Diaspora and Afrikan Organizations Come Together for the Pan African Roots-Synergy Roundtable in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Global Pan African Roots-Synergy Roundtable was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from May 23-27, 2022.  The objective of the Global Pan African Roots-Synergy Roundtable was to bring to a resolution several of the issues that have delayed the unification of the Global Pan-Afrikan Diaspora and the representation of our collective voice on the World Stage.

The organizers of the Roots-Synergy Roundtable issued the following invitation to Afrikan Diaspora organizations and activists to meet in Addis Ababa:

More than 50 years ago—a full half century, Pan Africans from around the world met in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania for the 6th Pan African Congress. This was an international gathering that pulled together advocates with very meaningful theory and visionary ideas for how to help accelerate and complete the rest of the anti-colonial struggles to return African land and resources to African people, and how to develop positive and effective governmental structures that would bind together the talents of the majority of African women, men and children to build the unified Africa that Africans deserve. The African Diaspora participated in this ultimately successful series of campaigns that brought state racism in South Africa and in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) down. There was also substantial Diasporan help provided to militarized African Liberation activities.

Among many other efforts, the 7 PAC (1994) in Uganda, and the 8th PAC (2014) in South Africa occurred and added more Diasporan fire to the drive to eradicate neo-colonialism and build overall African success and resilience. And the struggle continues.

In the early years of the 21st century, during its transition from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the building of the African Union (AU), to take its place in the next stage of building the Africa that Africans need, the outgoing executive director of the OAU made a seconded motion to have the new African Union invite the African Diaspora to formally join the AU effort to move Africa forward. The motion passed handily. In a following meeting, the AU heads of state voted to authorize ECOSOCC and CIDO of the AU to organize processes for 20 Diasporans to be brought into the AU as members of ECOSOCC. This decision re-energized the African Diaspora worldwide.

In 2012, after a long series of meetings and conferences with members of the African Diaspora, the African Union held a significant conference in South Africa—-the African Union Diaspora Conference—specifically for the African Diaspora and agreed to and promulgated the current Diaspora Declaration. However, it is now 2022, ten years later, and the 20 Diasporan seats in the AU remain unfilled and most of the actions stipulated in the Diasporan Declaration remain inoperable or barely sustained.

We, members of the African Diaspora, therefore call for a Pan African Congress-type gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the tenth anniversary of the Diaspora Declaration to meet and assess the next steps forward in uniting the progressive actions of the Diaspora with those of the African Union and to make substantial progress in laying claim to the 20 designated Diasporan seats in the AU.

All organized members of the African Diaspora who can make the trip, or who can send representatives to speak and vote for your position, are invited to this gathering on May 24-28, 2022. There will be serious and frank discussions, and actionable decisions made.

Forward Ever, Backward Never,
The Diasporan Organizers

The Motivation to Hold the Roundtable

The 25th of May 2022, The World Africa Day, marked the tenth year since the Heads of State and Government and Representatives of the African Union, the West Indies, Latin America, South America, and varied representatives from the African Diaspora met during the Global African Diaspora Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa and witnessed the historic adoption of the African Union-African Diaspora Declaration concerning the Diaspora Sixth Region of Africa.

Following recent consultations with the African Union’s Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) about what the African Union Commission intended to do on May 25, 2022 or thereabouts, to review the progress that has occurred during the past ten years, the answer from the African Union was that there was “no planning” for such a Ten-Year Review.

As there was no follow up event planned, and a 21st century wave of African Descendants visiting but mostly migrating to the Continent occurring – it was clear something had to be done. So, the African Descendants Diaspora Civil Society organizations, Pan Africanists, and African Activist Organizations took the initiative to organize a special Roundtable on – The AU Diaspora Declaration: Ten Years After.

About the Pan African Roots-Synergy Roundtable

This Roundtable was organized by four main organizations: the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) which primarily operates in the United States and the Americas in general; the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group (AUADSFWG) which operates in Europe and has its nerve center in The Netherlands; the African Diaspora Right To Return Alliance (RTRA), which represents African Diasporans who have repatriated back to Africa and are fighting for full citizenship in the Motherland; and the African Diaspora Union (AFRIDU), an organization of primarily Continental Africans who have moved from their home countries to other countries in the African Continent with perhaps some who have left the Continent altogether.  Other organizations that were affiliated with them, such as the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) and the Sheroes Sisterhood, provided invaluable input to the process and worked throughout the Roundtable to help ensure that it was conducted smoothly, from moderating working groups and discussions to handling audio-video issues, attending to the needs of special guests and doing behind-the-scenes work that too often goes unappreciated.  These organizers and workers, as well as other attending organizations and activists, including the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), African Americans for Reparation and Repatriation (AA4RR) and the State of the African Diaspora (SOAD), deserve much credit for what, on balance, was a successful conference.

