July 27^th  2013  I attended an event that I never believed would happen. I was honoured with an invitation to attend an event to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the OAU and to honour its Founding Fathers.

The event was taking place in the same hall that the AU was inaugurated in 1963. In the Africa Hall of what today is the Economic Commission for Africa where the AU had started.

I arrived early. We were made to enter the campus from behind, and after a security check, we had a long walk in the rain to reach the main building. The Building that I had seen from outside but had never entered. The building that I have always wanted to enter because I wanted to see the wonderful art work of Afework Tekle depicting Africans struggling for freedom.

Seeing this masterpiece was overwhelming. It is so beautiful that no words can express the sensation of standing in front of it. It consists of stained glass on three windows, which cover about 150 square metres. Afework expresses with detail the sorrow of Africa in the past, its struggle and its hope.

We then entered Africa Hall and sat down. As we sat there I was amazed to see that so many people where coming to an event that was going to Commemorate Haile Selassie. People of all ages, members of the Royal Family, Members of the Royal Body Guard in Uniform and Ministers of HIM government and generally several people of all walks of live. A few Rasta’s of course.

While we were waiting, there was a continuous flow of photographs of HIM Haile Selassie the wall. I am sure Mengistu Haile Mariam would have had a heart attack.

The Guest of Honour was H.E. THABO MBEKI

Mr. Mbeki reminded us all of how fragile Africa is and how difficult it was to unite her. He quoted Haile Selassie as saying:

“This Conference cannot close without adopting a single Charter. We cannot leave here without having created a single African organisation possessed of the attributes We have described. If We fail in this, we will have shirked our responsibility to Africa and to the people we lead. If we succeed, then, and only then, will we have justified our presence here.”

Mbeki reminded us that Ethiopia was an inspiration to the rest of Africa due to its independence and its ability to defeat a western power twice.

He reminded us that even Mandela was inspired by Ethiopia
as he wrote in his Autobiography,No Easy Walk to Freedom, : 

“Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African.” 

I felt very proud of being Ethiopian but also rather nervous of the fact that in order to survive Africans have to be united and that seems like a very difficult task that I am not sure we are capable of fulfilling. I have the impression that the OAU is a façade that would easily crumble because we do not have wise and mature politicians or people to achieve such an objective. If we want China, America and Europe to respect Africa we have to make sure we set ground rules that we respect first. After we have a huge continent with all the resource necessary. We must prevent others from exploiting what is African. Have a look at the attached map to understand how big Africa is.
 
                    

                                    TO VIEW MAP CLICK ON IT

The evening finished with a panel presentation. It was a pleasure to hear so many wonderful positive views on the role
of HIM and the fact that everyone was requesting that there should be a Statue for Haile Selassie outside the OAU.
    

An Afternoon I shall never forget.

Leletta Selassie