The Sixth Leon H. Sullivan Summit

African-America's pro-corporate sleazebags announce Nigeria summit 
 

(It's not nice to speak ill of the dead. But this one's an exception. Leon
Sullivan was the black visitor whom the apartheid regime most appreciated
during the 1980s, for opposing the ANC/UDF call for disinvestment, in favour
of his toothless Sullivan Principles. Archbishop Tutu described Sullivan as
'shining the chains of apartheid,' not even trying to break them, during the
divestment struggles at US campuses. I also remember Rev.Sullivan from when
I worked in Philadelphia during the first half of the 1980s, where he
enjoyed the same reputation for sucking up to local big business, which was
happy to invite him to soirees while leaving his North Philly ghetto a
classic site of disinvestment, redlining and capital blight. I wonder if
Nigerian comrades will monitor whether there are visitors from Pretoria at
the gala saying nice things about Sullivan...Patrick Bond)


CONTINENT OF POSSIBILITIES

We'll take you there ...

The Sixth Leon H. Sullivan Summit
For more information contact the Summit Office 202.736.2239
Online registration coming soon.

The 6th Leon H. Sullivan Summit, formerly the African-African American
Summit, is slated for Nigeria's capital, Abuja in 2003. Following the
resounding success of the Leon H. Sullivan Biennial Dinner held in
Washington DC on June 20, 2002, the organization and its new Chairman,
Ambassador Andrew Young look to the future of the Sullivan movement with
great optimism. The Sullivan Dinner was mainly a tribute to the late
Reverend Leon H. Sullivan who founded the Summit movement as a tool to
assist the human, economic and business development of Africa with special
emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa.

The event was attended by U.S. President George Bush, Nigeria's President
Olusegun Obasanjo, Secretary Colin Powell, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary
Paul O'Neil, as well as several top officials and CEOs from Africa and the
U.S. Applauding ChevronTexaco's long-time commitment to economic and social
development in Africa, the newly launched Sullivan Foundation presented the
company with the Sullivan Corporate Leadership Award at the black tie
Dinner. Also, President Olusegun Obasanjo was awarded with the Sullivan
Summit Service Award for his dedicated service and leadership in the African
continent as a whole.

In his address to the glittering crowd of over a thousand attendees,
President Bush announced his intention to visit Africa in 2003, to increase
funding in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to promote education on the
continent. The Sullivan Dinner was the highlight of a 3-day assembly to help
governments and organizations promote the Global Sullivan Principles, which
focus on advancing human rights in education, health and business in
Sub-Saharan Africa. In his turn, Summit Chairman Andrew Young said the
Dinner and Summit "provide the seeds for action by which we can begin to
realize our goal of a healthy, democratic and flourishing Africa." President
Obasanjo spoke of some of the challenges faced by Africa's leadership and
appealed for continued support to surmount the often-overwhelming problems.
Poverty alleviation, education, human rights, anti-corruption, trade and aid
were the areas the Nigerian leader highlighted as being of crucial
importance.

Accepting the leadership award for ChevronTexaco, Chairman Dave O'Reilly
said: "From the perspective of a global energy company, we know that
Africa's oil and gas resources are vital to the world's energy markets. It
is for this reason that ChevronTexaco and its predecessor companies have
invested close to $5 billion in the past five years (in the continent). And
together with partners, we plan to invest upwards of $20 billion over the
next 5 years. I can tell you we have every expectation that this will be
money well spent."

As the preceding Summits, the 6th Leon H. Sullivan Summit to be held in
Abuja will bring together African Heads of State, top U.S. officials, the
U.S. private sector leadership and thousands of delegates from both the U.S.
and Africa. In May 1999, the 5th Summit convened in Accra, Ghana, attracted
about 5000 delegates, 13 African Heads of State and several corporate CEO's
and Senior Vice Presidents. Under the title "Africa Can Compete," business,
trade and investment formed the major theme.