Apology no cure-all for Africa''s ills

It was an extraordinary sight. The chairperson of the so-called European African Reconciliation Process, Christ Seaton, who was draped in the Union Jack, was shown on Zimbabwean television kneeling on a richly coloured and luxuriant mat before former Mozambican president, Joachim Chissano. Seaton led a delegation of Christian leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and the United States of America to Zimbabwe last week to ask for forgiveness for sins committed by their ancestors against Africa. These included the slave trade, exploitation of the continent, the killing of innocent people and causing conflicts.
Chissano, who accepted the apologies on behalf of the continent, said he was humbled and wished he had "the mandate to ask for forgiveness as well because most of the sins committed by Europeans were not committed by them alone" Apologising specifically for the havoc wreaked by Cecil John Rhodes in Zimbabwe, Seaton said his ancestors tricked King Lobengula into signing the Rudd Concession more than 100 years ago, paving the way for occupation of the land by white settlers.

There was an inexplicable sense of deja vu about the scene, may be because history was repeating itself. While Seaton's ancestors had used tricks and material inducements to dupe illiterate chiefs to act against their own people's interests during the partitioning of Africa, he and his colleagues have now resorted to semantics to stroke the inflated egos of our authoritarian 21st century rulers. They risk causing offence and polarisation between rulers and the governed as ordinary people cannot be sure whose side they are on.

While it is accepted that the apology was only symbolic, it is still true that such a gesture can be totally meaningless as long as it does not focus on the present and future. What happened in the past cannot be changed and beyond mouthing the words, "We are sorry", the European men of the cloth have not enunciated what practical steps they propose to take to repair the damage and make life better for those alive today. These European churchmen needed to explain how their contrition would be translated into meaningful initiatives to help prevent a recurrence in modern day Africa of the very injustices and atrocities committed by their forebears.

The churchmen have chosen to ignore the fact that an apology for sins committed a century ago means absolutely nothing to oppressed, displaced, diseased, impoverished and starving Africans who are unnecessarily subjected to these ills by erstwhile liberation heroes who spearheaded the fight for independence from colonial rule. Since the end of colonialism, different situations have prevailed in various African countries, depending on the style of governance of the black rulers. Some countries have been devastated by civil wars, genocide, disease or famine. Progress has been impeded in some others by natural disasters, rampant corruption and oppressive governance.

It should be obvious to Seaton and his group that a grovelling apology in Harare can not be a cure-all to ease the plight of present-day Africans. They live in countries that are at different levels of political and economic development and have had different experiences since the end of colonialism. They are grappling with problems requiring specific solutions, not a blanket apology. Expressing emotional regret for events that took place in the 19th century cannot, for example, mean very much to the people of Rwanda who are still grappling with the trauma of the genocide of 1994 when almost one million people were massacred under an African dispensation. The same goes for the people of the Darfur region of Western Sudan, Liberia and Sierra Leone who have endured years of political upheaval and civil strife.

Instead of limiting their efforts to meaningless platitudes, those involved in European African Reconciliation would make greater impact if they came up with initiatives tailored to address current pressing African needs such as poverty alleviation, AIDS, education and health issues. These churchmen should take a leaf out of the book of celebrities such as Bob Geldof, who was galvanised into action to address massive famine in Ethiopia some years ago by doing something practical.

African leaders have always said that what they need to ensure development in their countries is fair trade rather than aid and it follows that apologies are even less effective. Chissano's observation that, if he had a mandate he would do his own apologising, has been echoed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who has said imperialists were not solely to blame for the colonisation of Africa. "It is also the fault of our chiefs, who so divided our people that they could not defend our sovereignty. It is also the fault of many of the post-independence leaders of Africa who have failed to transform our economies and end Africa's balkanisation in order to create power blocs on our continent with global influence when it comes to our legitimate interests", Museveni has said.