Excellency,

I am pleased to extend, on behalf of the Caribbean Community and the staff of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, heartiest congratulations on your recognition as an African Living Legend by the African Press in Ghana.

The fact that this is your second such recognition by Africans is a powerful testimony that you have sincerely dedicated most of your life to the Pan-African movement. You have not only served your home the Caribbean very well but have extended your hand further afield to cross borders and continents to embrace our African brothers and sisters while seeking to reinforce the ties that have bound us.

To have a Caribbean brother being honoured along with persons of such ilk as Her Excellency Ruth Sando-Perry, Dr. Babacar Ndiaye, Dr. Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, His Excellency President Nelson Mandela, His Excellency Kofi Annan and Professor Wole Soyinka is a tremendous honour, not only for yourself and Jamaica but for the entire Caribbean.

While offering you best wishes, I wish to echo the sentiments of some schools of thought which believe that one does not have to be born in Africa to be an African. You, Ambassador Thompson, are a true embodiment of this.

Edwin W. Carrington
Secretary-General
Caribbean Community