We – members of the MILEAD Fellows Network, have noted with growing despair the continuous abuses of Africans, black lives, on the African continent. From Cameroon and Congo to Namibia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, Africans – particularly younger Africans and women like ourselves – are protesting for justice, for peace and for liberation from a multitude of forces of oppression.
As young African women leaders committed to developing ourselves and each other towards bettering our African states, as members of these movements in our respective nations, and in the spirit of Pan-Africanism we see need to raise our collective voice in solidarity with those protesting and to express our disappointment with the meagre efforts of the African governance bodies and international community at large.
We stand in solidarity with Cameroonians, particularly Anglophone Cameroonians, who have so far experienced four years of violence and repression following their government’s violent reaction to their calls for a better system of government and their resistance against Anglophone marginalization. We stand in solidarity with citizens of Congo who report multiple years of human rights abuses with no repercussions, as perpetuators of war and sexual assault crimes remain unprosecuted.
We stand in solidarity with the women of Namibia, calling out in fear for their lives as the rise of rape, femicide and sexual abuse as their government continues to fail them with the lack of substantial action against the prevalence of violence against women in the country.
We stand in solidarity with the peaceful demonstrators in Zimbabwe who have been brutalized and jailed, their right to protest denied because they dared to decry corruption and human rights abuses under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule.
We also stand in solidarity with the young Nigerians who we all watched shot live on the streets of Lagos where they stood with only flags and placards raised against a rogue anti-robbery unit of the police force known as SARS. The #EndSARS protests cumulate from years of unchecked extortion, extrajudicial killing and human rights abuses from what should be a unit of law and order and the Nigerian government’s violent response to demands for concrete action against that unit is the most recent example of how our governments continue to radicalize young people.
In our solidarity, we must express our disappointment with multiple international machineries like; ECOWAS, SADC, ECCAS/CEEAC, the African Union and the United Nations.
We are cognizant of the purpose for which these bodies were established and the plethora of protocols and international conventions for equality, peace, security and good governance to which members pledge to adhere. For this reason we had hoped that such organizations would hold members accountable, that we would not need to beg for proper attention to be given to movements demanding what the organizations supposedly stand for.
However, we have been disenchanted. Very little has been done to check years of conflict, abused of power and amplify the voices of youth movements in countries recognized as repressive. You have failed us.
In the year when the African Union’s motto is “Silencing the guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development”, we have continued to hear the guns go off and watch young people bleed to death on camera. You have failed us.
Yet we still have hope, that the leaders of these bodies can recall their responsibilities and take concrete measures against the leaders of member states who continually abuse the international covenants to which their countries committed to.
It is in our hope that we write this open letter, and amplify voices behind the movements:
#CongoIsBleeding #ShutItAllDown #ZimbabweanLivesMatter #EndAnglophoneCrisis and #EndSARS
Please do not neglect your duty any longer.