By Makanaka Masenyama
Th Museum of African Liberation project spearheaded by emerging pan-African think tank, Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK) has been endorsed by most African states.
Ambassadors from several African countries, UNESCO, Russia and senior Zimbabwe government officials attended the endorsement meeting in Harare.
The meeting was held under the theme: ‘Rekindling the Spirit of Pan-Africanism Through Collaborative Efforts to Promote, Protect and Preserve the Legacy of the Revolution’.
Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo officially opened the event.
“The liberation museum project is key in documenting the rich history of Africa which has for long been distorted by the continent’s former colonisers,” Moyo said.
He also underscored the need for progressive nations to rally behind the liberation museum project.
“We are, therefore, calling upon various member states who have either participated directly or indirectly in the liberation of the African people to support the establishment of this museum through contributing information, historic documents, oral evidence and artefacts which compel new and revised thinking on the history of Africa,” Moyo added.
Former cabinet minister and diplomat, Simbi Mubako, who is the chairperson of the INSTAK said the Museum of African Liberation is an opportunity for educational and cultural diplomacy for all those countries that fought to win their freedom.
“The establishment of the Museum of the African Liberation is a priority project. The Museum will be based in Zimbabwe but aspires to house material from all African countries which waged an armed struggle in order to liberate themselves,” Mubako said.
“The Museum is conceived as a monument of the epic struggle to liberate the African people from European colonialism and apartheid,” he added.
UNESCO regional director for Southern Africa, Hubert Gijzen commended the Zimbabwe government for taking the initiative to construct the museum, which he said was fully in line with the African Union for next year’s theme: ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want’.
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