Editor,

RE: "The flame of a united Africa should be kept alight” (The New Times, October 11).

The minister’s reasoning was indeed compelling, and appropriate actions should follow.

We have no alternative if we have to survive in this age of "mighty make right”, where African wealth is being looted by foreign states after invasions (such as in Libya), or after western sponsored coup d’état and regime change as it is the case in many African countries.

These imperialists come singing peace, democracy and development, but they walk war, corporatocracy and neo-colonialist terrorism. This is a serious threat to African states’ peace and stability, development and sovereignty, among others.

As Kwame Nkrumah said, "If we (Africa’s people) are to remain free, if we are to enjoy the full benefit of Africa’s rich resources, we must be united to plan for our total defence and the full exploitation of our material and human means in the full interest of all our people. To go it alone will limit our horizons, curtail our expectations and threaten our liberty”.

And Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, the first President of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)/South Africa, speaking in April 1959, said: "We regard it, as the sacred duty of every African state to strive ceaselessly and energetically for the creation of a United States of Africa from Cape to Cairo and Madagascar to Morocco”.

Ndoli Sabi