FYI from PanaPress a couple of weeks ago at
http://www.panapress.com/newslatf.asp?code=eng103865&dte=23/01/2006 .
Note among other things the mention of the Year of African
Languages... DZO
Kibaki urges African leaders to promote culture
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA)- Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has urged
African Union (AU) member states to enact legislation and establish
cultural institutions and programmes that will promote the continent's
values.
In a keynote address on education and culture at the ongoing sixth
ordinary AU summit in Khartoum, Kibaki said African leaders have an
obligation to mainstream cultural aspects in development. He noted
that the conventional policy prescriptions for Africa's development
rarely incorporated cultural factors.
"As African leaders, we have the obligation to synthesize our cultural
values and balance the need to preserve our cultures while at the same
time accommodating the assimilation of positive values but rejecting
retrogressive ones," Kibaki said.
"Education and Culture is the theme of the two-day summit officially
opened by the current AU chairman, Olusegun Obasanjo, the president
of Nigeria.
Kibaki observed that additional impetus needed to be generated toward
s the conservation of cultural heritage and the promotion of cultural
industries in Africa.
"There is need for advocacy work on the preservation of our cultural
heritage, the restoration of threatened cultural sites and retrieval
of cultural properties that were taken away during the period of
colonialism," he said.
The Kenyan leader called on African leaders to provide leadership on
ways and means of reconciling competing perspectives on culture,
noting that the emergence of the Internet, satellite technology, cable
television as well as cellular and wireless networks have resulted in
the globalisation of culture.
"The radical undermining of the cultures of our people through these
encounters have had a corrosive impact on our sense of identity
regarding who we are, what we want, what we respect and what we
aspire," he added.
He said cultural disorientation has had an adverse effect on
development in the continent, saying development is a function of
culture, and people cannot innovate or develop outside their cultural
experience.
Kibaki hailed the convergence of African leaders to deliberate on the
theme of Education and Culture, saying it was an important step in the
efforts towards the restoration of the dignity of the continent's people.
He also recommended the development of policies and establishment of
institutions and programmes as outlined in the Nairobi Declaration,
which was adopted by the Conference of African Ministers of Culture
last year.
"These challenges will also be addressed through the promotion of the
Charter for African Cultural Renaissance, which was initiated as an
instrument for appropriate legislation by African Governments on the
preservation, protection, promotion and management of cultural
resources," Kibaki told the summit.
The Nairobi Plan of Action encourages AU Member States to recognize
the value of their cultural heritage in their tangible and intangible
forms, by putting in place mechanisms to promote cultural industries
and enterprises.
Kibaki welcomed the declaration of 2006 as the Year of African
Languages saying it would raise the profile of the important tool for
the preservation and transmission of African cultural heritage.
He expressed hope that the promotion of African languages would begin
by enhancing the capacity of Kiswahili, which was recently adopted as
the fifth official language of the AU, to be widely and intensively
used on the continent and in the organisation's activities.
On education, Kibaki said Africa should start by providing not only
free education for all African children, but also ensuring that
education is geared towards inculcating self-respect and faith in
Africa as a home and the source of their livelihood.
Earlier, Obasanjo had urged summit participants to reflect on the
relationship between culture and education as they were essential for
the survival and development of the continent.
Other speakers during the opening ceremony included host President
Omar El-Bashir, the chairman of the AU Commission Alpha Oumar Konare,
Arab league secretary general Amre Moussa and the UN secretary
general's representative, Mohammed Sahnoun.
Khartoum - 23/01/2006
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