Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images |
The Washington District of Colombia-based NGO Phelps Stokes has announced it has turned down an invitation to attend the biennial summit organized by the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation being held in Equatorial Guinea.
The
summit offers an opportunity for world leaders
to convene and talk about solutions for Africa. However, following the
foundation, which earned enormous respect due to its namesake, the iconic civil
rights leader Reverend Leon Sullivan, choosing Equatorial
Guinea as host for the 2012 summit, many politicians, civil rights
leaders and organisations say they won't be attending.
The
reason being the “high-profile summit” is
hosted by Africa's longest-serving “dictator”, Equatorial Guinea's
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who is widely accused of presiding
over human rights abuses in the oil-rich West African country.
The latest to bow-out of the summit held August 20-24 is
Phelps Stokes.
“On behalf of Phelps Stokes, I regret to inform you that
representatives of our organization will not be attending the Sullivan
Foundation Summit in Equatorial Guinea,” announces Mr. Pape Samb, President and
CEO of Phelps Stokes.
Phelps
Stokes, one of the major supporters of the Global Youth Innovation
Network (GYIN), told its supposed delegates to the summit that it
was withdrawing because “the recent negative media
attention and criticism amongst public figures has put our organization in a
difficult position.”
“As fellow non-profit organization, we have an obligation to
those we serve to present ourselves in the best possible way in the public
arena,” Mr. Samb said. “While we greatly admire the work of the Sullivan
Foundation and the legacy of Leon Sullivan, we believe it is in our best
interests to not participate.”
The US-based NGO which turns 101 years since its establishment
said it was alarmed “not to attend” by news articles citing the withdraws of
politicians and civil rights leaders and the alleged human rights abuses in E.
Guinea.
Phelps Stokes mission is to builds self-sustainable
global communities, by nurturing a new generation of global leaders, educators,
entrepreneurs, students, and citizens, with particular attention to people of
color and indigenous affiliation.
Since
it began two decades ago, the Sullivan summit attracted high-profile attendees
in the persons of US Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, General Colin
Powell and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In
2010, President Clinton was listed as an honorary member of the foundation's
board.
The
E. Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang and his Government are accused of rights abuses
including "abridgement of citizens' right to change their government;
instances of physical abuse of prisoners and detainees by security forces;
arbitrary arrest, detention, and incommunicado detention."
In
fact, Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading rights agencies calls
Obiang's rule a "dictatorship."
However,
Sullivan Foundation President and CEO, Hope Masters, who is a daughter to
the late Rev. Sullivan, in a statement
described the criticism as "misguided rants".
“The
truth is that President Obiang has modernized his country and has implemented
major political reforms,” she argued, citing his election in 2011 as African
Union president.
"My
father did not agree with those who believed that solutions could be achieved
by ignoring the issues that exist," she is quoted as saying by US media. She also
hoped the summit would be what she called a "teachable
moment" for those who doubted the progress of Equatorial Guinea.
“The
Sullivan Foundation is destroying the legacy of its namesake by working
hand-in-hand with one of the most repressive, exploitative regimes in Africa’s
history,” the president of the Washington-based Human Rights Foundation, Thor
Halvorssen is quoted as saying.
Nonetheless,
the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation-organised summit went ahead at what has been
described as a “lavish complex” that includes an 18-hole golf course, a
five-star hotel and a spa in a West African country where media reports say
“many lack access to electricity and running water.”
The
Foundation said the gathering is intended to “create an atmosphere of open
dialogue about the state of human rights” in Africa. But rights activists
protested holding the event in Equatorial Guinea, a country said to have “one
of the worst human rights records in Africa.”
Written by Modou S. Joof
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