African Youths Challenged to Take up the Fight for a United Africa

African Youths Challenged to Take up the Fight for a United Africa

The people’s petition for the Borderless Africa Campaign is now live and accepting signatures. Targeted to obtain the support of 20 million Africans, the petition was launched during a high profile virtual meeting on the 20th of February 2023, which began with the Africans Rising theme song performed by a young female artist, Odelia Koroma. The meeting brought together over a hundred persons from Africa and the Diaspora and featured high-profile speakers such as Ambassador Hammad Salah of the AUC, Honourable Dzifa Gomashie MP of Ghana, Memory Kachambwa Executive Director of FEMNET and Kim Poole a soul-fusion performing artist and founding fellow.

Discussions in the meeting focused on the barriers and challenges Africans face when crossing national borders. African youths were called upon to demand the ratification of the protocol on free trade and movement by all African countries, so that travel across countries becomes easier for African citizens. This collective solidarity is what Africa needs to encourage African-devised and African-lead solutions to challenges and development goals across the continent.

"The real asset of Africa is not the natural resources, but the youths, given that among the one billion Africans on the continent more than one-third are youths. Considering this, he said, there needs to be great investment in youths because they are the future of Africa."

Ambassador Hammad Salah

Head of the AGA APSA Secretariat, AUC

"We can't leave everything to the politicians; African youths need to stand up and put a stop to the unending vicious cycle of harassment and dehumanisation of African people at the borders."

Honourable Dzifa Gomashie

Member of Ghana's Parliament

Memory brought in the aspect of gender and said most women involved in cross-border trade are not treated with dignity. It takes the political will of African leaders to ratify the protocol on free trade and movement since it will benefit all African countries in terms of trade.

Memory Kachambwa

Executive director of FEMNET,

Kim Poole called for the protocol on free trade to be translated into different African languages such as Wolof, Kiswahili, Portuguese, and other languages so that people can understand the protocol.

Kim Poole

Learning Online

movement coordinator of Africans Rising, said a borderless Africa will help citizens come together to confront issues rather than deal with them in isolation. Adding that the idea of unity of purpose is not a new concept but an old one under the AU which Africans Rising is supporting to bring the agenda to the people.

Hardi Yakubu,

Africans Rising Movement Coordinator

The petition, now open for signatures, focuses on three main demands:

Recognise and commend the four African states that have signed, ratified and deposited the AU protocol on free movement. These are Mali, Niger, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe.
Encourage African States that have signed the protocol but are yet to ratify to do so with urgency. These are Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho,Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The petition also urges the leadership of the African States that haven’t signed the AU protocol to fast track the process and take the necessary steps to actualise the free movement of our people. These include Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Eswatini, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Seychelles, Tunisia and Zambia.