Egypt's Efforts toward African Unity

By Maydaa Abo El-Nadar

CAIRO, Feb. 3 (SEE) - Parallel to the selection of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to be the 2019’s Arab Youth Capital, Aswan, the city of the Pharaohs, was chosen as the 2019’s African Youth Capital. In this regard, a seminar was conducted.

The seminar took place on Friday at the 2019 Cairo International Book Fair. It was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Counselor, University Lecturer and Researcher for African Affairs Marwa Salem.

Also, Ramadan Korany, Specialist in African Affairs and the Editor-in-Chief of the African Horizons Journal affiliated to the State Information Service, led the seminar.

The seminar was also attended by: Reseracher in the African Affairs Heba Assem, General Observer of the African General Union of the African Students in Egypt, the Founder of the Forum “Hope for Peace and Empowerment”, and the African Youth Ambassador to Egypt Abdallah Mohamed Kagama, and Abdallah Al Batesh who represented the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Several topics were discussed including what Egypt is planning to do as it is going to preside over the African Union soon, Egyptian and African ambitions in 2019 and afterwards, concept of the African unity and awareness about it.

One of the facts that can refresh coexistence between Egyptians and Africans is the language. In this regard, Salem asked, “We have more than 3000 languages across Africa, still when we Africans communicate with each other we resort to the western languages, so why can't Egyptians learn these languages?”

She added “We have high-qualified researchers in the Institute African Research and Studies and the Faculty of Languages and Translation affiliated to Al Azhar University. At least we have to start by studying the basics of some African languages like the Swahili and the Hausa.”

Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk with someone in a language that he understands your words go to his mind, but when you talk in his language, your words enter his heart.”

On the other hand, Salem hailed the African efforts paid to unite African peoples. These include the Institute of the African Studies affiliated to the University of Ghana re-celebrating All Africa’s People Conference.

The conference was firstly held in Accra, Ghana’s capital, in 1958. It then took place in 1960 and 1961 in the Tunisian capital of Tunis and Cairo, respectively. Afterward, it was suspended, and then re-celebrated in 2018 in Accra with the participation of more than 60 African researchers.

On her side, Assem expressed, “Investing in the African youth is part and parcel of the continent’s development.”