Qadafi and Africa.

[xiinfaniin]

Africa has two choices; unity or death. Says Qadafi of Libya. However unrealistic and improbable his proposition seems to be, I liked it still. For one the notion of unity among apparently diverse nation states with porous and vast borders is not Qadafi’s creation. Rather it’s a global trend, spotted and implemented by many developed nations. Europe, with all its negative attributes, has tried it and succeeded in it. So on that level, continental unity with all the great benefits that come with it is an idea whose time has finally come. When it works it produces wonders of sort. Imagine the day when the Dark Continent marches in unity where its natural resources and its other great economic potentials are explored and utilized to the fullest. Imagine an Africa that’s unified in facing its challenges and in overcoming the most health crisis with epidemic proportions humans have ever faced, the AIDS. Truly this idea, if you think of it as it being the key of Africa’s future success, is indeed a wonderful thing to contemplate.

 

But that, as much as it’s the core of this plan’s appeal, is not what attracted me to it really. The fact it perhaps emitted some life into a new movement and created a new attitude, even momentarily, in approaching Africa’s problems is where I found it quite appealing. Instead of ceaseless dismembering and aimless secessionism, it suggests political unity and economic harmony. And there lies the beauty of Qadafi’s brief brilliancy. Dismiss it as a sheer rhetoric from an isolated dictator if you will, but the man has indeed brought a germane political agenda to the fore. The fact African leaders discussed this matter to death shows I think how ripe the political environment of this content is for such a positive thinking like Qadafi’s. It also shows that good Qadafi actually got these leaders to work and do some serious thinking on his proposal. Not to mention that his plan sucked the oxygen out of all secessionists throughout the continent, and notably our brothers’ little separatism project in the north suffered as it looked awkward to discuss it in the context of this great political thought.

 

As a person who came to have learnt the power of positive thinking, Qadafi surprised me with his recent cleverness. The man, his policies, his speeches, and the regime he leads in Libya, depicts a distressing tragedy in that little desert land called Libya. Yet at times ********* seems to fade away, and Qadafi assumes disarming intelligence in his initiatives like this one. Who counsels him, I wonder, in his capacities in African issues? Am I reading too much into it or is it a positive step toward getting this continent and its idle intellectuals think about the future of Africa?

[Jacaylbaro]

The guy is really amazing ,,, he is sick of those uur kuus Arab leaders for their weaknesses, he is good at switching positions, he is the mastermind of the African Union, he managed to bring all the African leaders to discuss this issue of uniting Africa.

 

who else in Africa can do that ???

[Paragon]

Col Gaddafi is re-ingiting the long dead dreams of the former Pan-Africanist, per excellence, Kwame Nkurumah. In endeavouring to do so, Col Gaddafi has curved himself a shinning place in the great dark wall of African history. But Africans, as is their nature, are foolish to realize the importance of this Greater Africa endeavour.

 

As Uganda's President, dictator Yuweri Museveni cries, this endeavour might create another mistake that can be equated to 'colonial balkanization'. Although this unique dictator has a right to express his view on the concept of African unity, one cannot help but question his sincerity. The question to many like him who oppose the idea of African Unity or a dragging their feet is: what are you protecting? The answer: dictatorships. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

For us, Somalis, I believe that African Unity would solve many of our borderline problems our country faces now. This idea of uniting Africa was suggested in the 1960s and the then Somali government accepted the suggestion albeit on one condition: the unification of Somali regions before African unification. This was a point other African head of states objected to and has lead to Somalia's geo-political disputes with its neighbours.

 

Today, if the idea of African unity is be sold to us Somalis, we must be given the chance to form our own government, a government formed by the Somali people for the Somali people. Only then can we dream about uniting with other African states. And since we are under occupation, the African union must liberate Somalia and help it form a legitimate state through which negotiations on African unity can be initiated.