The Roundtable had three primary objectives:

(1) a Ten-Year Review of the May 2012 AU Diaspora Summit and Declaration that was held in Sandton, South Africa.  The African Union (AU) had convened a major African Diaspora Summit in Sandton, South Africa in late May of 2012, which drew many Pan-African activists around the world and resulted in the African Diaspora Declaration, which enumerated a number of objectives that the AU would pursue on behalf of establishing the Diaspora’s voice in the AU s well as ways in which the Diaspora could become contributors to the AU’s overall mission.  Ten years later, it was anticipated that the AU would conduct a review of that Summit, including an assessment of what parts of the Declaration had been successfully implemented, which had not, and what would be the way forward from here.  When asked about their plans for this Ten-Year Review, however, the AU replied that there were no plans for such a Review.  At this point, the primary organizations decided to conduct the Review ourselves.  The primary purpose of the Roundtable was to look at the Diaspora Declaration from 2012 and conduct that Review and assessment.

(2) a challenge and an opportunity for the African Union.  Since 2006, SRDC and AUADSFWG have been following the process proposed by the AU to establish the African Diaspora’s voice first in the AU’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), then in the Pan African Parliament (PAP).  This process had been announced by the African Union Commission (AUC) as far back as 2006, and the AU’s Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) had been designated as the management organ in the AU that would administer the process of establishing the Diaspora in 20 elected seats in ECOSOCC according to a set of Statutes of ECOSOCC.  For 16-plus years now, we have been consulting, cajoling, pushing and lobbying the AU, CIDO, AUC and ECOSOCC to conduct certain specific steps toward the review and approval of the procedures we have proposed and to facilitate the final process of our incorporation into ECOSOCC.  This Roundtable was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the main headquarters of the African Union, to let them know we are and remain serious about our effort to achieve this goal, as well as to provide representatives of these AU organs a convenient opportunity to meet with us and address our concerns.  CIDO and ECOSOCC did indeed send representatives to the Roundtable, though they were not able to answer all of our concerns or officially restart the process that we have been pushing for since 2006.  We remain hopeful, however, that this Roundtable will spark a renewed effort not only from Diaspora organizations but also from the African Union and its organs.

(3) an opportunity to bring a wide variety of Pan-African organizations together.  Groups that had not consulted together before, such as the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), Africans for Reparation and Repatriation (A4RR) and the State of the African Diaspora (SOAD), which had heretofore conducted their business without consulting each other, were brought into the same space, perhaps for the first time. 

Did the Roundtable Succeed?

The Roundtable has produced a Review Document that includes a 2022 Resolution and Declaration, which will be available on the Roundtable’s Web site, https://addisroundtable2022.org, as well as below.  Among the expected results of the Roundtable is the formation of a civil society governing and management structure that will allow us to be recognized by the AU as an organized global entity, one that is directed by the concerns of grassroots communities from around the Pan-African Diaspora, from the Americas (North, South, Central and the Caribbean), Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the Pacific, as well as African Diasporans who have repatriated back to Mother Africa but have not been granted citizenship in their ancestral home.

A number of organizations came together in Addis who had little to no knowledge of each other’s missions, some of whom had ignored or even competed against each other in the past.  While some of the attending organizations had reputations as seeing themselves as the primary or only representatives of the Diaspora, their coming together in this space not only allowed them to see that theirs were not the only voices for the Diaspora, but also allowed others to see them in a setting where they were at least willing to discuss working with each other in a cooperative, and not competitive, manner.  Thus, the possibility for greater cooperation and unity between different African Diaspora organizations became possible, which should earn the Diaspora at least somewhat greater respect from international bodies such as the African Union and United Nations.  The success of the Roundtable will ultimately be determined by the will of the grassroots community, activists and organizations of the African Diaspora, if we are able to overcome that which has divided us and work together to establish our voice in the African Union and to re-establish our connection to the Motherland.

The Addis Ababa 2022 Resolution and Declaration from this Roundtable was submitted to the African Union Commission in cooperation with the CIDO, AU ECOSOCC and ACPHR.

THE ADDIS ABEBA MAY25th_2022 TEN YEARS AFTER SUMMARY&AGREEMENTS MB

CEOAfrica, the official media partner for the Roundtable, was present throughout the event and produced a video immediately after the Roundtable that featured Prof. David Horne of SRDC, Dr. Barryl A. Biekman of African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group (AUADSFWG)-Europe, Ms. Grace Abena James of the African Diaspora Right to Return Alliance (RTRA) and Sixth Region African Diaspora Alliance in Tanzania (6RADAT), and Bishop Chidebiere Anelechi Ogbu of the African Diaspora Union (AFRIDU). 

A few details have changed since the video was released, but the essence of the information in the video remains unchanged: Afrikan people are coming together, in fits and starts perhaps, but we are coming together, a new global Diaspora structure is being formulated to facilitate cooperation between our many organizations and activists on the international level, and we will develop and build a unified strategy to raise our collective voice on the World Stage.  Stay tuned for more developments, which will be reported here as they happen.

To watch the video, please click below:
https://youtu.be/1riODHy3ZswSent