Amistad
Committee meets President Kabbah
By Yusuf Alghali
A visiting representative group of the United
States-based Amistad Committee called on President
Kabbah Wednesday 3rd December, 2003 as part
of the committee's follow-up of existing local
projects as well as exploration for possible
new ones.
Alfred
Maada, head of delegation and President of the
Amistad Committee said they were here specifically
to look at ways of restoring Bunce Island, a
historic former slave outpost established in
the 1800's during the period of the trans-Atlantic
slave trade.
The
Island, he said, is not only useful for national
education and tourism purposes, but also very
useful for U.S. history. He noted that Bunce
Island had better direct links with the United
States than the Senegalese Island of Goree.
Mr.
Maada said the rehabilitation of Bunce Island
through a private project needed the support
of government, especially regarding the signing
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) convention
on historical sites, which could enable the
Amistad Committee obtain technical and other
assistance from the UN body.
Maada
also said the project would provide an opportunity
for the children of Sierra Leone and the United
States to understand their histories better.
He said they had asked the U.S. Park Services
to do another survey of the Bunce Island and
plan for the design of the Island.
President
Kabbah commended the group for their good work
and for being able to find out so much more
about Sierra Leone. He said most people already
know the historic ties between the U.S. and
the Caribbean, but noted that the Amistad group
had been able to find out from where and how
they left for the Americas. Such a discovery,
the President said, was very important and called
on the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr.
Lamin Kamara, to urgently address the outstanding
issues pertaining to the signing of the UNESCO
convention because, as he put it, government
would do all it could within its limited resources
to invest in the restoration of Bunce Island
as a historic site.
End-
