Africans Rising members in the Central African sub-region say the civic space of the region is more restrictive than shrinking. This is due to intimidation, lack of freedom of speech, stigmatisation, tribalism and repression that citizens in some of the countries in the region like Cameroon face daily. The information was disclosed during the Central African Regional Consultation organised by Africans Rising in the run up to the All Africans Movement Assembly, AAMA to take place in Ghana in August 2024.
In her opening remarks, the Central African representative of the Africans Rising Coordinating Collective Board, Sandrine Deribe welcomed all present and urged them to share their thoughts as they plan for AAMA so that together they can see how to make Africa better.
The Africans Rising Engagement and Collaboration Lead, Ancel Langwa, who moderated the virtual event, drilled participants on AAMA as being one of the largest gatherings of Africans Rising which brings together activists, movements and members both from Africa and the Diaspora to discuss issues affecting Africa.
“The first edition of AAMA was held in Arusha, Tanzania in 2022 and one of the major outcomes was the revision of Africans Rising working document, the Kilimanjaro Declaration 2.0 and also the birth of the Borderless Africa Campaign”, she added.
The second edition of AAMA will be held in Ghana from 29-30 August 2024.
Discussions during the event focused on issues affecting the region and possible topics to be considered for deliberation during AAMA. These included:
- Electricity Challenge
- Cross-border insecurity linked to the impact of climate change
- How to protect African dignity by protecting our natural resources
- Visa restrictions
- Advocacy for poverty eradication
- One African currency
- One passport
- Flight opportunities
- Transforming the movement into a pan-African political party
- Freedom of movement in Africa by Africans
- Protection of African forests
- Solution to instability and insecurity
- Peace and security.
During the question and answer session facilitated by Laura Tandungan, the following questions were asked:
- What do you think the new strategy of Africans Rising should look like in the next 5 years?
- What strategies can Africans Rising explore to make the strategies possible?
- What are some of the burning issues in your country/region? How can movements work collectively to resolve the issues?
- What is your impression about the work of Africans Rising in the CAR and what would you like to see in terms of engagement?
- What are the focus areas of member movements?
Responses to these questions brought forth some recommendations to be considered such as:
- Movements working on similar issues like human rights, gender justice, social justice, sextual and reproductive health, child protection, youth and community development, democracy, climate and environmental justice should work collectively..
- Autonomous National chapter
- Funding mechanism for coalition and movement building, involve entrepreneurs, create revenue generating activities, organise Global Participe Pays, change the giving link to be accepting all currencies in Africa, create an African collective investment fund, have a geniatric income initiative.
- Actions should be taken to tackle inequality from the grassroot.
- Having a pan-African constitution.
- Advocacy should be aggressive accompanied with strategic actions on the ground and take advantage of meetings organised by the different regional blocks like CEMAC ECOWAS etc to present issues.
- The work of Africans Rising should be participatory and collaborative with Africans Rising regional organisers to work with civil society organisations throughout the year.
- The regional consultations should be organised regularly.
- Conflict resolution strategies precisely peacebuilding to resolve conflicts from an African perspective.
Members were asked to share their phone numbers and email addresses to receive a WhatsApp link via which they can integrate the movement’s various WhatsApp groups and participate in the discussions for better collaboration.
The Centre for Research Education Empowerment and Development indicated that they will be organising a peaceful protest on May 25 to celebrate the African Liberation Day. They will be accompanied by other organisations in the different countries of the Central African region.
