Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller greets Professor Chinua Achebe at the launch of activities to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade at Emancipation Park in New Kingston on Tuesday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

A year-long series of activities has been planned for this year to highlight the contribution of Jamaica's African ancestors in ending the transatlantic slave trade, according to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

The Prime Minister said on Tuesday that the abolition of the slave trade marked the start of a new Jamaican identity and that the celebrations were a fitting tribute to Jamaicans' ancestors.

She was speaking at a cultural rally to officially launch bicen-tenary celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans at Eman-cipation Park in St. Andrew.

The Prime Minister said the cultural rally marked the beginning of an entire year of remembrance and reflection on the spirit of the nation's ancestors whose fight for freedom provided Jamaicans with the opportunity to live their own lives.

She said the fact that the rally was held on Haiti's Ancestors' Day, was a fitting tribute to the magnificent role played by Haitians in the struggle against the slave trade.

Other activities planned for the year include a Black History Month lecture in February, a cultural exposé by the Accom-pong Maroons and a film festival on black liberation, slavery and Garveyism.

Jamaica played a leading role in putting forward a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly that 2007 be recognised inter-nationally as the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans.

Widespread support

The resolution received wide-spread support including from the United Kingdom and the United States.

A local bicentenary committee was launched in Jamaica in 2004 with a mandate to educate the nation about the abolition process from a Caribbean point of view.

Renowned African writer Professor Chinua Achebe, author of the book Things Fall Apart, was the guest speaker at the cultural rally.

The rally also featured presen-tations by individuals, and cultural groups such as the Ivine Order of Nyabinghi, Colonel Sterling of the Moore Town Maroons and the African Heritage Development Association of St. Thomas.

His worship the Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Desmond McKenzie, and Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba were among those who brought greetings.