“Hold a truly representative gathering of the African Diaspora, hash it out amongst yourself, and come to the Roundtable with your 20 representatives. Following that, bring a resolution to a 9th PAC to be held in 2025. With the Commission and 9th PAC authority, it will then be brought to the AU Summit.”
- advice received at the 81st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐀'𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔-𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐂
Thursday, November 14 at 3:00 PM GMT
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81986417325?pwd=dPWCK2ezQWmyHSNIYw6I80qaatb016.1 Information and instructions for conducting the elections will be given and questions answered.
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Let me just give it to you straignt. Sometime in September or early October, Dr. Barryl Biekman, Leading Facilitator of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council informed me that I should go to the 81st Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to raise the issue of the African Diaspora’s Right to Return under the framework of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Her exact words: “You will know what to say.”
I then held a consultative meeting with the Executive Secretary of the ACHPR who directed me to the mandate-holder, Hon. Dr. Litha Musyimi-Ogana, Chairperson of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and Minorities in Africa. According to the African Union website,
“Honourable Musyimi-Ogana is a seasoned African diplomat with over three decades of experience at senior executive level. Her core areas of expertise are in Economic Governance, Gender and Development with key competences and skills in leadership, institutional management, resources and stakeholders mobilization, and people skills among others. She made tremendous contribution in the transformation of a number of organs of the African Union such as the Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the African Union Commission, the African Peer Review Mechanism, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD and the Pan African Parliament. Her work in women’s rights advocacy, in particular, has seen great strides being made in placing issues of concern to women at the forefront of the discourse on governance and development on the continent. The recipient of numerous awards, including a 2013 Presidential Award of “Women Achievers” from President Joyce Banda of Malawi and the African Women of Excellence Award in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2020, Honourable Musyimi-Ogana was nominated, among 1,000 Peace Women globally, for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. Honourable Litha Musyimi-Ogana holds a PhD in Economic Governance and Development Aid.”
Hon. Dr. Litha Musyimi-Ogana, Chairperson of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and Minorities in Africa and Siphiwe Baleka, President of the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America.
Also joining the meeting was Petrus Hatupopi, Legal Officer in the Secratariat of the Commission (ACHPR). According to the ECOSOCC Call for Application for Elections into the 4th Permanent General Assembly, it excludes the AU 6th region and left them with no framework or process under the Article 3(q) Amendment that officially, “invite(s) and encourage(s) the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union in its capacity as an important part of our Continent.” From this decision, the African Diaspora would become designated as the 6th Region of the African Union. It was during this discussion with Hon. Litha Musyimi-Ogana and Ambassador Luvuyo Ndimeni the leader of the South African delegation that the issue of an ACHPR resolution emerged. With the ACHPR Resolution, we should consider “Holding a truly representative gathering of the African Diaspora, hash it out amongst ourselves, and come to the Roundtable with our 20 representatives.” [The final resolution will be posted here]
This was the same agenda that I helped H.E. Ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao develop in 2023. In July of 2022, the African Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) under H.E. Ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao, former AU Ambassador to the United States, solicited for delegates to attend what was originally announced as the African Diaspora Pan African Congress and later as the “9th Pan African Congress” to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 14-19, 2022 hosted by the Government of Zimbabwe. According to their solicitation for delegates,
“Since the amendment of the AU constitution, it has been brought to our attention the onus has been left to the African Diaspora to organize and collectively, in a united manner present demands to the African Heads of State as to how we wish to organize and formalize the 6th Region in the same way as the other 5 regions on the continent of Africa. . . .The African Diaspora Pan African Congress will primarily focus on the formalization of the 6th Region.
In my February 14, 2023 Letter to Pan Africanists Concerning the Upcoming Pan African Congress in Harare, Zimbabwe Later This Year, I stated,
“Now is the moment to implement what I am calling Ambassador Chihombori-Quao’s “Get the Keys Strategy”. Instead of shouting from outside the African Union about a broad host of issues, now is the moment when the African Diaspora can accomplish two objectives: first, establish a continental diaspora citizenship policy that will create four pathways based on investment, work, residency and/or dna under the principle of the “Right to Return”. The four pathways, taken together, allows for every African Diaspora to obtain citizenship to the country of their choice or ancestry regardless of one’s circumstances. The second objective is to establish the equality of the AU 6th Region with the other five regions within the African Union by establishing Ambassadors at the AU Permanent Representatives Council (PRC) and throughout all the other AU organs and establishing an AU 6th Region Headquarters outside of Africa. This is the LIMITED OBJECTIVE of the upcoming Pan African Congress in Harare, Zimbabwe and will open the door for the African Diaspora to physically enter the continent and to administratively begin to assist in governing the continent. After spending five days in intense strategy sessions with Ambassador Chihombori-Quao, it is my firm belief that her “Get the Keys Strategy” is the historical imperative of the moment. The entire African Diaspora must rally behind this.”
At the time of the launch of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of The African Union (ECOSOCC), the only procedure from ECOSOCC was "African Diaspora organizations shall establish an appropriate process for determining modalities for elections and elect twenty (20) CSO's to the ECOSOCC General Assembly"; [ECOSOCC Statute Article 5 section 3.]. The African Union webpage announcing the launch of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of The African Union (ECOSOCC) states,
"The impulse is not for the African Union to organize civil society. Rather the organizing principle of the ECOSOCC of the African Union is one in which civil society would organize themselves to work with the Organization.The distinctive character of the African Union's ECOSOCC is that it is an opportunity for African civil society to play an active role in charting the future of the Continent, organizing itself in partnership with African governments to contribute to the principles, policies and programmes of the Union."
