Rio De Janeiro — The five-day international colloquim on the theme; Teaching and Propagating African History and Culture to the Diaspora and Teaching Diaspora History and Culture to Africa opened at the State University of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Monday with over 25 scholars from across the globe in attendance.

It was a busy day as scholars converged in their numbers in an atmosphere of comradie and scholarly euphoria in their attempt to define and deliberate on the ways forward for blacks both at home and in the Diaspora.

Declaring the five day international colloquium open, African Union Ambassador and Permanet Representative to United Nations, Ambassador Amina Ali said that history is now on the side of Africa. History according to her, was what brought people into the Diaspora and therefore, Africans have no choice than to know their history.

Praising the Centre for Black Afrocan Art and Civilization, CBACC for her noble role in organizing the program and also, extending her hand of fellowship to the University authorities of the State University of Rio De Janeiro, Ambassador Ali said that "If we as Africans know where we are coming from , we should know what our history and Culture portray, but if we fail to know our history, we can't stand and proud and face the challenges of life."

Also responding in his own opening remark, Nigeria's retired General Isola Williams, Secretary of Pan African and Strategic and Policy and Research Group, PANAFSTRAG, challenged Africans to come to the front burner of world Affairs . In his words, " there is nothing like Africans in the Diaspora, what we have instead is non resident Africans and Africans in Africa."

He reminded Africans abroad to always be conscious of where they are coming from and see all Africans all over the world as one.

Also responding, Dudley Thmpson, a world known Pan Africanist and former Jamaican Ambassador to Nigeria, first paid tribute to the memory to South Africa's popular musician, Maria Makeba, whom she said spend all her times fighting inequality not only in South Africa but globally.

He pointed out that the role of Maria Makeba and others like Dubois, Martin Luther Kings Jnr, Malcom X, Kwame Nkurumah, Jomo Kenyatta have all resulted in contributing to the emergence of the recently elected Barack Obama as the first African American President in the United States of America.

He thanked Nigeria for keeping black spirit alive. He also recalled his stay as Jamaican Ambassador in Nigeria with nostalgia and said that Pan Africanists must follow global change based on justice and equity for all.

According to him," It is a great euphoria for Africa to lead the world now. Africans must not be complacent now. It is time to keep moving on."

Prof. Abdias Do Nasmento of Brazil lamented that the Brazilian society for which the blacks laboured to build in the days past has not been adequately acknowledged the blacks contribution to society.

In a long speck delivered in Portuguese, he called on the Brazilian government to now come out of the shell to acknowledge the role of black Brazilians in building a modern Brazilian society, which is still being appreciated by the world.

He not only thanked Nigeria and reminded her of her many cultural values that must be tapped for humanity , but also reminded the entire world that African mode of religions are still practiced in Brazil today."

Africans came with their religion, they came with creativity and abundance of human resources, and today Brazil is the better for it. We as black Brazilians are proud of all these.

"But we as a nation have not shown gratitude to Africa in this regard. Now is the time to do so for history is seriously being reversed. Africans fought in the past, bled, died, but they have built national structures not only in Brazil , but world wide. But today , you all can see that in history for history has vindicated the black man", he said.

Ali Moussa Iye of UNESCO, in charge of issues of slavery world wide and a citizen of Djobiti said that time has come to deal with issues of slavery and suffering of the black man as part of world wide history." It is time to put African culture on the right track and teach African history and re-connection through out the world.

We in UNESCO are always behind this kind of project. It is time for us to re-examine our hopes , visions and experiences to rebuild and re-connect with ourselves wherever we are because that is the only way we can move forward as a people ready to re-make history.

Welcoming the August gathering, Director of CBAAC, Professor Tunde Babawale, who also stood in for Nigeria's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Adetokunbo Kayode first thanked the Vice Chancellor of University Rio DE Janeiro, Ricardo De Castro for his love to host the colloquium and also for his positive attitude to African ideas, history and Culture.

He recalled how Africa was raped, tortured and enslaved by other peoples in the world and how today events in the Diaspora have proved the resilience and love of Africans for new ideas, creativity and ideals.

"Brazil is a true demonstration of this development and Barak Obama is that symbol. CBACC is equal to the task and we will continue to play the role in uplifting African spirit ." He said.

The five day colloquium will have scholars from across the globe: Europe, America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa coming together to discuss diverse issues concerning the black race.