Africa Peace Initiative
The Africa Peace Initiative (API) was a pan-Africanist group formed in 1996 at the United States International University (USIU) - Africa in Kenya. The organization started out as a study group loosely modelled along the lines of the University Students African Revolutionary Front (USARF). USARF was established in the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the 1960s by a group of pan-African students from Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia and Angola to provide a platform for students to become actively involved in supporting the liberation movements fighting for independence in Southern Africa, all of whom had bases and training facilities in Tanzania, thanks to that country's founding President, the late Dr. Julius K. Nyerere. USARF's alumni ended up in leadership positions in several African countries, managing to produce two Presidents, several cabinet ministers and military officers. This experience was a great inspiration to API.
API was composed of students from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Like USARF, API identified very closely with African liberation movements, most notably the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/SPLA) of Sudan. API focused most its activities on the war in Sudan organising several solidarity visits to the SPLM/SPLA liberated areas in the Southern parts of the country, arranging speaking engagements for senior SPLM/SPLA leaders, publicing SPLM/SPLA material, arranging contacts between SPLM Youth and counterparts in other parts of Africa and overseas and mobilising humanitarian assistance for youth in the war affected areas. The late SPLM/SPLA leader, Dr. John Garang De Mabior was the group's first patron. An alumnus of USARF, the late Dr. Garang was both a tutor and mentor to the founding members of API and he worked closely with all of them in various capacities after they left College, until his death in 2005.
API members went on to become very active in a number of African countries. Some former members went on to serve in the General Headquarters of the SPLA, while others joined the government of South Sudan when it was established. Many serve as members of parliament in several African countries, others serve in the executive and still others work in the United Nations and other international organizations. Some work as media personalities and many are working in academia. Several remain in touch with each other.
Prominent alumni[edit]
- Africano Mande
- Stephen Othieno Jr
- Paul Nantulya
- Mabior Garang de Mabior
- Andrews Adar
- Simon Munyae
- Annabel Mwangi
References[edit]
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