Resolutions and Recommendations
Two types of resolutions and recommendations will be adopted
at the end of the main events, namely the three cardinal resolutions
and a general recommendation on the one hand, and other specific
resolutions and recommendations on the other hand.
7.1. The three cardinal resolutions and the general recommendation
Three fundamental concepts are part of the raison d'être
of Goree 2000, namely: African citizenship for Africans in the
diaspora, panafrican referendums and panafrican solidarity visa.
These concepts have emerged, during the last decade of the 20th
century, as part of the cardinal values which will contribute
to the rebirth of Africa in the 21st century. These values are
proposed to all participants to Goree 2000 as motivating concepts
to be endorsed and popularized during the entire preparatory phase.
In other words, accepting and supporting Goree 2000 also means
accepting and supporting these concepts.
At the end of the various activities, the participants will
first formally debate and adopt these three resolutions and the
general recommendation afferent the same resolutions. Then they
will proceed to the debate and adoption of all other specific
resolutions and recommendations resulting from the various panels
and plenary discussions.
The participants will first acknowledge a number of pressing
needs and actions as basis for the resolutions. Some of these
are:
· The need to systematically grant a permanent African
citizenship to all Africans of the diaspora who request it, in
order to enable them to fully participate in the building of a
United Africa as a matter of civic duty.
· The urgency of promoting a panafrican dimension of democracy
in Africa, starting with Panafrican Referendums on vital issues
affecting the lives of all Africans.
· The urgent need to contribute to the birth of a full
People's OAU by promoting the establishment of a Panafrican Visa
of Solidarity as a permanent source of funding for its institutions
and activities.
· The need for the Goree Declaration on Panafrican Renaissance
to henceforth inspire and value the panafrican dimension of the
lives of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora during
the 21st century.
Following the above considerations and others, the participants
will resolve to do everything in their power to:
1) Promote the establishment, by the OAU, of a permanent African
citizenship for all Africans of the diaspora who wish to acquire
it.
2) Promote the establishment by the OAU, of a system of Panafrican
Referendums as a democratic process for involving the African
people in decision-making on vital issues affecting their lives
durably. The first of such referendums should concern a minimal
political unity of Africa, that is, the actual creation of an
African Union as decided by the Sirte Declaration.
3) Promote the establishment, by the OAU, of a Panafrican Visa
of Solidarity as a permanent source of autonomous funding for
the activities of the People's OAU, including among others, the
activities of the African Civil Society Organization (ACSO), the
establishment of the Panafrican Parliament and the Panafrican
Court of Justice. This will be a 10 US $ visa payable by any non
African per entry into the African Economic Community zone.
The general Recommendation
The participants will acknowledge the fact that the implementation
of the above cardinal resolutions will depend, to a large extent,
on certain legislative, moral and practical measures to be taken
by African Heads of State and Government, African Parliaments
and the OAU. They will also acknowledge the need to integrate
the African/African-American Summits into the general framework
of the African Economic Community, in order to ensure its greater
effectiveness and perennial nature, as a people-to- people initiative.
Following these considerations and others, the participants
will recommend:
To African Heads of State and Government, African Parliaments
and the OAU, to fully support the cardinal resolutions adopted
at this historic civil society summit and to take the appropriate
measures in their respective domains of competence to help the
implementation of these resolutions.
7.2. Other specific Resolutions and Recommendations.
All the debates in the various panels and plenary sessions will
certainly result in the general agreement and adoption of many
specific resolutions and recommendations. For instance, the participants
could acknowledge:
· The necessity for former slave trading and/or colonial
nations to pay appropriate reparations to the descendants of their
victims.
· The necessity for Africans of the continent to become
more involved in the struggles of their brothers and sisters in
the diaspora for integration into their respective socio-economic
and political environments.
Following these considerations and others, they could resolve
to:
· Promote the spread of the spirit of the Declaration of
Panafrican Renaissance throughout the African continent and in
all communities of Africans in the diaspora, as the general vision
of the panafrican values which will inspire and enrich the lives
of all Africans during the 21st Century.
· Ensure that the Africans of the diaspora become fully
integrated in their respective socio-economic and political environments.
· Ensure that appropriate reparations on slave trade and
colonization, which have harmfully affected the Africans both
in the diaspora and on the continent, are effectively implemented
In terms of specific recommendations, they could, among other
things, recommend:
· To the organizers of the African/African-American Summits,
to integrate these regular Summits into the normal mechanisms
of the African Economic Community, so as to make them more effective
as people-to-people initiatives.
· Etc…
We, your sons and daughters, were disunited, dispersed, humiliated,
exploited and weakened by slavery, colonization and external dependency.
As a result, the whole process of your development was dramatically
disrupted in the course of recent centuries.
Today, we are reunited to reconcile you with this regrettable
period in your history, to turn the page and open a new one which
will be fundamentally more positive. We forgive those of our ancestors
who betrayed you and those of our contemporaries who are continuing
to do so. We call on the latter to repent and to change their
conduct.
Mother Africa, your children participated, in a determinant
way, to the construction of the world in general and the West
in particular, at the cost of their sweat and blood. We shall
harvest the dividends to contribute to the edification of a united,
strong and prosperous Africa. Indeed, Africa will henceforth help
the world to revalue life and to become always more just and more
humane.
Mother Africa, you are not poor. Your resources are abundant.
We shall make them fruitful.
We shall ever love and cherish you.
May the God of our ancestors bless you, bless us and lead our
descendants towards an ever brighter future.
Proposed in
November 1998
See also Working Documents during Goree 2000
