The Gambian
leader, President Professor Yahya Jammeh has emphasized the need for Africa to unite for the benefit of her
people.
President
Jammeh made these remarks on Tuesday upon his arrival at the BanjulInternationalAirport shortly after his return from Ethiopia where he attended the 12th African
Union summit. "The Gambia has always advocated for unity and
in fact we were the authors among the four heads of state that initiated the
transformation of OAU to AU. I played a leading role in that, so our idea is
that Africa must be united," he said. According
to Professor Jammeh, without unity the continent will never be respected and
our resources will not benefit us."For
example all the continents are represented at the level of United Nations Security
Council except Africa. Africa is a continent that is the main
source of raw materials for the developed north without which the industries in
the north would close. There is no African country that has veto power and
because we are divided we are not represented at the United Nations Security
Council".
President
Jammeh emphasized the need for Africa to speak with one voice for a unified continent and for the
benefit of Africans.
He revealed
that by the time he left the summit they had laid a solid foundation by
empowering the AU Commission to become an authority that will be empowered to
make decisions that will be binding on all nations.
Once all
these actions are in place, he continued we could have a unified continent
adding that unity has always been his dream to see that Africa is a unified continent.
"I was
interested in laying a solid foundation for the eventual unification of the
continent".
On the
issue of Zimbabwe, he said AU is asking for the
lifting of sanctions on the country. "The sanctions should be lifted because
there is a unity government in the country thus no need for a sanctions," he
argued. He once more blamed the West for failing to intervene on the Zimbabwe's Cholera outbreak.
Commenting
on the theme of the summit 'infrastructure' President Jammeh said that to be realistic,
the infrastructure of the continent is not good. "Africa is very backward at the continental
scale in terms of infrastructure," he said.
He argued
that we are not harnessing our resources enough to develop the continent.
