Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) Meeting

IPACC's executive committee members stated that the meeting was informative, and served to provide the meeting's participants with IPACC's vision, and to exchange ideas on how to improve the efficiency of IPACC's committee.

At the start of the meeting, Chairperson of IPACC, Mr. Hassan Belkassem, provided a brief description of his organization. IPACC was founded in 1977 in order to ameliorate the lives of indigenous people across Africa by empowering indigenous leadership and lobbying in order to improve African indigenous livelihood. IPACC's executive committee is comprised of a chairperson (Mr. Hassan Belkassm of Morocco), a deputy chairperson (Ms. Mary Simat of Kenya), regional representatives from North, South, East, West and Central Africa, as well as regional deputies (a female deputy is elected from each participant region). IPACC brings together dozens of organizations that work to improve the livelihood of indigenous people living throughout Africa. It also participates in awareness campaigns about the rights of African indigenous people.

One of IPACC's deputies, Mr. Mohammed Ikarbane (Algeria), stated that IPACC helped demystify indigenous issues in Africa. According to Mr. Ikarbane, there are many oppressed people in Africa, and dialogue is necessary in order to improve their livelihood. IPACC, for example, has denounced several human rights violations against African indigenous tribes (such as violations committed against the Pygmies). Indigenous tribes have approached IPACC along with several other African development committees in order to bring about an end to continual violations committed against members of their communities.

When the floor opened to participants, an indigenous participant from Kenya (along with two of his fellow tribal members) claimed that IPACC needed to do more lobbying in Kenya. He argued that IPACC should no longer ignore indigenous problems in Kenya and must work at the grassroots level in Africa in order to mitigate the continuous tribal struggles occurring throughout the continent.

A participant from Northern Africa claimed that IPACC should also focus on the fact that Arabs in North Africa are not being treated as Africans. He believes IPACC should lobby African governments to acknowledge Northern African Arabs as Africans and not be considered different due to skin color and religious differences.

When the participants finished exchanging comments and ideas, the committee members took the floor and responded to the remarks. Chairperson Belkassm, Deputy Chairperson Mary Simat, Mr. Nigel Crawhall (Fund-raising and management consultant), and Dr. Ayitegan Kouevi (Francophone Legal Adviser, African Representative to the Permanent Forum) explained that IPACC does not attempt to solve every offence and human rights violation that occurs against indigenous groups in Africa. They stated that it is unfair to blame IPACC (or other African development organizations) for not being able to reach out to all communities and solve every problem. All attempts at progress have limits, yet IPACC nevertheless continues to reach out to indigenous groups at the grassroots level and has achieved a lot of success to date. Mr. Crawhall emphasized the fact that IPACC strengthens leadership in movement, and does not attempt to solve all struggles on the ground. In direct response to the indigenous participant from Kenya, Crawhall stated that IPACC does spend money and resources in Kenya, but the responsibility of ameliorating a problem heavily depends on the indigenous leaders in the communities, and not outside organizations. As the meeting came to a close, Crawhall emphasized that IPACC is "only as strong as its members" and urges all participants to move away from "Afro-pessimism": the belief that situations in Africa will never improve and remain in a problematic state.

By: Kristin Karla Bailey - CONGO Communications Intern - July 2003

BACK