July 27th 2013 I attended an event that I
never believed would happen. I was honoured with an
invitation to attend an event to commemorate the Golden
Jubilee Anniversary of the OAU and to honour its
Founding Fathers.
The event was taking
place in the same hall that the AU was inaugurated in
1963. In the Africa Hall of what today is the Economic
Commission for Africa where the AU had started.
I arrived early. We were
made to enter the campus from behind, and after a
security check, we had a long walk in the rain to reach
the main building. The Building that I had seen from
outside but had never entered. The building that I have
always wanted to enter because I wanted to see the
wonderful art work of Afework Tekle depicting Africans
struggling for freedom.
Seeing this masterpiece was overwhelming. It is so
beautiful that no words can express the sensation of
standing in front of it. It consists of stained glass on
three windows, which cover about 150 square metres.
Afework expresses with detail the sorrow of Africa in
the past, its struggle and its hope.
We then entered Africa
Hall and sat down. As we sat there I was amazed to see
that so many people where coming to an event that was
going to Commemorate Haile Selassie. People of all ages,
members of the Royal Family, Members of the Royal Body
Guard in Uniform and Ministers of HIM government and
generally several people of all walks of live. A few
Rasta’s of course.
While we were waiting,
there was a continuous flow of photographs of HIM Haile
Selassie the wall. I am sure Mengistu Haile Mariam would
have had a heart attack.
The Guest of Honour was
H.E. THABO MBEKI
Mr. Mbeki reminded us all
of how fragile Africa is and how difficult it was to
unite her. He quoted Haile Selassie as saying:
“This Conference cannot close without
adopting a single Charter. We cannot leave here without
having created a single African organisation possessed
of the attributes We have described. If We fail in this,
we will have shirked our responsibility to Africa and to
the people we lead. If we succeed, then, and only then,
will we have justified our presence here.”
Mbeki reminded us that Ethiopia was an
inspiration to the rest of Africa due to its
independence and its ability to defeat a western power
twice.
He reminded us that even Mandela was
inspired by Ethiopia
as he wrote in his Autobiography,No Easy Walk to
Freedom, :
“Ethiopia always has a special place in
my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia
attracted me more strongly than a trip to France,
England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting
my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an
African.”
I felt very proud of being Ethiopian but
also rather nervous of the fact that in order to survive
Africans have to be united and that seems like a very
difficult task that I am not sure we are capable of
fulfilling. I have the impression that the OAU is a
façade that would easily crumble because we do not have
wise and mature politicians or people to achieve such an
objective. If we want China, America and Europe to
respect Africa we have to make sure we set ground rules
that we respect first. After we have a huge continent
with all the resource necessary. We must prevent others
from exploiting what is African. Have a look at the
attached map to understand how big Africa is.
TO VIEW MAP CLICK ON IT
The evening finished with a panel
presentation. It was a pleasure to hear so many
wonderful positive views on the role
of HIM and the fact that everyone was requesting that
there should be a Statue for Haile Selassie outside the
OAU.
An Afternoon I shall never forget.
Leletta Selassie
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