- Title: UGANDA: Afro-Arab youth summit closes in Kampala
- Date: 18th March 2008
- Summary: VARIOUS OF DELEGATES (2 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) NICHOLAS OMBATI, KENYAN DELEGATE, SAYING: "Partnership is the whole theme that brought us together here. So I'd like to say this will become a success the moment Arab and African youth bring all the ideas and integrate them towards this partnership. That at one time all the things we discussed here -- women's empowerme
- Embargoed: 2nd April 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Uganda
- Country: Uganda
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADFV9EGZBRODQFYX8CTGL4KGDY
- Story Text: Afro-Arab youth conference closes in Kampala, with calls from Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi for longer terms in office for Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
A five-day conference that brought more than 2,000 delegates from African and Arab states together ended on Monday (March 17) with a calls for African leaders to rule till their death.
Libya's president and advocate for African unity, Muammar Gaddafi, gave the keynote address at the closing ceremony of the meeting dubbed the "Afro-Arab Youth Summit", the second since its inception seven years ago.
"African unity can only be achieved through honest revolutionary leadership striving for this agenda, like president Museveni of Uganda and Zimbabwe's Mugabe. We can also look at Burkina Faso, Senegal and several others. I am not going to list them all but there are leaders, serious honest leaders with a patriotic agenda, these are leaders who should remain in power.
We shouldn't slaughter them, get rid of them, with the constitution or elections or political parties and the like," Gaddafi said.
The conference started with an emphasis on the shared colonial histories of Africa and the Arab world, with a speech from Museveni who urged the delegates to overcome the effects of colonisation.
Alongside calls for unity, the conference participants addressed the political and social issues that the two regions face.
"Partnership is the whole theme that brought us together here. So I'd like to say this will become a success the moment Arab and African youth bring all the ideas and integrate them towards this partnership. That at one time all the things we discussed here -- women's empowerment, youth entrepreneurship, all of these -- if they can be acted upon and implemented, I call it a success," said Nicholas Ombati, a delegate from Kenya.
"We are going to exchange and understand each other. We are going to give the results to our presidents and decision-makers and ask them to find solutions for the benefit of the Arabs and Africans," said Abdel Nasser Abbes, a delegate from Algeria.
The youth conference ran alongside a two-day summit in Senegal for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC is the world's biggest Islamic body and has 57 member nations. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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