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Obasanjo: See Africa as home
20/07/2006 21:57 - (SA)
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| Hope Masters, head of the Sullivan foundation and daughter of the US civil rights activist Leon Sullivan, speaks to journalists at a summit in Abuja, Nigeria. (George Osodi, AP) |
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Abuja - African and black American leaders meeting in Nigeria are debating a proposal aimed at encouraging investment and interest in the continent, securing African citizenship for American descendants taken away as slaves.
Anthony Archer, a California-based lawyer heading a committee created to consider how citizenship could be awarded, said: "Dual citizenship will start the process of mutual and spiritual reconciliation of differences between the two continents that came as a result of slavery."
"If we can feel like we really belong, we'll feel more joyful about participating."
The proposal came out of the Leon Sullivan summit - a biennial meeting that aims to bring African governments and the United States private sector together for partnerships to end Africa's poverty.
Presidents from 12 African countries attended the four-day conference, along with former US president Bill Clinton and World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz.
People of different races
Hope Masters, daughter of the US civil rights campaigner for whom the summit is named and the head of the Sullivan Foundation, said: "Just as the people of different races in America have a place they call home, I believe we should have a place we call our ancestral home."
"The dual citizenship thing will help bring that about."
Key challenges include how to determine the ancestral countries of present-day descendants of slavery, said Masters.
The upheaval of the slave trade left many without specific knowledge of their place of origin.
Archer said three possibilities were now under consideration. One was to grant continent-wide citizenship to slave families through the African Union.
Another was to work for citizenship of blocs of countries through regional organisations, such as the Economic Community of West African States or the Southern African Development Community.
Leaders support the concept
It was unclear what rights would be granted under those scenarios.
A third proposal saw citizenship granted by countries independently to those who sought it.
Masters said the plan would be further developed before the next summit in 2008.
She said African leaders supported the concept, noting that Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo had urged black Americans "to see Africa as your home".
Among the Americans attending the Sullivan meeting in Abuja were executives from companies including Chevron, Coca-Cola, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler.
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