Statments
CAIRO DECLARATION ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDING THE AFRO-ASIAN PEOPLES’ SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATION
As we celebrate the elapse of six full decades of the founding of our Afro-Asian People' Solidarity Organization (AAPSO), we wholeheartedly remember the important and active role it has played in consolidating ties between our peoples and developing and boosting cooperation among our nations. We recall, with due appreciation, the role which our Organization has played in preserving world peace in the face of international forces that have triggered sedition, war and armed conflicts in the world, driving it to the brink of a new world by their arrogant policies which aimed at interfering in the affairs of other countries and at seeking to impose their hegemony on our peoples.
We also recall with pride AAPSO's most important role in supporting the national liberation movements in our continents, Africa and Asia, and in Latin America to gain national independence and eliminate occupation and apartheid in South Africa for all their people, with the exception of only one people who are still under the yoke of an abhorrent extremely racist colonization. With the direct American support, it is usurping the Palestinians' land, planting settlements in it, wrenching "the prime rose of cities", namely Jerusalem, and continuing to Judaize it, as well as incessantly killing and arresting more of their sons and daughters – including children- while depriving them of their most basic human rights, including free and safe movement within their own country.
We also recall with full satisfaction the role played by our Organization in supporting our peoples after gaining independence and confronting neo- colonialism, which is seeking to re-establish its economic hegemony after it was driven to withdraw its forces, which were militarily occupying our countries' lands.
Above all, we remember with great respect the role of the great leaders and writers who contributed to the establishment of AAPSO and formulated the Bandung principles, which guided it. We recall Nehru in India, Sukarno in Indonesia, Chou En-Lai in China, Tito in Yugoslavia and Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt. As Nasser's birthday coincides with the establishment of AAPSO, Egypt, together with people all over the world, are celebrating the organization's birth, and paying homage to Nasser as an inspiring national leader.
Hence,
We are aware of the importance of preserving our Organization because of our need for it after revitalizing it, boosting its myriad and diverse potential - especially human and financial - and establishing new national committees in more countries of our continents and opening up to Latin America, as well as ensuring the regularity of its meetings. We need AAPSO to complete the rest of the objectives for which it was established 60 years ago, and for our two continents to achieve independent and sustainable economic development free from the dictates of some international economic organizations so that our revenues are distributed equitably to all the people of our countries. We need AAPSO in order to build modern democratic states based on the principles of citizenship, equality, co-existence, respect for law and human rights, and the peaceful transfer of power by unbiased neutral elections and social justice; first and foremost for the Palestinians - the only one of our people who have not won their independence – to get rid of the abhorrent racist Israeli Zionist occupation, establish an independent state of their own on the entire territory of the West Bank and Gaza - with East Jerusalem as its capita - and safeguard the right of the refugees who left their land by force and coercion, to return to it. In the context of the open United States' support of the Israeli occupation under Trump's administration, Washington which has already approved Israel's usurpation of Jerusalem, is now conspiring with the Israelis to obliterate the Palestinian cause and to eliminate completely all the Palestinian people's legitimate rights. Hence, it is imperative and of paramount importance for us to support the right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation, back the Palestinian leadership position and the decisions of the Palestinian Central Council, boost the Palestinian resistance in all its forms, and strongly back the International Committee for Supporting the Palestinian People, which was recently founded by AAPSO. We also hail the popular positions that reject normalization with Israel in the Gulf region and demand all states to recognize the state of Palestine and, of course, stress the need to seek an end to the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights territories and Lebanon's (Shebaa Farms and Ghajar town).
While resolutely confronting the Israeli threats to Lebanon and the Israeli attacks on Syria, as well as the breaches by some regional forces of their territories, and as we are aware that the world has witnessed many and far-reaching change, our keenness to safeguard our organization, enhance its effectiveness and expand its activities is increasing. Our world has witnessed a surge in violence and terrorism, and Asia and Africa are battlegrounds for an increase in wars, largely by proxy, as is the case in the Gulf region and the Middle East, with methodological and systematic attempts to undermine national states in our continents and to dismantle some of its countries and divide them into small states that facilitate the imposition of their mandates and hegemony over them. All this is taking place at a time our world has not recovered from the global financial and economic crisis and the world is even threatened with its recurrence.
