This has been a relatively busy week with regard to continental matters, with a series of high-level meetings on key programmes and commitments. From talks on the highly-anticipated commencement of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area and commitment to silencing the guns, to discussions around the ongoing African Union reforms, and the Smart Africa initiative, continental issues seemed to be back on the agenda in a year dominated by a deadly pandemic. 

Amidst all this, something that was unrelated to these mostly virtual events but essentially African in nature took place in Kimihurura, Kigali.

More than a dozen African-Americans held a meeting with senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during which they expressed interest in not only setting up shop in Rwanda, but making the country their home.

Tired of years of racial segregation and subjugation, the largely descendants of slaves are keen to relocate to Africa and contribute to the development of a continent where their ancestors were brutally uprooted centuries ago.

In Kigali, they were received with warmth and affection and assured of unflinching support as they seek to establish themselves back home in Africa.

Now, the post-Genocide Rwandan government is known for encouraging Rwandans around the world to return home and partake in the national reconstruction effort, or to contribute from wherever they are. This is rooted in one of the key principles upon which the Rwanda Patriotic Front was founded: ending refugeehood. It is a far-cry from the policy of exclusion and deprivation of right to belong by the former genocidal regime of Juvenal Habyarimana.

But Rwanda has also come to be known as a country that generously extends open arms to other nationals in dire situations and need protection such as stateless persons and others faced with life-threatening conditions, like the African immigrants stranded in Libya.

The leadership of this country is also known to embrace and champion the values of pan-Africanism and the dignity and liberation of Africans and people of African descent.

So, in many ways, the function at Kimihurura on Monday was not entirely unexpected or an isolated event, rather it mirrors the values of African liberation and agaciro (dignity) that Kigali stands for.

For a while, African-Americans have increasingly gained a great deal of interest in Africa, many relocating with their families to the continent. Unfortunately, slavery hangover, race-based social exclusion and violence targeted at these victims of historical injustices continue to this day.

In light of this, it is important that pan-African institutions and citizens actively reach out to the African-American community and others whose rights have been crushed because of their historical links to Africa. That is the reason why the Pan-African Movement was born; to spread the gospel of emancipation of Africans and people of African descent, reclaim their rights, and restore their pride and dignity.

Yet, true liberation has to start within, by decolonising our minds as Africans or people of African descent, and liberating ourselves from self-hate and inferiority complex. And, by working hard, mobilising and organising, and pushing back against all attempts at undermining our African heritage and identity.