Eighth Pan African Congress ends in Accra

The Eighth Pan-African Congress ended in Accra on Wednesday with the setting up of an Interim Committee to steer the affairs of the Congress till the next meeting in May next year.

A statement signed by Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said a resolutions adopted at the end of the four-day congress called for the complete removal of the 55-year old United States unilateral embargo against Cuba.

The Congress also called on the African Union to ensure the actualization of the independence of the Sahrawi people from Moroccan colonial rule.

“Participants at the Congress condemned the violence and discrimination perpetrated against people of African descent anywhere in the world, expressing their solidarity to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign in North America”.

“The Congress asked African governments to push for the total liberation of all persons of African descent still living under occupation, colonialism and oppression in Mayotte Comoros, Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe,” the statement said.

It said while condemning unchecked violence being perpetrated by extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, ISIS, Al Qaida, Lord’s Resistance Army and the Janjaweed against African people, the Congress called for an African Union brigade to stabilise countries that had been distablised by foreign invasions or internal conflicts such as Libya.

The statement called on African governments to reject neo-liberal pathways and instead seek to build local industrial base founded on value addition and also ensure that natural resources were utilised in a manner that benefited present and future generations.

“The Eighth PAC also resolved to address structural barriers that keep half of the pan-African constituency, that is, women, from accessing justice and dignity,” it said.

The statement said participants at the Congress pledged to assist Africa find its voice in the global space, advocating, among others, for a network for broadcasting pan-African news and ideas.

The Congress was attended by more than 250 participants from countries across Africa and the Diaspora.