The Meetings End with Major Purposes

June 24th, 2001

The meeting in Dar Es Salaam is culminating with the elaboration of the African Charter for Peace and Solidarity. Although it is still being debated, it sets out a number of premises: construction of African citizenship, long-term sustainable development, conflict resolution through peaceful means, the need for foreign powers tostop maintaining or facilitating any form of conflict in Africa.

The Charter also presents three basic themes: an African governance founded on regional integration, demilitarization of politicians and of mentalities; the development of an African culture, and the defense of freedom of speech and of the press; and an economy at the service of the population.

Some conclusions have also arrived from America. A final declaration, which reaffirms the participants' determination to work for the emergence of a new world, places the priority on the struggle against neoliberal globalization, solidarity among the peoples, and diversity in an intercultural context.

In connection with new forms of relations of power, Mamadou Diop, African messenger at the American meeting, explains that providing a central space for local experiences and finding ways of articulating the regional and the global have remained open questions.

The continental meetings are ending, but now begins (and continues) a long path to be traveled down together. For a more plural, more responsible, and more united world.