Mandela to make peace appeal

2004-07-08 09:43

Addis Ababa - Former South African President Nelson Mandela was among a selected group of Nobel laureates from Africa who would be invited to attend the launch of an African peace appeal later this year.

This was among proposals contained in a report on preparations for a conference of intellectuals from Africa and the African diaspora to be held in Dakar, Senegal from October 7 to 9 this year.

The report suggested a gala evening on October 6 where Mandela and all other Nobel Peace Prize laureates from Africa and the diaspora would make an appeal for peace on the continent.

This would be a prelude to a major meeting in 2005.

The Dakar conference, brainchild of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, will see about 500 intellectuals invited, 350 from Africa and 150 from the old and new diaspora.

A final list was not yet ready but it would comprise of Nobel laureates, great figures of Pan-Africanism, militants of the African cause, academics, leaders and heroes of the liberation struggles and the range of others who have made an "undeniable and historic" contribution to the rehabilitation of Africa.

Among the reason for hosting the conference was that those delegates assembled in Dakar would be mobilised to reflect anew on the African Union and the New Partnership for African Development.

"This remobilisation should lead them to play their role of watchdog in the face of the many dangers that could get worse in the years and decades to come," the report said.

The AU Summit ends on Thursday in Addis Ababa.

- SAPA