Accra, July 21, GNA - The Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the contestants seeking nomination for the position of a flag-bearer in the Democratic Party for the 2004 US polls, has reiterated the call on the warring factions in Liberia to cease fire in the interest of vulnerable groups. Addressing a cross-section of Ghanaians in Accra on Sunday, as part of his tour of Africa, Rev Sharpton said women and children had mostly been the victims of the prolonged war in Liberia.

He said the war had impacted negatively on the development of the entire African continent.

Rev Sharpton, who is leading a seven-member delegation of African-American Clergy on a Sub-Regional tour, said he would appeal to rebel groups to rise above their differences in the interest of women and children.

Rev. Sharpton attributed the slow pace of development in Africa, 40 years after most of them had achieved independence, to lack of clear agenda for their development.

He said it was necessary to stop dealing romantically with the history of Africa and reduce the consideration of issues that affected the continent's development from personalities to policy issues. Rev Sharpton said there had been high levels of fraud in how the most developed nations dealt with Africa's development agenda.

He said Africa had a stake in the world and it was time it stood up to defend its stake, adding Africa was styling a reactionary behaviour rather than liberating its people.

He called on Africans to establish their own identity in international politics and chart their own path of development for the future. Rev. Sharpton praised the contributions of Pan-Africans to Africa's development and charged Africans to be committed in their contributions in forging ahead the development of Africa. He praised Ghana's democratic dispensation and the current level of involvement of the people governance, saying this had contributed to its peaceful progress.

The delegation would visit and make a donation to refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp and visit historical places in the Central Region.

It would confer with President John Agyekum Kufuor; visit refugee camps in La Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea and report back to the US Congressional Black Caucus.

It would also visit South Africa where it would confer with ex-President Nelson Mandela on a variety of topics, including Senegal's proposal for a permanent representation of Africans in the Diaspora in the African Union.