There is only a human race!NewAfrican-November 1998!

Martin Bernal writes in Winston A. van Horne´s book, Global convulsions, that:

"The population of Ancient Egypt was extremely mixed. Nubia and Upper Egypt where pharonic civilisation was formed, had a basic population very similar to that of the modern Nubians, that is to say East African with central African admixture. Lower Egypt had a basic population of North Africa 'Caucasoids'. However, after the Fifth Millennium BCE this was differentiated from that of northwest Africa or the Maghreb, because the latter was separated from the rest of Africa by the growing sahara, the Nile continued to link Lower Egypt to the rest of the continent. The mixture of populations between Upper and Lower Egypt accelerated with the establishment of a single Egyptian state."

So it is quite difficult to to discuss issues in terms of race and I, therefore, find it hard who to regard as black or not because in the eyes of Europeans we are all "coloured" - from the Chinese,Indians to indigenous Africans. Whites are the only "colourless" people in this world, but as we all know they are more pink than white.

Anyway, it is my conviction that race shouldn't be used as an explanation for failure or succcess of anyone. The very fact that my black ancestors built the Egyptian pyramids and many other obelisks doesn't help me today in my endeavours to make life worth living. So our past glories and civilisations are not so much significant when it comes to changing our situation today. As the present is here, we have to make the best of it and seek the causes for our failure in Africa.

We need to see the whole issue in historical perspective and holistically. Africa has never been free and its people haven't been given the opportunity to decide their own destiny since the arrival of the Europeans. It isn't my intention to blame the white man for the evils of Africa, but the Europeans, truth be said, have a lot to answer for in the underdevelopment of Africa. Their rule of divide and share has left us ethnicised and rootless.

To me, it is not African "shorttermism" as Baffour calls it, or lack of education and organisation that are the root causes of Africa's failure, but rather it is Europeans and their everlasting meddling in our affairs that undermine the internal African capacity to develop.

We shouldn't forget that there are at least seven million Europeans who live in luxury in Africa and have economic and political power. I would like to see many Africans doing the same in Europe and America. Every development and democratisation process in Africa should be based on the sentiments of the African people and on their own terms.

Lastly, the pre-colonial African heritage of decentralised and participatory rule should be considered for inclusion in the present endeavour of reforming the African state.