By Ndaba Dlamini
FORMER heads of state from Africa were in Johannesburg on Friday, 8 April 2005 to attend the third summit of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center (Aparc) at the University of the Witwatersrand.
City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Amos Masondo was to host a dinner for the 12 former statesmen at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein.
The summit, dubbed the African Presidential Roundtable 2005, focussed on attracting business and increasing investment flows to Africa. It also analysed the G8 African Action Plan and how Africa was perceived by the western media.
The summit follows the February release of the African Leaders' State of Africa Report 2004 at Wits. Ambassador Charles Stith, the director of Aparc based at Boston University, released that report.
Described as "an annual compilation of the vision and strategies of contemporary African heads of state regarding their respective countries and regions", the report seeks to deal with the glaring need for a chronicle of the perspective of the continent's leaders who are actively furthering democratic governance and free market reform.
"The report also catalogues the presidents' insights for future generations … and enables the dissemination of the African point of view to those presently involved in setting policy and shaping opinions about Africa," says the report.
The 12 former heads of state who had committed themselves to attending the summit were Sir Ketumile Masire of Botswana, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Dr Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Aristides Maria Pereira and Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro of Cape Verde, Karl Augutse Offmann and Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam of Mauritius, Dr Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and Nicephore D Soglo of Benin.
Students and faculty members from the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Ghana and the University of Dar es Salaam attended, as did delegates from Morehouse College and Boston University in the US.
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