Meanwhile, poverty and unemployment rates have increased in many of our countries under austerity policies that do not consider the limited income brackets and do not protect the poor from the impact of these policies. The environment, drought, desertification and climate change crises have intensified. Unfortunately, war has become the only way to resolve conflicts and solve problems and crises between nations.
These changes in our world require not only the revival of the spirit of Bandung - which has shaped the mission and objectives of our Organization and is based on cooperation and solidarity among the peoples of the Third World and the pursuit of independent policies - but also add new tasks and objectives that we should strive to achieve along with the founding goals our Organization was established for, six decades ago.
We must cooperate earnestly in the war against terrorism, which has plagued everyone in the world, not only in our continents, pursue all terrorist organizations and resolutely confront those who support them with money and arms, give them haven and political cover. We must also confront fanaticism and religious extremism that create human monsters who kill and destroy. We also renew our call for an international conference against terrorism. In this respect, we hail the successes achieved by the Iraqi army in cleansing its land and cities from Daesh organization control, and pay tribute to Syria, which has dealt a decisive blow to this terrorist organization, as well as commend Libya whose army is persistently continuing to cleanse its land. Thumbs up to Lebanon, whose army is also countering the terrorist attacks on its territory, and to Egypt which foiled the terrorist organizations' plans to control areas of Sinai and inflicted telling blows on them. Here, the participants in the conference pay tribute to Egypt's leadership, people, army and security for their role in the comprehensive fight against terrorism.
We must resolutely confront attempts at undermining the very entity of our two continents' and at dividing them into statelets to preserve the territorial integrity of our countries. In this respect, it would be useful to open up to all the popular forces in the world who share our vision and principles and oppose their governments endeavors to impose dictates and hegemony over others.
We must also adhere to the principle of resolving disputes by peaceful means to end the wars by proxy that are raging in our countries and to prevent any new wars that threaten our peoples. In this regard, we reiterate our call for a political solution and the completion of political reconciliation in Libya, and for a political resolution of the crises in both Syria and Yemen. We also call for the withdrawal of any foreign forces from both Iraq and Syria, as well as a settlement of the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara according to the autonomy proposal to protect this region from the contagion of terrorism. We also call for a political solution to the Cyprus dispute that guarantees its territorial integrity. Furthermore, we renew our call to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world, and reject the US calls for new small nuclear bombs and US President Trump's insult of African countries.
We must adopt a call for all developed countries to assume their responsibility to find a just and humanitarian solution to the problem of refugees displaced by armed conflict, that ensures their right to life and security, and declare our rejection of the arrogant systematic American and Western policies towards the refugees in a bid to get rid of them and expel them from the countries they had sought refuge in for a secure life. In this regard, we call attention to the need to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian refugees to ease the burden on Lebanon.
It is imperative too to encourage our countries and governments to expand the scope of economic cooperation through broad and diversified inter-trade, joint investment and tourism, as well as technology cooperation which Western countries are holding back. There is also need to continue to call for the adherence of the states in our continent to the social responsibility that some of our countries, especially in the Gulf region, are abandoning by going back on social protection policies for the social classes with less means.
We must adopt popular campaigns all over the world, not only in our two continents, to find solutions to the poverty and unemployment problems and crises that are further exacerbated by the pressures and the advice of some international organizations, and to the environment problems and crises, while encouraging our governments and nations to stand as one at international forums on climate and water issues which must be governed by the principle of not harming the interests and rights of others who share with us river basins.
We must also give special and significant attention to the activities of our Organization to support and deepen cultural relations between the peoples of our two continents, since culture in all its branches (artistic, literary and intellectual) brings us closer together, strengthens bonds between our peoples and enables us to counter foreign cultural hegemony amid attempts by some western countries to impose their lifestyles and values on us. In this respect, we are duty-bound to activate the established specialized unions and committees or those revived by AAPSO in recent years such as the Writers Union, the Media Union and others.
Finally, as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of our Organization, which was a great contribution, we have great hopes in promoting it to be a support for all our peoples to chart a better future in which we enjoy a good safe life, peace, justice, democracy and prosperity.
Cairo, January 15, 2018
