Senegalese diplomat Professor Abdoulaye Bathily says Africa needs to break colonial ties to liberate its people. He delivered the 14th Thabo Mbeki Africa Day Lecture in Midrand, Johannesburg.
The Thabo Mbeki Africa Day Lecture is an annual event organised by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and the University of South Africa (Unisa) to commemorate Africa Day.
The day commemorates the founding of the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU), on May 25th 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The African Union (AU), the successor of the OAU, was launched in Durban, South Africa on July 9, 2002.
Bathily says Africa has enough resources to economically sustain itself, adding that the dream of the founding fathers and mothers of the Organization of African Unity who created the continental organisation have to be revisited and be reflected on, to make all of them come to fruition.
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He further states: “To move Africa forward we need thoughtful leaders and a vibrant civil society who can tell the truth to any power that is. We need conquering entrepreneurs to lead Africa’s economy.”
Former President Thabo Mbeki could not physically attend as he had contracted flu that led to him being hospitalised. He says the geopolitical crisis must be confronted to rid the world of unnecessary wars.
Those who have delivered the lecture previously include the former Secretary General of the OAU, Salim Ahmed Salim; and African intellectual, scholar and academic, Professor Toyin Falola.
