快速发展的非洲国家需要与更多像中国一样的国际伙伴携手共进，需要在中国经验的基础上寻找新道路，才能取得飞速的经济发展与社会进步，从而创造历史性的辉煌
文I 彼得·卡格万加 肯尼亚非洲政策研究所所长 翻译I 李丛
诞生于半个多世纪前的“非洲日”起初被称为“非洲自由日”或“非洲解放日”，是非洲人民一年一度纪念1963年5月25日通过的《非洲统一组织宪章》及第一次非洲独立国家会议的日子。
为促进各个获得政治新生的国家之间的统一与团结，1963年5月，32个非洲国家在埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴举行首脑会议，决定成立非洲统一组织（以下简称“非统”），并将5月25日确定为“非洲解放日”。“非统”一直是非洲大陆上重要的政治联盟。直至20世纪90年代，经济发展逐渐取代政治斗争成为非洲各国面临的主要问题，“非统”于2002年正式过渡为“非洲联盟”（以下简称“非盟”）。“非盟”总部仍设在亚的斯亚贝巴，但其立法机构“泛非议会”总部设于南非米德兰。
当地时间2017年1月31日，第28届非洲联盟首脑会议在埃塞俄比亚亚的斯亚贝巴闭幕（CFP）
尽管“非统”被“非盟”取代，许多非洲国家依旧保留着庆祝“非洲日”的传统。不仅如此，海外团体，尤其是一些欧洲团体和印度的对外关系委员会每年都会举行相关纪念活动。活动历年主题各异。例如2015年为“增强妇女权能和推进非洲2063年愿景年”，以督促各国加紧努力为非洲妇女提供更好的受教育、就业和医疗保健机会，并以此加快非洲的变革。
然而每年的“非洲日”主题都围绕着一个观点，即群体智慧永远优于个体意见。非洲大陆的融合与繁荣需要各国共同努力，构建一个交织着利益竞争与伙伴结盟的复杂体系。非洲的独立历程艰苦曲折，至今都制约着其经济发展。为重塑并维护非洲大陆的昔日荣耀，“非盟”制定了一项前所未有的发展计划——《2063年议程》，鼓励各国通过简单务实的对话，集群体之力共同完成发展目标。
2016年，时任中国驻南非大使田学军应邀出席南非政府在开普敦举办的“非洲日”庆祝晚宴。席间，田大使同祖马总统及多名高级别官员就中南关系与友好互利合作交换意见。田大使说，中方愿同南方一道，将中非合作论坛约翰内斯堡峰会成果早日落实，造福于两国人民。祖马总统表示，南非政府高度重视论坛峰会成果落实工作，并愿与中方加强合作。
谈到中非关系，在非华人的数量如今已接近百万。中国人已不仅仅是投资者，更是非洲事务重要的利益相关者。此外，延续数世纪的中非经贸往来已重现活力。尤其是习近平主席提出的“一带一路”倡议中海上丝绸之路部分强调了加强中非互联互通，加快非洲基础设施建设以及扩大中非贸易，扩大在非洲建设加工基地。这些构想都促进了中非经贸不断地发展壮大。事实上，纵观整个非洲大陆，“中国经验”的影响力在逐步提升，并且中国已经成为非洲最大的贸易伙伴。
1963年8月28日，“非洲解放日”设立的同年，民权运动领袖马丁·路德·金在华盛顿林肯纪念堂发表了演讲。他说，“让自由之声响起来。当我们让自由之声响起，让自由之声从每一个大小村庄、每一个州和每一个城市响起来时，我们将能够加速这一天的到来，那时，上帝的所有儿女，黑人和白人，犹太教徒和非犹太教徒，耶稣教徒和天主教徒，都将手携手，合唱一首古老的黑人灵歌：‘自由啦！自由啦！感谢全能上帝，我们终于自由啦！’”经历了半个多世纪的后殖民期，非洲“终于自由啦”！“非洲崛起”的故事正在上演。快速发展的非洲国家需要与更多像中国一样的国际伙伴携手共进，需要在中国经验的基础上寻找新道路，才能取得飞速的经济发展与社会进步，从而创造历史性的辉煌。
中国已经在非洲投资建设了一批基础设施项目，其中包括埃塞俄比亚第一条电气化铁路。该线路于2016年10月通车，连接埃塞俄比亚首都和吉布提。在肯尼亚，由中国公司承建的蒙巴萨－内罗毕标轨铁路项目第一期将于2017年6月完工。这是肯尼亚自独立以来修建的最大的基础设施项目。此外中国公司还承建了津巴布韦维多利亚瀑布国际机场改扩建项目、尼日利亚的阿布贾至卡杜纳铁路项目以及坦桑尼亚的尼雷尔跨海大桥等其它项目。
在2016年“非洲日”纪念活动前夕，时任联合国秘书长潘基文曾经如此说道，“对非洲有益之事也必将造福于世界。”在2017年的“非洲日”，国际社会更应与非洲一道纪念这个特殊的日子，为实现一个更好的世界而努力。
Africa Day paved roads in Africa
By Prof. Peter Kagwanja，Chief Executive of the Africa Policy Institute
Africa Day has been celebrated on May 25thevery year for more than the past 50 years and was formerly known as AfricanFreedom Day or African Liberation Day. It is the annual commemoration of thesigning of the charter of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May1963 and the first major Conference of Independent African States.
