Travelling to Ghana or Côte d'Ivoire is much harder than visiting India or Saudi Arabia. Likewise, in South Africa, black Africans are persona no grata but Chinese, Arabs and other Asians are welcomed with open arms.
Editor,
RE: "What Pan Africanism means in the context of regional integration” (The New Times, August 14).
Pan-Africanism cannot be achieved with widespread divisions among Africans; it cannot be achieved when Africans have lost a sense of cultural identity, when a state of nature is the theme of the day in many parts of Africa.
Pan-Africanism is a heavy weight lifting that requires a proper warm up. A simple example, crossing Burundian border for many Rwandans is dangerous, the same has been the case over recent years stepping on Congolese soil.
Moreover, travelling to Ghana or Côte d'Ivoire is much harder than visiting India or Saudi Arabia. Likewise, in South Africa, black Africans are persona no grata but Chinese, Arabs and other Asians are welcomed with open arms.
Real Pan-Africanism remains a dream—there is still a very long way to go.
M. M.