[ 2010-07-06 ]

Open Letter to the Black Stars Kofi Annan
Open Letter to the Black Stars on the occasion of
their defeat at the World Cup

Geneva, 6th July 2010

Dear Black Stars

Heartbroken – that’s how you must have felt at the
end of your epic match against Uruguay last
Friday. There is no other word for it. Hundreds of
millions of us felt the same way.

For a moment, my reaction to those last minutes of
drama was “how unfair”. But in fact, while you
lost the game, you came out winners. I wanted to
congratulate you not only on a fantastic
performance in which you can take great pride, but
also for accepting your defeat with dignity. You
won because you were such great ambassadors for
the game – and for Africa .

I cannot think of another occasion on which the
whole continent was so united as during your
quarterfinal. “BaGhana BaGhana” replaced “Bafana,
Bafana” for our South African hosts, and I am sure
I could hear the earth shake when Muntari scored –
a mighty roar went up from Cairo to Cape Town,
Dakar to Dar es Salaam – even the deafening
Vuvuzelas couldn’t match it. This thunderous
solidarity is a tribute to you all, and a great
omen for Africa , which is so often depicted as
divided and conflicted. You won because you
brought us all together.

Crucially, this unity went far beyond the shores
of our continent. Millions of non-Africans cheered
for you, too, something that would have been
unthinkable a few decades ago. I am sure, we have
all felt at some stage of our lives that the world
is united against Africa . But this World Cup, and
particularly your last match, has shown the
enormous goodwill towards our continent. You won –
we all won - because you opened so many hearts and
eyes.

The lasting trophy to take away from the
tournament is this incredible moment of unity. I
wish we could preserve it and invoke it more
broadly for the development and wellbeing of the
continent. There is no reason why we should wait
another four years for another moment of
solidarity; we can draw upon what you have
created, now.
Kofi A. Annan
Chair of the Africa Progress Panel

Source - Kofi A. Annan

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