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Pan-Afrikan United Front (PAUF), a coalition of Pan-African groups in Ghana, has convened a solidarity forum in Accra to voice their support for the land reform policy of the Zimbabwean government. Godwin Nnanna reporting from Accra.

Land issue will not go away

Pan-Afrikan United Front (PAUF), a coalition of Pan-African groups in Ghana, has convened a solidarity forum in Accra to voice their support for the land reform policy of the Zimbabwean government.

“The fight for independence from colonialism was a fight for our land and its resources. It was a fight to reclaim African lands from the grip of invading forces. Africa cannot say it is liberated when its land and its resources are still in the control of these invading forces,” said Affiong L. Affiong, one of the leaders of the coalition as she addressed a vociferous audience in an Accra church hall on Monday.

The group which said its mission is primarily to mobilise forces against all forms of neo-colonialism in Africa, described the move by the President Robert Mugabe-led government to “return stolen lands to their original owners” as “one of the most courageous steps ever taken by an African leader.” Affiong who chided the western media for what she called its ‘vicious’ and ‘highly destructive propaganda’ on Zimbabwe, said the group decided to put the forum together “to let the world know what Africans feel about Zimbabwe.” She added:

“The question of land is fundamental for our struggle for sovereignty. The war of liberation was about land. Of what use is independence when you don’t have control of your land? So our meeting here today is not as much about as supporting Mugabe as it is about supporting the issue. That is the problem with the way the western media is projecting the issue. They are not addressing the question of land. All they are simply interested in is to demonize Mugabe,” Affiong said.

Reacting to the statement that ‘Zimbabwe is an embarrassment to Africa,’ as made by AU chairman President John Kufuor of Ghana during his visit to London, Affiong said “Kufuor was reading his masters’ script, not speaking the mind of Africans.” According to Affiong, “It is not all governments that are in power. In many countries in Africa, Africans are in government but foreigners are in power.”

Pan African coalition hails President Mugabe as a freedom fighter

The challenge, she stressed, is that the vast majority in Africa are dependent and not independent. “There is a difference between independence and in dependence. Ironically the latter is the lot of many African states. So we must retrieve our economy from the neo-colonial elements that are holding down Africa.” Kwesi Pratt, another leading member of the group spoke to Black Britain after the meeting. “It is the same forces that pulled Kwame Nkrumah down that are trying to bring Zimbabwe down”, he said.

“All the issues that they talk about in Zimbabwe happen every day here in Ghana. We see the opposition beaten every now and then. They were talking about forty something Ghanaians being killed in Gambia, about the same number was killed in the north and nobody made noise about it. So why the special emphasis on Zimbabwe? There is more to it than all the issues the west is raising about Mugabe,” Pratt stated.

“The west wants to waste Africa and Mugabe has refused. He is a freedom fighter. You can't have a very small percentage of white people owning 90 per cent of the land - that's not justice; that is not economic growth and prosperity. That is modern day slavery. That is 21st century man’s inhumanity to man and must be strongly condemned,” said Akua Kweku, a member of group who spoke to Black Britain.

"We have nothing against white people. They are welcomed in Africa. We are not racists. We are simply asking for the righting of the wrongs that have been done in many parts of Africa. We are asking for the stoppage of slavery in all its disguises," said James Okilo, another member in a chat with Black Britain.

According to another leader of PAUF who spoke at the forum, “The organisation was established in response to the burning desire of Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora to join forces in the fight against neo-colonial bondage which today is the foremost enemy of global Africa.”

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