The following communication comes from the office of Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the Interim Committee of the African Socialist International (ASI). The African Socialist International is an international party of African revolutionaries. The ASI has as its historical mission the unification and liberation of Africa under an all-African socialist government under the leadership of the African working class and poor peasantry.

For more information, contact the African Socialist International:
Omali Yeshitela, ASI Chairman
1245 18th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33705
USA

Luwezi Kinshasa, ASI Secretary-General
BILT Mansions
4-16 Deptford Bridge
London SE8 4HH
United Kingdom
077 8412 1709 (cell)
 uhuruasi@aol.com
www.asiuhuru.org

Uhuru! Am’Afrika;

Within hours after we began our protest of the harassment of Africanist Movement Director Chernoh M. Bah and two of his companions in Freetown, Sierra Leone, we have received information informing us that the police have dropped all charges against the three men. They also returned the confiscated drivers license of the person who was driving the car in which they were traveling when detained by police on March 6.

There is no doubt in our minds that the charges were dropped because of the immediate and overwhelming response we were able to mount in the defense of the men and the Africanist Movement, members of the African Socialist International (ASI).

This is the true meaning of our ASI slogan, “Touch one, touch all!” and a clear demonstration of the significance of the ASI, a single international organization of African revolutionary socialists committed to the liberation and unification of Africa and African people worldwide.

We are extremely appreciative of everyone who heeded our call to defend these am’Afrika, both Africans and our allies who also love Our Africa and are united with our aims to reachieve our freedom and independence as a whole people.

However, we must continue to maintain our vigilance. This harassment of Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and the Africanist Movement is just the beginning of a campaign being orchestrated by imperialists. The harassment is coming because of the leading role being played by M. Bah and the Africanist Movement in the struggle for social, political and economic justice in neighboring Guinea-Conakry where the masses recently resorted to open insurrection to protest their treatment by the neocolonial government there. The rebellions arose in the face of the handover of their natural resources to imperialist corporations at the expense of the people of Guinea and the region

See our website asiuhuru.org for details on the Guinea struggle and the role of the Africanist Movement.

Nevertheless, the response from the international African community, our dispersed nation, and our allies, has temporarily pushed the neocolonialist Sierra Leone state back. Hundreds of emails and telephone calls inundated the Sierra Leone embassies in the U.S., London and other places, as well as the offices of officials in Sierra Leone itself. In the U.S. the Sierra Leone ambassador’s phone voicemail box was overloaded. The embassy expressed extreme frustration for being called by so many people from throughout the U.S. Similar responses were reported from England and other places, including France.

But again, comrades, for all the success of this one fight back, we must understand that the struggle has just begun and Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and the Africanist Movement continue to face grave danger, making it necessary for all of us to remain highly vigilant.

Below are two examples of the letters sent to the Sierra Leone ambassador to the U.S. in response to the call made by the ASI:

“Mssrs. Ambassadors. I wish to protest the recent arrest of Africanist leader Chernoh Alpha M. Bah. The arrest of Mr. M. Bah and his two traveling companions is seen as an attempt to disrupt the rise of true democracy and freedom for the average citizen in Sierra Leone and our beloved motherland Africa. I hold the opinion that these harassment and intimidation tactics are being commanded by the highest levels of the Sierra Leone government. True freedom and democracy can come to Africa, but those who are leaders in this decades-long process should be hailed not sacrificed on an altar of petty, selfish, micronationalism. Reflections of the terrible fate of Africanist Patrice Lumumba are looming. Sierra Leone, let your lion roar over a country struggling for freedom at home and throughout Africa. The world is truly watching. Sincerely, an African patriot in the U.S.A., Mr. Shabaka Mnombatha.”

And:

“To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in defense of Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and urging you to ensure his safety so his important work may continue. The recent charges against Chernoh Alpha M. Bah are completely false. Clearly he is being targeted unjustly. He and his companions never disobeyed a police order to stop. This should be obvious by the fact they did stop for the policewomen when asked to do so.

