African Union Govt would be pointless if...

Accra, June 28, GNA - Hugh Masekela, acclaimed South African Musician last night told the audience at the African Civil Society Solidarity concert on Darfur that the attainment of African Union government would be pointless if African leaders did not take steps to stem the genocide and other human right violations in Darfur and elsewhere.

He noted that Africans needed to see themselves as one state and therefore consider the boundaries dividing them as imaginary, saying that with that in mind the ongoing African Union (AU) Summit in Accra should focus on measures to stop recalcitrant African leaders like Omar Basher and the evil Janjaweed from perpetrating genocide in Darfur.

In addition, other African leaders should be stopped from continuing with human rights violations in their respective countries. Hugh Masekela was the main guest artiste at the concert, which formed part of programmes initiated by two African Civil Society groups and coordinated by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in connection with the on-going AU summit.

Masekela was invited as a goodwill ambassador for Darfur to lead the way for African artistes to launch an onslaught against the genocide in Darfur in particular. Other guest artistes included Ghana's Amanzeba Nat Brew, Gonje and the Sappers Band. Professor Kofi Anyidoho of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana also performed a poem and a song for Darfur.

Masekela, who spotted an all black outfit to signify he was in a state of mourning for the many perished lives in Darfur declared that instead of being a goodwill ambassador, he would be an angry ambassador because his soul bled for the innocent victims of the Darfur genocide. "My soul goes out to the people of Darfur and for the many victims of human rights violations in Zimbabwe, Angola, Somalia, Rwanda and other places in Africa," he said.

He said the gathering of all 52 heads of states and government of Africa in Accra was a great opportunity for consensus to be reached on how to save the innocent children and women of Darfur, who had become victims of a conflict they did not know anything about.

"We must not wait for Hollywood to come out with yet another movie called 'Hotel Darfur' just like they did Hotel Rwanda to make money out of the tragedy of our African brothers," he said.

Masekela said he was sad that when a French Journalist who interviewed him back stage asked other artistes if they knew where Darfur was located, none of the artistes said yes. "That to me was indicative of our indifference towards the genocide in Darfur," he said.

He pledged to champion the cause of the innocent people in Darfur by organizing several of African artistes around the world to hold solidarity concerts to bring the world's attention to the need to help save innocent lives.

But beyond the serious and heartfelt talk Masekela was in full flight when he swung from talking to singing. He reminded the audience of his hay days with Hedjorle Sounds of Ghana and Fela Kuti of Nigeria, performing songs like Mama Africa and African Woman, both of which he played the trumpet.

Masekela would not leave the stage without performing the single song that made his name big "Bring Back Nelson Mandela" and the audience could not tell the difference between the Masekela in his sixties and the Masekela in his youthful days.

His dancing moves were just a delight to watch.

Nat Brew would not leave all the conscious lyrics for Masekela to do; his song "We want Kwame Nkrumah" charged the house as he sung lines like "George is still in the Bush and Tony's vision is blur (Blair) so we want Kwame Nkrumah."

"I bet if Kwame Nkrumah was alive today the genocide in Darfur would not have happened because Africa would have been one state by now," Mr Brew proclaimed amidst loud cheers from the ecstatic audience. He reminded African leaders that they could not continue to look up to the West for help to unite and develop Africa, saying that 60 per cent of the world's resources are in Africa and the west would not sit by for Africa to unite and develop, much more help, because it was not in their interest.

"It is a shame that till date our leaders carry their calabash and go round the world begging for money from so called development partners," he said.

There were several solidarity messages from civil society groups from Ghana, Darfur and other parts of Africa.

Mr. Salih Mahmoud Osman, MP and Human Rights Activist from Darfur said he was sad that African politicians and civil society organizations were largely silent about the genocide in Darfur and some religious groups as well.

Mr. Kwesi Adu Amankwah, Secretary-General of the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) of Ghana condemned the mass human right violation going on in Darfur and demanded that AU states should act in concert with the United Nations to stop the Sudanese President and the Janjaweed from continuing in their evil against innocent lives. Dr. Mrs. Rosemary Mensah-Kutin, Convenor of the Network for Women's Rights of Ghana (Netwrite) demanded that the Summit should evolve concrete measures to rescue innocent women and children from the Darfur crisis.

Mr. Dismas Nkunda, Chairman of the Darfur Consortium, a network of African Civil Society organization dedicated to stopping the crisis in Darfur noted that the Darfur crisis had changed from genocide to "gendercide", where women were targeted for human right violations such as rape and murder more than any other group of people.

He told a sad story of a baby who was found during the Rwandan genocide, sucking the breast of the four days old corpse of its deceased mother. According to him the baby was found alive covered with flies. "We can only prevent a similar situation from occurring if we act now as one people to stop the Darfur crisis," he said. A collection of all the solidarity messages was presented to a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, convenors of the AU Summit in Accra for the necessary action to be taken in the light of all the demands made.