Black star

A South American tribute to African unity and liberation, writes Reinaldo Bolivar*

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Then and now

In July 2006, an African football team qualified for the second round of the FIFA World Cup. The team's performance (with a Venezuelan as manger) at eliminating the teams from the US and Czech Republic, and giving a big fright to Brazil, arose interest in a large number of people, who started to wonder where such a victorious country is located. That country is located in Western Africa, in the most outstanding zone, in the chin of what could seem the continent's head.

Many years ago, during the fourth century, Ghana was a great empire. This was called the Golden Coast, as the word "Ghana"(from the Arabic ghani ) means land of richness. This great kingdom extended through current Senegal, Mali and parts of the Sahara Desert. And from such an empire was taken the name for this little African country, to pay homage to the glorious past. But the new Ghana would also take glory by obtaining in 1957 its independence, an event that marked the path of de- colonisation from old European empires: looters of African richness.

Kwame Nkrumah, who studied in the US and Europe, and was trained with anti-imperialist and socialist ideas, was the main character of the independence.

The Golden Coast did not escape imperialist practices that allowed subduing the aboriginal people to slavery and looting the country's natural resources, without leaving any benefits to its people, without having a positive participation on the eradication of illness or illiteracy. Only through cooperation from Cuba, medical squads could arrive to the country.

Once independence from the United Kingdom was achieved, Nkrumah led the Pan African Movement towards the emancipation and total union of Africa. His joint positions were captured by the Fifth Pan- African Congress. The movement, that included supporters from the Americas and the Caribbean took the green, yellow and red colours for identification. Nowadays, about 20 African flags have those colours.

Nkrumah was Ghana's founder- president from 1960 to 1966. A huge part of his efforts was directed to the achievements of an ultra-national organisation to alleviate border problems of new republics, whose territories had been whimsically divided by the Berlin Conference of 1885, following the interests of Britain, France, German and Belgium.

Several Nkrumah's ideas were crystallised in the Organisation of African Unity, currently the African Union, having Venezuela as observer member.

In 1966 Nkrumah was overthrown while he was paying a visit to the great Asian communist nation -- the People's Republic of China. It is suspected that the coup count on the participation of British circles, which contributed to eliminate one of the prophets of the African Unity.

Nkrumah's thinking has overcome the African border and has reached Southern America proper.

* The writer is special envoy of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and deputy foreign minister for Africa.