CASE STUDY: GUINEA BISSAU
Amilcar Cabral and Siphiwe Baleka
“There is a preconception held by many people, even on the left, that imperialism made us enter history at the moment when it began its adventure in our countries. . . . We consider that when imperialism arrived in Guinea Bissau it made us leave history - our history. . . . The moment imperialism arrived and colonialism arrived, it made us leave our history and enter another history.” - Amilcar Cabral
“The liberation and independence of the people of Guinea Bissau is not yet complete. The national development project in Guinea Bissau must include the stories of people of Guinea Bissau origin who were taken as slaves and their full incorporation into Guine Bissau society. We must connect their histories to the history of Guinea Bissau.” - Siphiwe Baleka, Creator, Decade of Return Initiative Guinea Bissau
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In February 2021, the Decade of Return Initiative in Guinea Bissau was launched. The purpose was to ensure that Guinea Bissau would benefit from the use of cultural heritage tourism made popular by Ghana’s “Year of Return” program in 2019 and Sierra Leone’s in 2020. The highlight of both country’s efforts has been the granting of citizenship to Afrodescendants from America. In 2021, the Decade of Return Initiative witnessed twenty-three Afrodescendents of Guinea Bissau origin return to their ancestral homeland. Despite great public pronouncement from officials in Guinea Bissau to support citizenship for the Afrodescendants of Guinea Bissau origin, after one year, only Siphiwe Baleka has been granted citizenship. What has happened to the remaining naturalization applications?
GOVERNMENT OF GUINEA BISSAU; MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND CRAFTS
MINISTER'S OFFICE AND GOVERNMENT SPEECH
Your Excellency
Eng® Nuno Gomes Nabian
Prime Minister
BISSAU:
Bissau, June 25, 2021
Subject: Request of Acquisition of Nationality to African American Descendants of Guinea Bissau
No. Ref 2/ GMTA/2021
Excellency,
The Minister of Tourism and Crafts presents His best and respectful greetings to your Excellency, with the best wishes of success in the performance of your noble role for the development of Guinea-Bissau. We inform you that within the framework of our partnership, the members of the "Balanta Burassa History and Genealogy Society in the United States” began to return to their origins through an initiative called “Decade of Return” in which we have already received two groups of this audience. According to DNA tests, they discovered that they originate from Guinea-Bissau. As an initiative of capital importance for the tourist sector in Guinea Bissau, associated with the aforementioned factors, we hereby request the good offices of Your Excellency, in order to authorize the start of the process for the acquisition of nationality to these people, according to the attached documents. It should be noted that an inter-ministerial commission was created for this purpose, in which an element of the Ministry of Justice has guided this entire nationality application process. No more subject for the moment. Accept my distinct consideration.
Fernando Vaz, Minister of Tourism
In October of 2021, Siphiwe Baleka met with H.E. Dr. Erieka Bennett, Founder and Head of Mission, at the Diaspora African Forum (DAF) headquarters in Accra, Ghana, to discuss Guinea Bissau’s Decade of Return Initiative. At the same time, Siphiwe Baleka also helped draft a Motion to the African Union Executive Council 39th Extraordinary Meeting to expedite the participation of the African Diaspora within the structures of the Africa Union. The motion recognized
“the official launch of the ‘Welcome Home’ Initiative “Decada Do Retorno 2021-2031” by the Ministry Of Tourism, Guinea-Bissau May 2021 as the official programme of the government to recognise the descendants of people taken from homelands that became the nation of Guinea Bissau as a notable programme of the UN Decade”
and called for the implementation of legislation
“to assist African Diaspora RTR Repatriates with acquiring residency, an expedited path to citizenship, land acquisition, and cultural integration programs which includes the creation of a special immigration category to allow ease of repatriation for this group.”
A plan was created to position Minister of Foreign Affairs Suzi Barbosa as a Champion not only of the Afrodescendants of Guinea Bissau origin, but of the entire Right to Return movement. Although Siphiwe Baleka was informed of Minister Barbosa’s willingness to receive him, no such meeting has yet taken place.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Communities-Cabinet of the Minister of State offers its best regards to His Excellency Founder of the Balanta B'urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) and, using the present, in compliance with the superior guidelines of Her Excellency Ms. Suzi Carla Barbosa, Minister of State, to acknowledge receipt and thank you for the note, dated September 8 of the current year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Communities-Office of the Minister of State hereby informs Mr. Brassa Mada, that Her Excellency the Secretary of State for Communities shall receive him. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Communities-Office of the Minister of State thanks His Excellency Founder of the Balanta B'urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) and takes this opportunity to reiterate the assurances of her high and cordial consideration of His Excellency Siphiwe Baleka Founder of the Balanta B'urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHA GSIA) and Coordinator of the Decade of Return Initiative.
On November 26, 2021 a third Decade of Return group came to Guinea Bissau and a meeting was held with Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabian and Minister of Tourism and Crafts and Government Spokesman, FERNANDO VAZ, who assured that “everything will be done to accelerate the process of naturalization of the African Americans.”
Since then, and despite a follow-up letter to the Prime Minister on April 25, 2022, no government official has contacted His Excellency Siphiwe Baleka to inform him of any progress on the naturalization applications which have already been received, nor of any plans to create specific policy for this class of people of Guinea Bissau origin.
As a result, it has become necessary to consider creating legislation that would follow the recommendations made to the African Union.
With the help of Washington DC Businessman and Howard University Consultant Russell Jones, the 39-page policy paper TOWARDS A RIGHT TO RETURN & CITIZENSHIP POLICY FOR DESCENDENTS OF PEOPLE TAKEN FROM TERRITORIES IN AFRICA DURING THE TRANSATLANTIC TRAFFICKING AND ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICAN PEOPLE: CASE STUDY GUINEA BISSAU has been translated into Portuguese and is now being distributed to Guinea Bissau society.
It is important that the people of Guinea Bissau understand that, as Amilcar Cabral put it, “Folk taken from Africa, namely from Guine, were placed. . . as slaves. . . .” Thus, the history of those people taken from Guinea Bissau and enslaved in the Americas is part of Guinea Bissau’s history and not some foreign history. It is on this basis, then, that both the moral and LEGAL obligation of the Republic of Guinea Bissau to assist it’s lost children, emerges. The policy paper below presents a complete historical and legal foundation so that policy makers in Guinea Bissau can fulfill their obligation under the Constitution of the Republic of Guinea Bissau and international law, and in particular, the Geneva Convention in which Guinea Bissau is a signatory.
WE NOW CALL ON INTELLECTUALS, JOURNALISTS, LAWYERS, AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN GUINEA BISSAU TO PREPARE A FORUM TO DISCUSS GUINEA BISSAU’S OBLIGATION TO LEGISLATE THE RIGHT OF RETURN OF AFRODESCENDANTS OF GUINEA BISSAU ORIGIN WHO ARE CLASSIFIED AS PRISONERS OF THE DUM DIVERSAS WAR.
YOU CAN SUPPORT THIS ONGOING, GROUND-BREAKING WORK TO ESTABLISH A HOMELAND FOR AFRODESCENDANTS OF GUINEA BISSAU ORIGIN BY DONATING HERE:
“14. We believe in the inherent right of the Negro to possess himself of Africa . . . . “