The Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, has urged African countries to take real action instead of just talking about African unity and its liberation.
Mr. Kombo made this call today, May 24, 2025, during the 15th lecture of Africa Day held at the Julius Nyerere International Conference Centre (JNICC), where he stated that
"We have talked a lot about unity, freedom, and building our Africa, but it has all just been words. No meaningful steps are being taken. We sing about unity, yet we cannot even travel easily between African countries."
To emphasize the seriousness of this situation, Kombo shared his experience traveling from Dar es Salaam to Angola as part of the preparations for President Samia Suluhu Hassan's national visit. Instead of a three-hour flight, it took him 18 hours to reach Luanda after passing through three different countries, one of which was South Africa.
"This is shameful. The President arrived in just three hours, but I, as part of the preparatory convoy, struggled all day. This is clear evidence of how we claim to be united, yet in reality, we have separated ourselves," he explained.
Additionally, Mr. Kombo pointed out that Africa still lacks sufficient knowledge about the true value of its resources, such as rare earth minerals, due to many decisions and resources being controlled by outsiders. He called for this platform to be used to discuss how to liberate the continent.
"There is someone outside Africa who decides the value of our minerals, who can mine them, when, and under what conditions. This is very shameful for our continent," Kombo said.
On his part, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, the Vice-Chancellor of UNISA, emphasized that the state of divisions in Africa remains a significant threat to the continent's future. Citing examples of conflicts between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan, as well as the tense situation between Morocco and Western Sahara, he stated:
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| Africa lecture day . |