This is an approach that can boost the development of the African continent. It bears the signature of the African Diaspora for Development (ADD) and concerns the admission of Israel as an observer member of the African Union (AU).
This worldwide movement of the African diaspora and migrants has sent correspondences to almost all African Heads of State, including the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and current President of the Pan-African organization, Félix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the President of Ghana who also chairs ECOWAS, Nana Akufo and the Rwandan Paul Kagame in charge of AUDA-NEPAD.
With a view to creating an African continent that would be a home for all its sons and daughters, regardless of the distance between them, the ADD is committed to giving the voice to migrants, to pave the way for economic prosperity and investment for the economic development of the African continent.
Drawing on history, this worldwide movement recalls that the founding fathers of the independence of African countries had a special attachment and ties with Israel.
« Israel’s relations with Africa began before the formal establishment of the continental organization, and Ghana became the first African country to formalize its diplomatic relations when Israel established its consulate on the Gold Coast in 1956.Ghana’s first president and a leader of the African independence movement, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was pro-Israeli and a very influential leader in West Africa.
By the early 1970s, Israel had established and maintained full diplomatic relations with 33 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Israel’s relations with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa developed in the context of the major political, social and economic challenges they faced during this period. Many independent African states saw Israel as a partner that they could leverage with its technical expertise in a variety of areas,” reads the ADD letter, co-signed by the International Executive Director, Jean-Pierre Alumba and the representative of the ADD in the USA, Dr Geoffrey R. Mitchell whose alternance.cd obtained a copy.
However, the authors acknowledge that on July 22, 2021, the African Union Commission granted official observer status to the State of Israel, but that about 17 member countries, including South Africa and Algeria, oppose it.
However, the African Diaspora for Development praises the benefits to the African people of the State of Israel.
« Thanks to this, various joint ventures have been launched. Israel has established agricultural cooperatives, youth training centres and medical infrastructure in countries such as Ghana, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire. Today, some 47 of the 55 African countries maintain bilateral relations with the State of Israel,” the African Diaspora for Development noted.
The main demandes in the letters the African Diaspora for Development addressed to the most African head of states, are:
- We suggest that the issue of the accreditation of the State of Israel should be
part of the agenda at the next meeting of the states members, in October
2021, for normalisation on building a consensus on this matter. - Call all the states members to respect the African Union guiding principle of unity and their obligation toward the African Union Commission in
accordance with article 4.2 of the Statutes of the Commission - Ensure that Africa is not becoming a more overt arena for Israeli-
Palestinian diplomatic competition. - Take the necessary steps to ensure that no member uses the continental
body to push their own personal agenda.
RD44
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