Summary: Speakers for the motion: Richard Dowden: Director of the Royal African Society. He was born in Surrey and educated at St Georges College, Weybridge, Surrey and London University (BA in History). From 1970-72 he was a volunteer teacher in Uganda and between 1972 and 1975 he was Secretary of the Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission for England and Wales. He was a reporter then Editor of the Catholic Herald newspaper 1975 - 1980 and Reporter on The Times, specialising in foreign affairs 1980 - 1986. From 1986 - 1994 he was Africa Editor of The Independent and then in 1994 became Diplomatic Editor of The Independent. From 1995 - 2001 he was the Africa Editor of The Economist and he has been the Executive Director of the Royal African Society since 2002. He continues to work as a freelance journalist and has written for all the main national dailies and weeklies except The Daily Telegraph. I have also made three full-length documentary TV films about Africa for the BBC and Channel 4 and several smaller ones. Matthew Parris: Times newspaper columnist, television and radio broadcaster. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem: General Secretary of the global Pan African Movement since 1994 and is resident in Uganda and London. Tajudeen is Nigerian by origin. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where he gained his DPhil in political science. He was a founder member of the Africa Resource and Information Bureau, London, and has been at the centre of numerous initiatives to promote peace and democracy in Africa. Tajudeen writes and lectures on Africa for several journals and universities. He is Chairperson of the Centre for Democratic Development and the Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme. Tajudeen's "Thursday Postcard is widely read throughout Africa. Speakers against the motion: The Rt Hon Clare Short MP: Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood since 1983. Secretary of State for International Development from 1997-2003. Author of "An honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq and the Misuse of Power" (2004), an attempt to explain why Tony Blair did what he did on Iraq so that the lessons can be learned and things put right. Resigned the Labour whip in Parliament in October 2006, but remains a member of the Labour Party. Anthony Sampson: Keenly interested in South African affairs since 1951 when, after leaving Oxford, he first went to South Africa to become editor of the black magazine Drum in Johannesburg. He met Nelson Mandela that year in Soweto as Mandela was preparing for the Defiance Campaign against apartheid, which Drum covered extensively. In 1956 Anthony Sampson published his first book - a hugely entertaining account of his four years as editor (Drum: An African Adventure) - and frequently revisited South Africa thereafter. Subsequently he wrote a book about the treason trials in 1958 and reported Mandela's own trial before he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. In London Sampson worked for the Observer for six years before publishing (in 1962) his groundbreaking, bestselling Anatomy Of Britain (later updated four times and read by Mandela in prison). He followed it with a succession of major books about international business, including Seven Sisters, The Arms Bazaar, Black And Gold (an account of the relations between business and apartheid) and Company Man. He has been chairman of the Society of Authors and a member of the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian and Observer. His most recent books include Mandela: The Authorised Biography and his new Anatomy of Britain, "Who Runs this Place?" which will be published by John Murray in April. Sir Marrack Goulding: Educated at St. Paul's School, London, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he received First Class Honours in Literae Humaniores (Greek and Latin Language and Literature, Ancient History, Greek and Modern Philosophy). He worked the British Diplomatic Service between 1959 and 1985. He served in the Foreign Office from 1964 -
