afrol News, 8 June - As the Spanish Foreign Ministry's prestigious Casa África ("Africa House") is to open its doors in Las Palmas on Tuesday next week, highly profiled African leaders have announced their participation. The Presidents of Senegal, The Gambia and Togo, together with the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, have confirmed their arrival.

At a press conference at the still unfinished building of Casa África, located down-town in the Canary Islands capital Las Palmas, only 250 kilometres off the Moroccan coast, Director Juan Alfonso Ortiz today announced the guest list for the 12 June event.

Apart from the Spanish royal family and most ambassadors from African countries residents in Madrid, several African heads of state or government will assist the inauguration ceremony at Casa África. But only the inner circle of guests will be taken to the restored early 20th century colonial-style building, whose infrastructure still will be incomplete on Wednesday. The larger reception will be held at the University of Las Palmas.

Mr Ortiz confirmed to afrol News that President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, together with President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo and Prime Minister José Maria Neves of Cape Verde had confirmed their arrival and participation at the opening ceremony. Still not confirmed was the possible participation of President João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira of Guinea-Bissau.

Two of Spain's closest countries in north-western Africa, Morocco and Mauritania, are sending lower profiled representatives to the Casa África inauguration, Mr Ortiz revealed. Mauritania sends its Foreign Minister, Ould Mohamed Lemine Mohamed Saleck, who already knows the Canary Islands well after having served as Mauritanian General Consul in Las Palmas in 1996-97. Morocco had originally planned to send Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa, who however had cancelled his trip to Las Palmas.

Casa África is the newest of a number of cultural and economic meeting points for Spanish ties with non-European continents drifted by the Madrid Foreign Ministry and built upon the old and successful model of Casa de Américas in Madrid. During the last few years, a Casa Asia has been established in Barcelona and a Casa Árabe in Seville. Las Palmas was chosen for Casa África for its vicinity with Africa and the historic ties between the Canary Islands and Africa, in particular Spain's African colonies.

Spain has only recently become one of Europe's larger donor nations as the Socialist government of José Luis Zapatero a few years ago detailed ambitious aims regarding Spanish development aid. Equally, his government shifted its aid focus from almost exclusively Latin American relations to putting neighbouring Africa highest on the agenda. The establishment of Casa África was part of this policy.

"We will work together with civil society, African societies, the world of art, of culture, of the economy, etcetera with the aim of strengthening [Spanish] ties with Africa," Mr Ortiz said. He also emphasised that the second motive of the institution was to "promote knowledge among common Spaniards of this neighbour continent," lamenting that most people in Spain until now only have had basic knowledge about Morocco and the Spanish ex-colony Equatorial Guinea.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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