Cape Coast, Aug 1, GNA - The Minister of Tourism, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah on Friday called on Africans in the Diaspora to help rejuvenate Africa to gain its past glory. She said the time had come to place Africa in its rightful position in the world and that everything should therefore be done to make it the "21st century continent".

Mrs Azumah-Mensah said this at the reverential night ceremony to herald the 11th Emancipation Day celebration in Cape Coast, under the theme "Uniting the African Family; Communicating the Africa Reality. Reverential night is observed annually in remembrance of the sufferings and atrocities the ancestors went through during the slave trade.

People from the Caribbean, USA, South Africa, Nigeria and residents of Cape Coast including the aged and children defied the cold weather amidst drizzles, with a procession through the streets before converging at the Cape Coast Castle. They were treated to music and cultural performances by various groups including the Lagos State council for arts and culture, Cape Coast Youth choir, Association of world wide studies of West-Africans in the Diaspora and the Boabob cultural troupe. Mrs Azumah-Mensah tasked Africans to endeavour to break the negative labels tagged to the continent and forge ahead with the development of Africa, adding that "let us not allow our past to imprison us forever, let us do away with the challenges and forge ahead to lift Africa up for a brighter future". Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhen of the Oguaa traditional area, in his address, pointed out that Africans have been fighting against each other for far too long and that the time had come for them to "cease fire".

"For us to truly emancipate ourselves we have to stop fighting our own brothers and sisters and come together as one to fight our common enemy which is poverty, human trafficking and disease" Osabarima Atta said the emancipation Day celebration should serve as a turning point for Africans to see themselves as one big family and unite to enhance the total development of the continent. She told Africans in the Diaspora to disabuse their minds of the negative stories told about the continent and allow the truth to guide them in whatever they do, this she stressed was the only way Africa could become emancipated. 1 Aug, 09