African young people have been urged to be patriotic and adopt the spirit of Pan-Africanism on African Liberation Day, which falls on May 25 every year.

Protais Musoni, commissioner in Pan-Africanism Movement Rwanda chapter, told hundreds of young people gathered at the University of Rwanda College of Business and Economics in the Capital, Kigali.

He was speaking on Wednesday during the celebrations to mark African Liberation Day, an event held to mark the progress of the liberation movement across the continent.

African Liberation Day celebrates African nations' hard-fought freedom from European colonial powers and to symbolize the determination of African people to free themselves from foreign domination, influence and exploitation.

The day was marked under the theme "women and youth at the forefront of African liberation" and it was for the first time that Rwanda celebrated it.

"No African child must be without education, merely because of his or her condition of poverty. We should liberate ourselves from jaws of poverty. Young people should have the passion to drive Africa growth forward," said Musoni.

He called on Africa's youth to be at the forefront of fighting for affordable means of transport, water, electricity, railway to link Northern Africa to the South and Eastern Africa to the West.

The day attracted government officers, business community and members of foreign diplomatic corps accredited to Rwanda.

Despite the continent celebrating liberation day, Africa still faces widespread poverty and underdevelopment, illiteracy, debt and neoliberalism.

According to Ali Idi Siwa, Tanzanian High Commissioner to Rwanda, Pan- Africanism is not static but dynamic depending on situation.

"Africa produced many World leaders for instance Nelson Mandela. We can do it again, a rise Africa and take the lead on the World stage. We have to liberate our mind before, being different it's not a problem but being together is important," he noted.

This year's focus goes to women and youth given the fact that they make up 74 per cent of the world's population, according to a document from the Pan African Movement, Rwanda Chapter, the event organizers.

The African Union Summit slated for July in Rwanda will also focus on rights of women.

The African liberation day was established on May 25, 1963 when 31 heads of state convened to founded the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU).

The day will be celebrated at a time when African Union member states are in the process of operationalizing the implementation of AU Agenda 2063 which aims to ensure the spirit of Pan-Africanism as the center of African development.

The celebration of the African liberation day is also an opportunity to honour Pan-Africanism founding fathers such as Ghanain Kwame Nkrumah, Ethiopian Haile Selassie, and Thomas Sankara among others.

It was founded in 1958 when Kwame Nkrumah convened the First Conference of Independent States held in Accra, Ghana and attended by eight independent African states.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2016)