The newly-liberated countries felt the needto express solidarity with one another, and in May 1963, 32 African countriesmet in Addis Ababa to form the OAU. The OAU which changed the name of theholiday to African Liberation Day was a major political force on the continentuntil the 1990s. The OAU became the African Union in 2002, because of theincreasingly economic, rather than political, nature of the challenges faced bythe continent in the 1990s.The organization remains headquartered in AddisAbaba, although its legislative arm, the Pan African Parliament, is in Midrand,South Africa.
While the OAU was succeeded by the AfricaUnion (AU), Africa day is still observed by various African countries andcommunities in many other parts of the world particularly in Europe andcountries like India where it has in the past been organized by the IndianCouncil of Foreign Relations. It has various themes and in 2015 for instance,it was the "Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’sAgenda 2063 aimed at intensifying efforts to provide Africa’s women with betteraccess to education, work and healthcare and, by so doing, accelerate Africa’stransformation.
The themes underscore the fact thatcollective wisdom is always better than individual opinion so convergencebuilding and binding a better Africa means weaving together tangled network ofAfrican Nations with competing interests and alliances. Africa has gone througha steep and thorny pathway to independence including a enduring tarnishedreputation. The African Union seeks to assert and redeem the continent’s formerglory by embarking on an unprecedented plan dubbed Agenda 2063 to enable Africato achieve its objectives through terse realistic dialogue, collectiveintelligence and a participative culture.
Last year in South Africa AmbassadorTianXuejun attended the Africa Day Gala Dinner held by the South Africangovernment in Cape Town, where he exchanged views with President Zuma and otherhigh-level officials on China-South Africa relations and win-win cooperation.He expressed China’s willingness to work with South Africa to implement theoutcomes of the Johannesburg Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summitfor an early harvest so as to benefit the two peoples while his South Africancounterpart President Zuma talked of his government’s important attachment tothe implementation of the outcomes of the 2015 Summit and further strengtheningof cooperation with China.
In terms of Africa relations with China,overseas Chinese who leave outside the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on theAfrican continent number close to 1 million. As a result, the Chinese havebecome more than just investors but also major stakeholders in African Affairs.Furthermore, the Sino-Africa economic relations which began centuries ago havebeen rejuvenated and are growing from strength to strength as part of the “OneBelt One Road” Economic Maritime Silk Road initiative spearheaded by ChinesePresident XI Jinping on connectivity, infrastructure growth and increased tradeincluding expanding the manufacturing base in Africa. In fact, across Africa,China is increasingly becoming a model for development particularly and Chinahas become Africa’s largest trading partner.
To quote civil rights leader Dr. MartinLuther King’s speech in August 28, 1963, the year Africa Liberation Day wasfounded at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., “Let Freedom Ring… And whenthis happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from everyvillage and hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speedup that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews andGentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in thewords of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank Godalmighty, we're free at last!" With an over half-century post-colonialperiod of freedom Africa is indeed “Free at Last” and the narrative of “AfricaRising ” is now taking hold. Howeverrapid growth in the continent will mean partnering with global friends like theChinese and emulating their New China model in order to rise to the greatest ofheights through rapid growth and development.
Some of China’s key infrastructureinvestments in Africa include Ethiopia’s first electrified railway linking itscapital and Djibouti that was launched in October 2016. In Kenya, the first phase of the Mombasa–NairobiStandard Gauge Railway (SGR) Project will be launched in June 2017 and is thelargest infrastructure project undertaken by the country since independence.Other key projects include the Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls International Airport,upgraded and expanded with support from China, the Abuja-Kaduna Railway inNigeria, and Nyerere Bridge in Tanzania among numerous others.
According to the immediate past UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-Moon ahead of last year’s Africa Day celebrations, “Whatis good for Africa is good for the world”. Africa therefore deserves the worldcongratulations and best wishes for a better world during the 2017 Africa Daycelebrations!