Africa’s dream of attaining unity on course — Kufuor
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said Africans now appreciate the need for unity and that is contributing to the realisation of the vision of the continent’s unity.
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He, however, conceded that the size of the continent made the dream of African unity unrealistic within a decade.
Former President Kufuor said this in an interview with TV3 ahead of the 50th anniversary celebration of the erstwhile Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and 10 years of African Union (AU) which fell yesterday.
“The vision is so big. Of course Africa is also so big and the main thing is to sustain the vision and not to expect that within just a decade you would realise this huge vision just like that,” former President Kufuor stated and added: “But I believe Africa is in the right direction for realisation of the vision.”
He cast insinuation on those who think Africa is not making any progress, saying they may be “theorists sitting in some comfortable library or studio or laboratory thinking Africa, the second largest continent, can be changed just like that.”
“It has 54 nations of various backgrounds and various development stages and if we want to get all these people, with a population of billions of people in the same direction in 10 years then you are not being realistic,” he added.
He, however, stressed that things were changing, saying that previously communication between Accra and Abidjan went as far as to Paris-France but “now things are becoming easier with the ICT revolution and also with the increasing appreciation of ourselves we are getting on top of the many barriers in the path of Africa becoming united.”
Former President Kufuor was chairman of the AU from January 30, 2007 to January 31, 2008. He succeeded Congo’s Denis Sassou-Nguesso and was succeeded by Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete.
Relatedly, the GNA reports that former President Kufuor, yesterday left Accra to participate in the 50 anniversary of the OAU and 10 years of its transformation into African Union (AU), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
A statement signed by Mr Frank Agyekum, Spokesperson and Special Aide to former President Kufuor, said almost all African sitting Heads of State and former Heads of State were gathering for the event.
The anniversary is being commemorated on the theme: “'Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.”
Former President Kufuor is expected back home on Monday, May 27.
