Libya exposes the African Union

The AU lacks the
mechanism to be
proactive and has
failed.

Libya Exposes the African Union

28 February, 2011 | By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
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The turbulence in North Africa has very good rewards for the
citizens whose persistent protests have toppled regimes headed by
political dinosaurs in Tunisia and Egypt.

From a wider angle, these happenings

(especially the humanitarian

one in Libya)

expose the lethargy and painful paralysis

of the African

Union, a continental body

that one would have expected to be

playing a frontline role in redeeming the

continent from such political

upheavals if

it had indeed been properly constituted

and focused on tackling pertinent

problems of the continent. The

AU lacks

the mechanism to be proactive and has

failed. Its

existence is not warranted.

Rather paradoxically, the state of affairs in these North African
countries had been known to the AU all these years but it didn’t
deem it feasible to take action on. Let nobody tell me of any clause
in the AU Charter that prohibits interference in countries’ internal
affairs. It’s just a useless clause that is designed to protect the
autocratic leaders now paying for their senselessness while in
power. Couldn’t the AU take pre-emptive measures to bring those
autocrats back into step to avert what we are witnessing today?

For all the decades that the leaders of these North African countries
were in power, the AU glorified them as “senior members”; but the
quick downturn of their fate proves how cancerous they’ve been all
along. And their cancer rubs off on the AU too to such an extent
that it has gradually made itself odious. The AU is nothing but a
forum for idling by questionable characters who meet and compare
notes on their mismanagement of affairs. The AU itself is a problem
that Africans have to solve first.

While North Africa burns, the AU vanishes from the radar screen,
leaving the problem for the international community to solve. Once
again, the AU has led Africans to come across as people incapable
of solving their own problems. How will we ever be respected if we
continue to portray ourselves as “the white man’s burden”?

The current sordid happenings in Libya further expose and reaffirm
the dormancy and uselessness of the AU. Is it not troubling that
despite all that is happening, especially the humanitarian crisis in
Libya, the continental union hasn’t said anything to register its voice
on the turmoil that is tearing apart those countries? And to think that
the AU has ever had Col. Gadhafi as its Chair? And that a group of
chiefs from Ghana were in Libya to crown him as the “King of
Kings”?

On impulse, we may be perturbed by this lethargy but we shouldn’t
if we realize that the AU is nothing but a sad reflection of the
lethargy that has gripped the continent since time immemorial, we
may understand issues. I am not in the least taken aback at all
because I have had this hunch all along that the AU is an albatross
hanging around the necks of those whose sweat and toil continue
sustain it.

Again, if we consider the fact that the current Chair of the AU
(Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo) is equally
guilty of the very sordid deeds for which Ben Ali, Mubarak, and
Gadhafi are being toppled or for which those countries are in
turmoil, we should appreciate the depth of the lethargy. We shouldn’
t expect such a person (or those like him in other countries) to
condemn his colleagues being toppled in North Africa. He is nursing
the fear of suffering a similar fate if his people become emboldened
enough by the fire raging through North Africa to take him on. Thus,
being mute seems to be a good way out. But it smacks of something
more ominous. It brings to the fore the plight of Africa—a continent
that lacks leaders to move it forward.

This dormancy is disheartening not only because it exposes Africa
as “the white man’s burden” but because it tells its own story about
our leaders’ inability to solve problems even though they have the
capacity to foment trouble through their misguided rule.

So far, stern decisions and actions have been initiated by the Arab
League, the United States, Britain, and France to reinforce
measures put in place by the European Union and United Nations to
force Gadhafi out of the way. Imposing an arms embargo on Libya
as well as freezing Gadhafi’s assets and those of his family and close
associates is expected to close further the noose around their necks.
Then, imposing a travel ban on them suggests that they are being
immobilized to be captured and dealt with. Furthermore, the
decision to refer Gadhafi to the International Criminal Court makes
him a war criminal to be tried and punished for the atrocities inflicted
on his own people. In all these measures, the objective is clear: to
get Gadhafi to listen to reason and grant the wish of the Libyans. It
is only then that the turmoil will abate.

What has the African Union been able to do to support these
international efforts? NOTHING. The AU hasn’t complemented
these international efforts in any way to create the impression that it
can solve its own internal crises. As is the case, the AU has left the
problem to the international community to tackle. Then, when the
dust settles, the member-states will expect to be respected as
sovereign and independent states whose leaders will answer calls to
congregate at talk-shop sessions by the AU to exchange notes on
how to misrule their countries. That’s the impression this lethargy on
the part of the AU has created, which further deepens public
resentment for it.

More troubling is the fact that the AU hasn’t spoken out to
condemn the violence going on in Libya nor has it done anything
concrete to assist in evacuation efforts. We know that many citizens
from many African countries are part of the hordes of refugees
streaming out of Libya and desperately needing support. The AU
hasn’t begun any concerted effort to solve this refugee problem nor
has it given any indication that it is part of those willing to solve the
problem.

Notwithstanding the AU’s lethargy, the reality of the situation is
irreversible. By their victory, the protesters have already sent a
strong signal to insensitive leaders in African countries that they can
no more take the people for granted. The real “people’s power” has
emerged and will be exercised to rid the system of undesirables.
That’s a strong message to scare the current membership of the AU.

Hello, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe; Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo; Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compoare;
Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos; and many others (who may not be
long on the seat but are known for their corruption, tyranny, and self-
serving politics). Are you listening? The tide is gradually coming your
way and you’d better prepare for the wrath of the people you’ve
suppressed all these years. You can’t escape from the people’s
wrath!

The measures by the protesters in North Africa have paid off and
those in Tunisia and Egypt can now look for opportunities to
prevent a resurgence of such autocratic and long-serving regimes.
The Tunisian and Egyptian examples are as eye-opening as they are
inspirational. At least, they’ve opened the world’s eyes to the ills of
long-serving governments headed by autocrats who made the
mistake to equate the people’s patience and tolerance to their
weakness.

At least, Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak have now had the wool off
their eyes and can feel what it is like to be at the other side of the
political curtain from where they are feeling the heat. Now shorn of
all the privileges and power that they had wielded hitherto, they must
be licking their wounds—and will do so for long as pressure
continues to mount on them. So far, moves by countries holding
their assets to freeze those assets should instill fear in them that their
future is bleak. Knowing that the politician and his assets cannot be
parted for long, I am confident that measures to deprive them of
what they had accumulated over the years will achieve the desired
results. And now pushed to the wall, the last blow should be dealt to
them as they are dragged before the International Criminal Court to
be prosecuted and punished for their part in harming their own
people.

Additionally, clipping their wings further through a travel ban will
make them sitting ducks to be picked up to face justice. The fate of
these two deposed Presidents (and the calamity befalling Libya’s
embattled “strong man”) should be a lesson to all others elsewhere
who have abused the people’s trust and turned national politics into
an avenue for self-aggrandizement. There are many of such
Presidents still hanging on to power in other parts of Africa who
must be counting the hour by now. The bell is tolling for them.

All-in-all, the inspiration from Tunisia and Egypt is limitless and will
surely rouse action against them. The time has come to end all those
dictatorships once and for all. Maybe, it is not too late to take on
the AU itself through a coordinated action to either make it function
to serve the interests of the continent or fold up. It shouldn’t be
allowed to continue being a drain on our resources.

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Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com