After numerous attemps and much effort by many individuals and organizations for twenty years, the African Diaspora has yet to follow this instruction and elect its representatives. Since the ECOSOCC Call for Application for Elections into the 4th Permanent General Assembly excluded the AU 6th Region, we, the African Diaspora, should go forward under ECOSOCC Statute Article 5 section 3 and work with the ACHPR starting with an ACHPR Resolution. This was achieved through the Final Communiqué of the 81st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. [The resolution to be posted on the ACHPR website.]
According to the Final Communiqué
“33. The Commission further adopted eight (8) of the following thematic Resolutions: . . . . iii. Resolution in preparation for the AU theme for 2025 “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations” through consultations on Afro Descendants, Indigenous/Ethnic, Ancestry, Reparations and the 6th Region of the African Union;”
Later during the 81st Session of ACHPR, Hon. Litha Musyimi-Ogana and I met with Ambassado Luvuyo Ndimeni the leader of the South African delegation who also served as the focal point of the 9th Pan African Congress and attended the Brazil pre-congress.
Siphiwe Baleka, Luvuyo Ndimeni and Hon. Litha Musyimi-Ogana
I presented Mr. Ndimeni with the CONCEPT NOTE FOR SOUTH AFRICAN PERMANENT MISSION GENEVA that I drafted following a consultation that I, Dr. Barryl Biekman and Eric Phillips of the Guyana Reparations Commission attended with H.E. Thembela Ngculu and Portia Mngomezulu at the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, April 17, 2024
Per the Concept Note, I suggested that South Africa could repay the African Diaspora for its support during the anti-apartheid struggle by doing for Afro Descendant peoples what it did for the Palestinian people and raise Afro Descendant self determination at the International Court of Justice. Mr. Ndimeni was very supportive of this and suggested that to move forward, South Africa would need support from other AU member states and that this could be the focus, among other things, of a Roundtable which will be scheduled for May 2025.
Within this context, we should convene a ”truly repesentative gathering of the African Diaspora to hash it out and come to the roundtable with your 20 representatives”. We now have the opportunity to achieve what we, the AU 6th Region, have been struggling for twenty years - electing and seating our representatives in ECOSOCC as the first formal incorporation into the African Union.
Therefore, I now issue the following instructions on how to accomplish this:
We, the 250 million members of the African Diaspora, can finally begin our FORMAL inclusion in the African Union as its 6th Region during the African Union themed year for 2025 - Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations - by completing the following:
A Coordinator from each of the 9 regions of the AU 6th Region - Brazil, United States, Caribbean, South America, Europe, Middle East, Central America, Canada, and Asia & Oceania - will host weekly “6th Region Representation Town Hall” Zoom meetings. That’s a total of 4 meetings for each of 9 regions or 36 Zoom meetings. The goal is to get 400 to 600 participants involved in each region or 3,600 to 5,400 total people that would satisfy the criteria “truly representative gathering of the African Diaspora.” The purpose of these first four Town Hall Zoom meetings is to invite all individuals and organizations to the process, provide the relevant information and invite them to nominate candidates to represent the region. It doesn’t matter so much who the 9 Regional Coordinators are: they are merely technicians who must have the capacity - time, energy, paid Zoom account - to host the Town Hall Meetings. Those interested in serving as the Coordinator for their region must email newafrikandiplomaticcorps@gmail.com immediately:
The 9 Regional Coordinators will then hold 4 more weekly Zoom meetings in December. The first two to listen to candidates and the last two to complete the election process. All other procedures needed will be determined by the regions themselves. Each region must submit its list of representatives by December 31st. The number of representatives shall be as follows (and is based roughly on population and level of Pan African activism):
Brazil - 4
United States - 4
Caribbean - 4
South America - 2
Europe - 2
Middle East - 1
Central America - 1
Canada - 1
Asia & Oceania - 1
= 20 seats
3. The 20 candidates will then be presented to the 9th PAC or other suitable grand gathering for a resolution recognizing them in their capacity which will be presented to the AU-ECOSOCC.
4. The twenty representatives will be presented to the AU-ECOSOCC and shared with the ACHPR at its 83nd Open Session that will host a Roundtable discussion on the AU Theme of the Year 2025 on “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations.” The discussion will inform the overall theme and particularly Afro-Descendant Ancestry and Integration, AU 6th Region, the notion of human rights abuses from abduction and enforced disappearances of Africans trafficked as prisoners of war and enslaved in the Americas, and reparations arising from slavery, colonization of the motherland and neo-colonialism. The Commission will work closely with the host state party for the International Conference on Xenophobia (SA) in order to spotlight the issuese at the February 2025 AU Summit.
This is the new, accelerated path towards establishing the AU 6th Region. Whatever previous plan or arrangements some may have had, the African Union through ECOSOCC and the ACHPR has now introduced a new variable that has changed the game. We can finally achieve what we haven’t in 20 years if we put all petty differences aside, work in one accord following the above instructions, and simply execute.
This is a parallel process since the ECOSOCC Call for Application for Elections into the 4th Permanent General Assembly excluded the 6th Region.
𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐀'𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔-𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐂
Thursday, November 14 at 3:00 PM GMT
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81986417325?pwd=dPWCK2ezQWmyHSNIYw6I80qaatb016.1 Information and instructions for conducting the elections will be given and questions answered.