Africa-South America Summit in Venezuela Strengthen Ties Between Two Continents

[Jacuma]

Africa-South America Summit in Venezuela Strengthen Ties Between Two
Continents

Leaders met in the aftermath of the General Assembly and G20

by Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Commentary

A summit of African and South American leaders convened for the second
time on the Venezuelan-Caribbean island of Margarita on September 26-27.
The gathering was a follow-up to the first Africa-South America Summit
held in Abuju, Nigeria in November 2006.

Heads of state representing 61 countries, 49 of whom were from the
African continent and another 12 leaders from South America,
participated in the event under the theme of "Closing gaps, opening up
opportunities."

Leaders from the various states pledged to continue their cooperation in
the political, economic, sports, technological and cultural spheres. The
summit on Margarita Island came in the aftermath of both the United
Nations General Assembly in New York and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

In a welcoming speech by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, he said
that "This is the beginning of the salvation of our people,". Chavez
emphasized that the summit will help in breaking the dependence of
countries in the South from the industrialized capitalist states.

"The 21st century won't be a bipolar world, it won't be unipolar. It
will be multipolar. Africa will an important geographic, economic and
social pole. And South America will be too," Chavez said.(Reuters,
September 27)

Libyan leader and Chairman of the African Union, Muammar Gaddafi, also
spoke to the need for greater cooperation among developing regions. He
also echoed his comments before the U.N. General Assembly when the AU
Chairman demanded that Africa, Latin America and other geo-political
regions be given permanent seats on the Security Council.

"The world isn't the five countries on the U.N. Security Council,"
Gaddafi said. He continued by pointing out that "The world's powers want
to continue to hold on to their power. When they had a chance to help
us, they treated us like animals, destroying our land. Now we have to
fight to build our own power." (Reuters, September 27)

From Political Power to Economic Liberation

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe also addressed the Africa-South
America Summit on Margarita Island stressing that political independence
without economic power can potentially breed conflict both domestically
and internationally. In his speech Mugabe traced the history of British
colonialism in Zimbabwe and the significance of the land reform process
that began in 2000.

As a result of the seizure of land controlled by British farmers, who
are the heirs to the colonial system that took control of Zimbabwe in
the late 19th century and ousted Africans from the best land inside the
country, the western capitalist states have imposed economic sanctions
against the ZANU-PF government. Recently, the ruling ZANU-PF party
formed an inclusive government with the opposition MDC factions, yet the
imperialists have maintained the sanctions against the Zimbabwe state.

"Political freedom or political power is absolutely hollow without the
input of economic power, and economic power derives naturally from your
natural resources. And these resources have got to be exploited and it
is here that our liberation struggle, perhaps, did not go to fruition,"
Mugabe said.

The Zimbabwe leader went on to say that "It did not get to fruition
because we left the very (colonizing) countries with their very
paraphernalia in control of our countries. So we had the economy still
in the hands of Britain, in our country, and this was also the
phenomenon in other countries, although the powers might not have been
British all the time.

"We continue to look at ways and means of associating with our neighbors
in the economic field, trying to get their help. And so when Africa
associates with Latin America, and we are part of that association, we
do hope that, that association will yield benefits on a reciprocal
basis." (Zimbabwe Herald, September 27)

The participants in the summit signed a document on the final day urging
the United Nations and the World Bank to provide for developing
countries to have greater decision-making power within these
international bodies. President Chavez announced that a number of Latin
American countries had pledged to start a regional development bank,
Banco del Sur, with $20 billion.

Outcomes of the summit

Some of the agreements made at the Africa-South America Summit includes
the founding of a "Radio of the South" that would encompass a network of
stations anchored within Venezuelan National Radio. The mission of the
proposed network would be "to bring the revolutionary struggles of the
people of the South to the forefront, and to promote the union of
peoples of the South through information exchange and cross-national
collaboration." (21st Century Socialism, October 5)

The network will initially be heard by 40% of the people in Venezuela in
addition to merging 18 radio stations in Argentina, 10 in Colombia, 4 in
Bolivia, 4 in Honduras and Uruguay, 3 in Panama, Nicaragua, Paraguay,
Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S., 2 in Cuba, Ecuador, Peru and Haiti, and 1
in Guatamala, Dominican Republic, Chile, El Salvador and Equatorial
Guinea.

A group of translators in Venezuela will develop programs for Gambia
Radio, whose broadcast in turn, will be translated into Spanish.
Additional broadcast exchanges will take place with Radio Benin and
Algeria's International Radio.

The proposed Bank of the South will be headed by Argentina, Chile,
Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. "It will be our bank, to bring
back the reserves that we have up there in the north that they use to
give credits to us," President Chavez said.

In regard to the crisis in Honduras, the summit passed a resolution
condemning the coup as well as the siege against the Brazilian embassy.
The resolution demanded the immediate reinstallation of the ousted
President Manuel Zelaya.

"The heads of states of South America and Africa meeting on Margarita
Island on 26 and 27 September express their deep concern for the current
political situation in Honduras," the declaration read. (21st Century
Socialism, October 5)

President Chavez proposed that the Africa-South America Summit create a
secretariat that would be based on Margarita Island. The secretariat
would ensure the implementation of plans and projects outlined by the
summit.

Over the two-day period, memorandums of understanding for the
establishment of joint mining ventures were signed between the
Venezuelan government and several African states including Sierra Leone,
Mali, Namibia, Niger and Mauritania.

With this summit coming on the heels of the General Assembly and the G20
it provided the developing countries in Africa and South America a forum
to clearly define their political and economic positions within the
global system and to chart a course aimed at genuine independence and
development.

[Aragorn]

Second Africa-South America Summit helped increase unity between the two continents in their bid to join with Asia and other global regions seeking to break away from centuries of white-Western colonialism and imperialist domination and creat a new "multi-polar world".

Africa-South America Summit in Venezuela Cements South-South Collaboration | venezuelanalysis.com

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[Aragorn]

AFRICA-SOUTH AMERICA-new university partnerships
VHeadline.com - AFRICA-SOUTH AMERICA: New university partnerships

The (ASA)Summit was organized by the South American Community of Nations and the African Union."