Tunis/Tunisia — "It is time to clear the debts accumulated for decades and to work on recovering the stolen funds, since it is a right stolen from many African peoples, including the Tunisian people," President of the Republic Kais Saied pleaded from Washington, as he takes part in the second session of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
He was speaking at a roundtable discussion on "a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development."
Saied stressed that Tunisians long for justice and freedom in their homeland and share the concern to see them established throughout the world, he was quoted as saying in a Presidency statement.
There cannot be an effective solution to our problems without a "fair and reliable diagnosis" of the disease, the Head of State indicated, stressing that the flood of pacts and agreements concluded and the laws drafted have proven useless and have not achieved the aspirations of the people.
Saied went on to say that millions of human lives have been lost, millions have starved to death and millions more live as if they do not belong to the human race.
"The Tunisian people, like other peoples of the world, "do not want to go back to the past, they want it to be over."
Our people, like other African peoples, have endured so much suffering and setbacks, he regretted, recalling that the profound changes that the world is experiencing today at the pace of unbridled globalisation, require that we rewrite history and take a new path: a path that cannot be charted unilaterally but to which all must contribute, he added.
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We are called upon more than ever to act actively on the principle of equality, the President insisted, reaffirming that equality only makes sense if it is based on justice, freedom and security.
"Are we in one globe or in a world divided into two? A world dedicated to the rich and another one full of wealth but where poverty is rampant and thousands of people are languishing under the yoke of hunger and wars?"
"To alter this, it is our duty to find new solutions based on an innovative humanistic approach, so that security prevails for all and we do not go back to the past centuries and outdated solutions," he addressed the presidents present.
The President advocated an approach based on "effective solutions" to the ills of the African people while opposing the "pseudo remedies" proposed by international donors.
For him, these remedies only add insult to injury and exacerbate tensions, criticising classifications based on figures that are often approximate.