“I beseech you, drop all charges against them and that the security of Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, the men arrested with him, as well as the entire membership of the Africanist movement be guaranteed by the government.

“The attack on Chernoh Alpha M. Bah is directly tied to his political activities in the region, especially in Guinea-Conakry where he and the Africanist movement have played a role in protesting the growing misery of the people there.

“I ask for immediate cessation of the harassment of Chernoh Alpha M. Bah and the Africanist movement.

“I implore you that the Africanist movement and the people of Sierra Leone be allowed the rights of freedom of speech, press and political association.

“Thank you.

“MLPolak, Philadelphia, PA USA”

The following is a statement from Africanist Movement Director Chernoh Alpha M. Bah himself, explaining the current situation and his understanding of the existing threat to the security of himself and the Africanist Movement:

“Uhuru! Chairman,

“I am writing to say that the charges against us have been dropped with no explanations from the police. The police just gave us the driver's licence and instructed us to go saying our charges have been dropped due to ‘police and judicial discretion.’ That was all!

“In any case, this has not come as a surprise. A few days ago, we received information that there is a high level surveillance that is focused on our activities and operations. Our source even reported to us that we have to be more vigilant because we were the subject of a discussion at a recent Office of National Security (ONS) executive meeting involving key government officials. The ONS is run by senior officers of the British military in Sierra Leone and other officers of the Sierra Leone military and police.

“The fact that we were stopped just two days later shows that this is directly connected to the said issue. The policewomen who arrested us made no mistakes because one of them was on the phone immediately confirming our arrest and equally informing us they were acting on instructions from above. The radio message and instruction must have originated from a top level command and in this case, the high police council which is directly tied to the ONS.

“Another thing that confirms this is that we were detained just for four hours and there was no delay on the part of the police in charging the matter straight to court. More importantly, we were scheduled to appear before a police magistrate court and not a normal court. This removes it from being an ordinary case resulting from a "minor traffic offence" like the one that we were charged for.

“Consequently, we believe this is a move by the state against the movement, and one that is targeted against the leadership. Additionally, we believe that we are under surveillance and that assignments have been issued out to people who have been given responsibility to report on our activities. There was no way the police would have noticed that we were driving along that road at the time we were arrested in traffic of over a hundred cars without someone giving them information. Again, even though they have let us go for now, they are equally working on a different plan at the moment. This is the situation at the moment.”

Am’Afrika, the struggle for Africa’s future has reached a critical phase. It seems that all the imperialist forces in the world intend to rescue and salvage a crises-ridden, decrepit but dangerous imperialism by deepening the exploitation of a perennially exploited and desperate Africa and our people.

The most meaningful and coherent response to this escalating attempt to exploit Africa is the Africanist Movement in West Africa, led by Chernoh Alpha M. Bah. It has been the Africanist Movement that has provided our courageous and resisting masses in Guinea-Conakry a revolutionary democratic program that not only shows the way forward in Guinea-Conakry, but also has immediate implications for the entire region and most of Africa.

The program of the Africanist Movement as advanced in Guinea-Conakry is one of our most important efforts to challenge the image of Africa as a place of senseless violence and chaos. This program gives the struggle real leadership that can inform the unity and activities of Africans on the Continent of Africa and around the world, as well as the activities of our allies who are sympathetic to our cause.

It is for this reason that the Africanist Movement is viewed as such a threat and the neocolonialist Sierra Leone government has begun this harassment on such flimsy charges.

We must be aware: these attacks are being directed by the imperialists themselves. In Sierra Leone the British have at least twenty-two thousand troops that occupy the country along with the UN and the U.S. FBI. We can assume the next attack on the Africanist Movement will be more serious and insidious.

However, if we remember that this struggle in West Africa is the struggle of Africans everywhere and that it represents a new development in our efforts to liberate and unify Our Africa and Our People, we can win.

Truly our stance now must be “Touch one, touch all!”

Our future depends on it.

One Africa! One Nation!

Izwe Lethu I Afrika!