Board Member of Zimrights Vice-president of FIDH
The letter, signed by writers including Vaclav Havel, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Günter Grass, Roddy Doyle and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, criticises leaders for shying away from tackling two of the world’s worst crises. The EU-Africa Summit taking place in Lisbon on the 8th and 9th December is the first of its kind since 2000.
"We expect our leaders to lead, and lead with moral courage. When they fail to do so they leave all of us morally impoverished" says the letter.
The letter has been sent to all of the Heads of State attending the summit and is published today in newspapers across Africa and Europe.
Despite over 200,000 deaths in Darfur and brutal repression in Zimbabwe, no time has been set aside for discussion of the issues. The letter argues that it is impossible to inaugurate a new era of friendship between Europe and Africa while Darfur and Zimbabwe are ignored.
"Why should we listen to the mighty when the mighty are deaf to the cries of the afflicted? Millions of Africans and Europeans would expect Zimbabwe and Darfur to be at the very top of the agenda. It is not too late." says the letter.
Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Prize winning Nigerian author said;
"The EU-Africa summit presents an opportunity to address the biggest issues affecting our people. However our leaders - by putting their own desire to avoid a confrontation ahead of the suffering of millions - are squandering this opportunity and doing us all a disservice."
Signatories to the Letter :
European : Vaclav Havel, Günter Grass, Roddy Doyle, Tom Stoppard, Jose Gil, Colm Toibin, Jürgen Habermask, Dario Fo, Franca Rame
African : Prof. Wole Soyinka, Mia Couto, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Gillian Slovo, Ben Okri, Nadine Gordimer, John M Coetzee, Goretti Kyomuhendo