid and Zagwe 45Eyeo Kingdom: 112Eye surgery –Dr Percy Amiolis 135Foumbou Sultanate: 60Fort Hare/ Lovedale College: 215FRELIMO/ RENAMO see MozambiqueFulani Caliphate: 107Funj Sultanate: 55Gabon: 59 -, Omar Bongo 59, Leon Mba 59The Gambia: 116 -117, Sir Dauda Jawara 117, politics 117, society 117Garcia I/ II –See Kingdom of the Kongo: 171Gedi: 150Ghana: 91, anti corruption 97, Chris Bukari 97, education/ intelligentsia 91, Kwame Nkrumah 91, popular justice 97, Jerry Rawlings, slavery memorial 98, social policies 94,Ghana Empire: 90, King Kanissu 90, Great Zimbabwe; 200Guinea: 117, culture 119, Sekoure Toure 117Guinea Bissau: 120Hamilcar/ Hannibal, Hanno, Hasrubdral –see Carthage:Harambee: 130Hausaland: 88Heart transplant: 209,Hypatia: see Alexandria –Page 32International Institute of Tropical Agriculture: 71Ivory Coast: 63, Felix Boigny 64,Joint African Intelligence Unit: 77Kabuka Edward Mutesa III/ Buganda Kingdom: 180Kano Ruins: 200KANU Sessional Paper X: 165Katsina: 60Professor Felix Wa Kengo: 176Kenya: 162, economy and the land question 162, education 166, Gyot 167, J.M Kariuki 167,-Kenyatta 162, race relation harmony 162, Tom Mboya 168Kilwa: 148Kingdom of the Kongo: 171Kush: 54Lebou Republic: 121 –See SenegalLesotho: 241, BAC/ BNP 241/242, King Moshoeshoe II 241,Liberia: 102, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 105, William Tolbert 103, William Tubman 103,Libya:Lome Convention; 78Madagascar: 191, King Raduna I 192Mago: -see CarthageMakerere University: 176Malawi: 250, economy 251, education 253, Dr Hastings Banda 250MaliMalian Empire:Mali manuscripts: 5,Mali Malaria Research and Training Centre: 139Bongani Magosi: 135Makuria Kingdom: 53Malindi: 150Mansa Musa:Mapunguwe: Page 201Maravi Empire: 201Mauritania: - The Keepers of Ghinghurtii Mauritius: ecotourism 261Meroe Kingdom and Pyramids: 55Mogadishu: 151Mo Ibrahim Prize: 73Mombasa: 149Morocco:Monomatopa: 5, 201Mozambique: 243, democracy 245, education 246, female emancipation 245, healthcare 246, prisons 247, urban solutions 247,Namibia: 253 -258, Bushmen/ San 253, DTA –Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and Dirk Mudge 257, environment 253, Herero 255, Sam Nujoma 256, SWAPO 256, Toivo ja Toivo 256Negritude: -See SenegalNEPAD: 267Niger: 62, Animation Network 63, Hamori Diori 63, Seyni Kountche 63, RDA 62Nigeria: -See International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, agriculture 109, Chief Awolowo 109, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa 107, Fulani 112, Igbo 112, MOSSAP –Ken Sawo Wiwa 109, Shehu Shagari 109, Yoruba 112 Nok culture: 107No Party Movement: 182 –See UgandaNouira: 16Ntimu Wene: 171Nubia: 53Nyamunda: 200Oyo Kingdom: 112PAIGCV: See Archipelago’s, Cape Verde, Guinea BissauPan Africanism: 91, Exegesis, Concludium, Ghana, the CongoPeer Review Development Mechanism: 265Permanent Inter State Sahel Drought Committee; 77Ptolemy: (Claudius Ptolemais) -32Pulmonary circulation of the blood: 133Queen Nzingu: 202Republic of Libertalia: 191,Reunion: 190Rhaptra: 149Rhodesia: Page 222 -234, Moyi Agene 222, Chirumenga 222, Herbert Chitepo 222, culture 230, economy 231Joshua Nkomo 222, Robert Mugabe 232, Sir Ian Smith, Edgar Tekere 232, Morgan Tshangvari 232, Lawrence Vance 224, Sergeant Vito 223, Sir Roy Welensky 222Rwanda: 178Rwanda Kingdom: 178SADCC: 265San/ Bushmen/ Khoikoi –see NamibiaSao Tome and Principe:Senegal: 121 -125, Abdou Diouf 123, ecology 122, economy 122, politics 121, Senghor 121Senegambia Confederation: 124 –See SenegalSeychelles:Sierra Leone: 65, infrastructure 67, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah 68, Sir Albert Margai 66, Sir Milton Margai 66, Siaka Stevens 66, photography – See under Africa, Valentine Strasser 68, women 67,Smallpox vaccination campaign; 73Smoking: 135The Sudan: -North 56, Ismail el Azhari 56, Omar al Bashir 58, Jaafar Numeiri 57, Sadiq al Mahdi 58, South 55/ 57/ Sofala: 149Somalia: 151, Siad Barre 153, Muhammad Hassan 151, Operation Black Hawk Down 152, Dr Ali Shimarke 152South Africa: 205 -222, Afrikaans National Language Memorial 212, Anglo American Corporation 210, Anglo Boer War 205/ 206, apartheid 211, BRIC 221, culture 212, economy 210/ 218 -220, English Academy of Southern Africa 212, foreign affairs 221, 1924 Industrial Conciliation Act 206, IDC –Industrial Development Corporation 210Jan Hofmeyer 206, Holism philosophy 206, Paul Kruger, Nelson Mandela 214 -217, Z.K Matthews 215, President Mbeki 217, The RAF/ SAAF 208, SASOL 210, Shaka the Great, Albertina and Walter Sisulu 213, Jan Christian Smuts 206, Soweto 211, Helen Suzman 210, transport, Trevor Manuel 218, The Great Trek 205, the Treaty of Vereeniging 205, 207; weaponry 209, President Zuma 217. Dr Nkosazana Zuma –see smoking. Suez Crisis of 1958: -See Egypt: 35 - 37Suetonius: 12Sultan of Scribes: 15Swaziland: 242, education 242/ 243, King Sobuzha II 242, King Mswati III 243, TANZAM Railway: 156, See Tanzania and Zambia.Tanzania: 154, Nyerere 155,TANU Leadership Code: 157Tellurometer: 71Traditional medicine: 137Timbuktu: 69Tomori: 69Treatment Action Campaign –Zackie Achmat: 72Truth and Reconciliation Commission: See Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ujaama, South Africa, Concludium etc 269Tuareg: 18Tunisia:Uganda: 180, Idi Amin 182, economy 181, healthcare 181, Yoweri Museveni 182, Apollo Milton Obote 181UDI: -Unilateral Declaration of Independence: See Rhodesia, 1, Ujaama: 269Ungona: 150United Nations Habitat Scroll of Honour: 138University of Mbunji Mayi: 179University of Sankore: 69/70Upper Volta/ Burkina Faso: 99, environment 99, health 99, justice 101, reform 99 -101, Thomas Sankara 99, society 99, women 99,Vanilla Pollination: -See Reunion:Welfare State; see South Africa, Medical Requiem and Madagascar chapters Western Sahara:Seni Williams: 71Zambia: 247, Frederick Chiluba 250, economy 248, foreign affairs 249, Kenneth Kaunda 247, Rupiah Banda 252,Zimbabwe: - see RhodesiaZheng He’s Fleet: 148Copyright:The author Jack Dyer hereby asserts and gives notice of his right under section 77 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the author of the foregoing bookAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission by the publisher, author or copyright holder. ................
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