From All Africa.

African countries must overcome fear of fellow Africans, remove barriers and allow free movement and inter-African trade to take root among their own people in the interest of economic integration and unity, a political analyst says.

Xenophobic tendencies displayed by Zimbabweans and South Africans against their fellow Africans are disturbing and anti-African, political analyst and publisher Dr Ibbo Mandaza told the audience at a public lecture at the University of Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies, according to a report in All Africa.

The lecture provided a platform for speakers to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the African Union. The theme was, “Fifty Year Journey of the African Union: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects.”

“Zimbabweans and South Africans seem to suffer from very acute amnesia forgetting the sacrifices that were made by other African countries for them to be liberated,” Mandaz  said. “Nigerians in the 1970s gave a $1 each for the liberation fund. We cannot be pan Africanists while at the same time we are xenophobic, calling Malawians and Zambians ‘aliens.'”

Also speaking at the lecture, University Vice Chancellor Prof. Levy Nyagura said, “Most of the issues that were echoed by our forefathers in 1963 when the (African Union) was founded are still relevant today. The question we have to ask ourselves is how far have we gone in realizing Kwame Nkrumah’s dream of a united Africa?”

Read more at All Africa.