African and Asian leaders met this week in the Indonesian mountain resort city of Bandung almost 50 years to the day after Indonesia's charismatic leader, Sukarno, hosted a similar meeting, in the same city, to focus international attention on the developing countries of the South. The event was perhaps the most significant happening in the international arena for half a century as far as developing countries were concerned. Afro-Asian solidarity has long been a powerful mantra, and for good reason. Both continents suffered from centuries of European colonial exploitation and Western domination. It was only in the aftermath of World War II that the peoples of both continents grasped their chance to shake off the humiliation of European colonial rule. This was the backdrop against which the first Bandung summit took place in April 1955. A spirit of defiance dominated the meeting with the leaders of newly liberated African and Asian countries determined to secure a place for their countries on the global map and fulfil the aspirations of their people, raise their standards of living and eradicate poverty, illiteracy and hunger. The sense of optimism and idealism that prevailed at the 1955 meeting was largely absent at this week's summit. There is a widespread feeling that the fight that once galvanised countries of the South, the anger at the West's history of brutal oppression in Africa and Asia, has become a futile exercise. The countries of both continents are still grappling with the stranglehold of Western economic and military might. If anything, their struggle against Western hegemony has become even more complicated as they confront HIV/ Aids, civil strife and poverty. Speaker after speaker at this week's Bandung summit painted a picture of a world in which globalisation, unfair international trade practices, a crippling debt burden and soaring oil prices are exacting an intolerable toll on the most vulnerable nations. There is a realisation that the same issues that confronted the founding fathers of the Non-Aligned Movement remain firmly in place. Fifty years ago Indonesia's leader, Sukarno, used the summit to foreground the hopes of the developing world. Yet the legacies of imperialism -- poverty and underdevelopment -- remain. This week's meeting in Bandung made it clearer than ever that efforts must be redoubled to rid Africa and Asia of this tragic inheritance.
