As Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim completes his tenure as Secretary‑General of OAU, this dinner tonight is a token of the appreciation that African civil societies wish to express for the invaluable and long years of service that he has rendered to Africa’s freedom and development. Together with other African civil societies, the Inter-Africa Group is proud and privileged to sponsor this event.

While we are thus expressing tonight our gratitude to Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim for all the services he has rendered during his tenure, we are also looking forward to the continuation  of  his useful role as one of Africa’s eminent statesmen. After all, Secretary‑General Salim is still a young man, age‑wise and in spirit, and we have every right to demand that we should not be denied the great contributions Africa still awaits from him in other capacities. We would thus like to disabuse him of any notion that his life after his tenure as Secretary‑General of  OAU will  be one of tranquil retirement‑free of pressure of the burden of official responsibility. On the contrary, because of Africa’s demands on his time and experience, his ­life will be one of continued engagement in one capacity or another for Africa’s betterment. And also because his sense of responsibility is deeply rooted in his sense of duty as a citizen of Africa transcending the responsibility of any office, the burden will not become any lighter.

My role tonight is not to recall his many achievements and praise him but rather to remind him of his responsibilities to come. Dr. Salim has received the gratitude and the accolades of Africa for his services from its leaders at the last Summit of  OAU, in Lusaka, Zambia. Any thing I might say in this respect would detract rather than add to the grateful acknowledgements that the African leaders gave on that occasion. Moreover, my friend and colleague, Abdul Mohammed, the Chairperson of the Inter-Africa Group Board, will also say a few words in that respect on our behalf.

I would like to remind Dr. Salim that what awaits him in the life after  retirement begins tonight. We have asked him, and he has graciously consented, to share with us his reflections on Africa’s future, a task he will be repeatedly called to perform in a speaking engagement such as the one tonight, or in writing. He should brace himself for a life of continued engagement; there will not be any rest for him.

I now call on Abdul Mohammed to introduce Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim.

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