Mbeki: Haiti inspires Africans

2004-03-26 14:15

Durban - The victory of African slaves over French rule in Haiti in the 1800s should be used by Africans to inspire them to successfully address the challenges facing them across the world, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.

He told delegates attending the 6th African Renaissance Conference in Durban: "Today I am absolutely sure that the people of the Bahamas are inspired as we should be here to make sure that (this) great African victory be used as an inspiration... to address the challenges of the African Renaissance."

Mbeki, a proponent of the African Renaissance concept, gave his audience a history lesson on Haiti, saying that many Africans were not taught about the struggle of the impoverished Caribbean country. Due to this many Africans did not know an important part of their history.

He said when a person read about the history of that country, he became angry because it was kept away from Africans because the powers that be knew it would inspire pride amongst all Africans and make them realise what they could accomplish.

Mbeki said he did not want to offend the people who had fought for South Africa's liberation, but it would be very difficult to find a struggle as inspiring as the one by the slaves in Haiti.

Haiti became an independent country and abolished slavery on January 1, 1804. This was after the slaves defeated French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's army.

Mbeki said the French government of that time told Haiti it would not recognise its independence if it did not pay reparations for the loss French slave owners would suffer. This would have led to the French government blocking the exports of Haiti.

"They had no choice but to pay," he said.

The French set up a central bank through which the payments would be made, and because the Haitians could not make the first instalment, money was borrowed from a French bank, and that debt was serviced with interest.

In later years the United States took over the debt and only in 1945 did Haiti pay its last reparation.

This was a main reason why Haiti, the world's first back republic, was so impoverished.

Mbeki said there were no centenary celebrations for Haiti's independence because the French government was opposed to this because they would celebrate the defeat of Napoleon. The French government decided that this matter would be reviewed in a 100 years. The same decision was taken for this year's bicentenary celebrations.

Mbeki, who attended this year's celebrations in January, said he had been questioned by Haitian opposition parties and civil society groups about his attendance because it could have been interpreted as showing support for then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted after a military coup earlier this year.

Mbeki said he explained to them that the independence of Haiti was an important part of the history of Africans, and he was there to participate in the celebrations.

- SAPA