XENOPHOBIA: AU SEEKS HASTENED CREATION OF UNITED STATES OF AFRICA

With no sign of an end to the xenophobic violence that has ravaged South Africa in the past days in sight, and as reactions continue to trail the inhuman treatment meted out to foreigners in the country, the African Union, (AU) through its organ, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) has stressed the need to rapidly move towards the creation of the United States of Africa.
In a statement issued Thursday in Abuja and signed by the presiding officer, ECOSOCC, Hon. Joseph Chilengi, said the Commission as the secretariat of the AU should as a matter of urgency convene an extra-ordinary emergency session of the Union to discuss the situation and authorize a framework of action for addressing it on a collective basis.
According to him, the union should use its experience to conceive pan-African programs and policies that would prevent the re-occurrence of such violence..Chilengi noted: "The episode draws attention to the need to fast track the integration and development agenda of the African Union and to move more rapidly towards the creation of the United States of Africa. For it is only when Africans are living together in this political and economic context envisioned by the founding parents of the African Union that we can rest assured that this shameful exercise will never occur again."
He condemned in totality the xenophobic or Afrophobic attacks on African citizens of different nationalities in South Africa, stressing that the commission was sad to learn that such incidents have occurred in a country for which Africans as a continent and the diasporas sacrificed so dearly to ensure independence and black majority rule.
Chilengi added:, "ECOSOCC is appalled to see gruesome pictures of African citizens of South African extraction brutally assaulting, killing, looting and burning the properties of their kith and kins from other parts of the continent. This is a blot on the African landscape which negates the very essence of the African Union and its purpose, principles and values. This deplorable situation makes a mockery of the people-centric orientation of the African Union in general and ECOSOCC in particular and ECOSOCC offers a sincere apology to all victims of this shameful exercise.
"Beyond this, ECOSOCC recognizes the need for timely and appropriate action to ensure that this episode ends immediately and never recurs. Accordingly, the Organ proposes a framework of action embracing the following measures:
"The Government and people of South Africa must take timely and immediate action to ensure the cessation of all acts of hostilities in this context and to assure the security of lives and property of all Africans and indeed all people in South Africa regardless of their state of origin.
"As a logical corollary, the instigators and perpetrators of the gruesome acts must be brought to justice, irrespective of their status in the community. The South African government should also encourage all stakeholders and the broad strata of South Africa Society to embrace civil dialogue rather than violent interactions as a means of expressing opinions," Chileng stressed.
He stated that compensation be paid to all victims while political, economic and psychological policies and programs of restitution and reinsertion should be put in place to ensure the reintegration of victims in society.
Source: Thisday