Africa Day was celebrated in Madrid with conferences, new technologies and 'reggae'

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union, and also celebrates half a century of Africa Day a commemoration that was set on the 25th May along with the birth of the institution. For this reason, Casa África participated in a programme of activities that took place last week at the Carlos de Amberes Foundation and Sala La Riviera in Madrid. The music of Alpha Blondy and Sidy Samb, the testimony on the situation in the Great Lakes by journalists of the category of Caddy Adziba and Colette Braeckman and a round table on the social networks in which the Senegalese blogger Cheikh Fall took part were the highlights of this programme, which ran from 22nd to 24th May.

The Carlos de Amberes Foundation became the headquarters of the institutional event of Wednesday 22nd May, organised by the Group of African Ambassadors in Spain (GEA). Gabon's ambassador was in charge of receiving the guests at 8.p.m. and heading the awards ceremony that awarded the honours from the Federation of African Associations in the Canary Islands and Sur Foundation for their work in getting Africa and Africans known in Spain. At 8.45 p.m. a round table on the use of social networks by African civil societies started, which was attended by the Senegalese blogger and journalist Cheikh Fall, creator of the plataform SUNU 2012. Together with Fall, the winners of Casa África's last essay prize took part in the round table, which was specifically on the social networks in Africa and which counted on the experience of this Senegalese activist. Here are the Africanist and academic Antoni Castel and journalist and social networking expert Charles Bass. Finally, a corporate reception was held at 9.45p.m.

Also at the headquarters of the Carlos de Amberes Foundation on Thursday 23rd May, from 10:00 am onwards, there was a conference on the conflicts in the Great Lakes region organised by the foundation itself and the Observatory on Social Reality of Sub-Saharan Africa from the Autonomous University of Madrid. The sessions, called A deafening silence: the conflicts in the Great Lakes region, had among its speakers the two heavyweights of journalism: the Congolese Adzuba Caddy and the Belgium Colette Braeckman. Casa África participated with them through a presentation by its General Director, Santiago Martinez-Caro.

Finally, the finishing touch to Casa África's celebration on the 25th May took place on Friday 24th May, at 8 pm in the Sala La Riviera with the Africa Vive concert. Alpha Blondy from the Ivory Coast and the Senegalese Sidy Samb formed the line-up of an initiative with which Casa África wanted to give a more festive touch to commemorate the half century of the African Union. Alpha Blondy presented his latest album, Mystic Power, and Sidy Samb did the same with his latest recording, still unpublished and on which he is working on in Dakar, Sunu.