NASSAU, Bahamas – The Bahamas will co-host with South Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America segment of the African Diaspora conference from August 1 – 3, 2007.
South African High Commissioner for CARICOM and Ambassador to Haiti Adv. Faith Doreen Radebe, and Chief Director, Americas in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Mbulelo Rakwena were in New Providence to go over preparations and to renew the government’s commitment to co-hosting the conference.
“We chose the Bahamas because it is part of the CARICOM countries. It is the part of the Diaspora that has progressed so much that today when we talk about CARICOM, the Bahamas becomes one of those important countries,” Her Excellency Radebe said.
They were paying a courtesy call on the Minister of Lands and Local Government, the Hon. Sidney Collie Tuesday, June 12, 2007.
There have been previous African Diaspora conferences in Kingston, Jamaica in 2005 and Khartoum, Sudan in 2006.
“We are just taking this move, because we know this will further strengthen the African Union (AU) and the African continent together with CARICOM countries and the Caribbean,” Radebe said explaining why the conference is taking place in the Bahamas.
Mr. Collie said he attended the conference in Kingston and observed that South Africa was taking the lead in the planning of the conferences as well as a leadership role in sensitizing persons to the peculiarities of Africans and the African Diaspora.
Ambassador Rakwena explained that these conferences are trying to achieve a number of things. While the AU is made up of five regions, it is trying to include the African Diaspora as the sixth region.
“The importance of the African Diaspora begs the question of the recognition of such,” Ambassador Rakwena said.
The conferences also seek to change the way Africans or persons of African descent are seen throughout the world.
These persons are often marginalized and are living in poverty and the desire is to cast the image in a different understanding and appreciation, he said.
The objective is to deepen dialogue and to “engender a sense of co-operation” between Africa and the Diaspora, Ambassador Rakwena explained.
This dialogue needs to include discussions on the part Africa and those of African ancestry play in trade, economic development, and the health systems found throughout world, he said.
