Africa Rising

Heading down to West Virginny in just a bit to celebrate Labor Day weekend with Carla and David - and Julia in absentia - but saw this cool article from the Tanzania Daily News and thought I'd do a quick post!

In a political "moment in time" fraught with question marks (and exclamation points), I thought the idea of this "Kilimanjaro Declaration" was pretty innovative.  What do you all think?

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A new version of the Arusha Declaration to be known as the "Kilimanjaro Declaration," has been launched in Arusha under the same theme of self-reliance but with a broader continental focus.

The Kilimanjaro Declaration was born at the MS Training Center Development Cooperation (MSTCDC) in the Usa River area of the Arumeru District.  It was unanimously signed by more than 250 delegates from nearly 45 African countries who gathered in Arusha for the "Africa Rising" conference and its related continental movement.

The Kilimanjaro Declaration of August 2016 gets born again nearly 50 years after the original Arusha Declaration was launched here by the first president and father of the nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in 1967.

Speaking at the event, the Public Interest Campaigner for the Africa Rising movement, Mr. Irungu Houghton said the Kilimanjaro Declaration treads within the footsteps of its mother manifest, which promoted unity and self-reliance among Tanzanians.

"The Kilimanjaro Declaration also calls for self-reliance, in which African countries will no longer rely on donor communities or developed countries for funds, aid, and support.  This will help build confidence and total freedom," said Mr. Houghton, who is also the Director of the Society for International Development.

The Declaration statement goes like this: "We, the citizens and descendants of Africa, as part of the Africa Rising movement, are outraged by the centuries of oppression.  We condemn the plunder of our natural and mineral resources and the suppression of our fundamental human rights."

"We are determined to foster an Africa-wide solidarity and unity of purpose of the peoples of Africa to build the future we want - a right to peace, social inclusion, and shared prosperity."

On his part, Mr. Abdillah Lugome, a youth and human rights activist from Tanzania, said the Kilimanjaro Declaration was written in Kiswahili as the "Azimio la Kilimanjaro," and that all correspondences, meetings, and conferences related to the manifest will be done in Kiswahili to promote the continent's widespread language.

Over 400 million people, among the Africa's population of one billion, speak Kiswahili.

The Conference declared that: "Africa is a rich continent.  That wealth belongs to all our people, not to a narrow political and economic elite."