Undoubtedly, Africa has more than its share of daunting problems. It is a huge, diverse and rich continent that is bedeviled by exploitation and bad governance. As a result, over 700 million of the continent’s people live in abject poverty and under dictatorships. Many of Africa’s largest countries are often crisis-ridden, such as Nigeria, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo where the International Rescue Committee estimates that 5.4 million people have died from what it calls the “World’s deadliest documented conflict since WW II.”

A healthy civil society needs both strong bonds and strong bridges, associations that meet the needs of citizens in all their expressions, and ties that reach back in time to provide continuity as well as forward to a new sense of Self. In Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and elsewhere, ethnicity has already provided a focus for popular mobilization in contexts where existing power arrangements have closed down other routes to participation in democratic governance. What appear as “ethnic” conflicts are often more straightforward struggles over access to resources and political power that are manipulated along clan or tribal lines.

Peace is probably one of the most important topics that one can talk about in Africa for the simple reason that Africa has probably had more than its share of violent conflicts. Peace has been elusive in Africa for a very long time, especially in the last fifty years of the post-colonial period. In the last twenty to thirty years, we have experienced some very devastating conflicts. It is mind boggling, so I made a pledge to myself about ten years ago, that I’d visit at least one war-torn country in Africa each year. I said to myself that, if I wanted to live in Africa and if I really wanted to see what is going on beyond the headlines and below the radar, as well as understand conditions on the ground then I should find a way to visit some of these difficult places.

Once again, we celebrate yet another Africa Day, an occasion that affords us the unique opportunity to take stock of our achievements and to rededicate ourselves to address the challenges that confront us as a continent.

I have chosen to speak of the Challenge of a Renascent Africa on the World Stage for the simple reason that that is the only way we can address all the other problems that we face. As Frantz Fanon once said, “Every generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission and either fulfill it or betray it.”

The Trust arrives at a critical time withan important mandate to address issues that have always been at the forefront of public consciousness but which in today's environment find increasingly articulate and urgent expression. I am doubly honoured to participate in what is clearly a special moment for TrustAfrica and all who have worked so hard to make this special African initiative possible.