Chinua Achebe in Jamaica: Speaking His Mind.

In his first interview after arriving in Jamaica to participate in events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the end of the forced European transport of African people across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, Jamaica Gleaner newspaper (www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070103/news/news6.html) lifestyle editor Barbara Ellington spoke with renowned author Chinua Achebe about issues concerning Africa, Pan Africanism, the significance of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee commemoration, and his literary achievements [the original article was published January 3, 2007, titled the 'Conversation With: Chinua Achebe--Renowned Author Speaks His Mind', thus the content herein is reprinted by permission of The Gleaner Company Limited via Mavis Belasse, the manager of the Information Systems Department and Sheree Rhoden, the research assistant in the Information Systems Department at the same company, with copyright remaining with The Gleaner Company Limited in Kingston, Jamaica]. I begin at a time when on January 1, 2007, as Caribbean people, it concerns us that events in Darfur are horrendous. Just this morning, Somali Islamists were chased out by the Ethiopians following years of conflict. Share thoughts on events as they concern the instability on the African continent and the fact that our people live in subhuman conditions, face inevitable death from starvation or wars, are constantly chased away from home, and all the ills that attend Africans today.