African Union Failed to Deliver From Cape Town to Cairo

If the visionary founders of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) such as H.M Haile Silassie of the Empire of Ethiopia, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and General Abdul Nasser of Egypt etc., who were also deeply rooted in African philosophy and politics of liberation, were to watch over the recent African Union (AU) leaders, would they ridicule and scoff at them for letting the continent fall apart in front of their eyes?

What has been the relevance of AU in freeing the continent from conflict, poverty, and dictatorship for the last 46 years? This sounds like a huge project, but I will try to tackle some of the current major challenges confronting the continent. Maybe, AU and OAU together have held 46 summits over this period only to decide on issues in favor of the dictators from the member countries, while creating an illusion of the economic and political integration of Africa amongst the African populace from Cairo to Cape Town.

The current commentary is to reawaken the conscious of the Africans populace and African Diaspora about the need for the structural transformation of the AU to better protect African interests.

These are the main objectives the OAU espoused from the early years of 1960s until 1999, when AU altered some of its ´pre-liberation´ objectives:

"To rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African states; co-ordinate and intensify cooperation for development"

Did it really rid the continent of the [remaining] (sic) colonial vestiges? It did rid South Africa of apartheid in the political sense, but in the economic sense the whites and blacks in South Africa still remain to be very highly unequal, with most blacks living under harsh economic deprivation in shanty towns known as townships. I have visited several townships and witnessed the appalling conditions for myself. That is why Desmond Tutu once said "South Africa is sitting on a time bomb´ to describe pending doom to be caused by poverty. We have seen manifestations of that, when in 2008 a series of xenophobic attacks broke out across South Africa against foreign Africans. Within ANC itself, there have been serious splits between Mbeki (a Xhosa) and Jacob Zuma (a Zulu) and also cross-racial tensions are eminent between blacks and whites.

South Africa is not yet a serious case, at least in terms of the scale of conflict, compared to other African countries, where vicious wars, genocide and selective economic exclusions are common. Beyond issuing communiqués and warnings, the AU did little to contain or reduce serious situations such as the Rwanda Genocide of 1994, the ongoing Darfur Genocide, the Ethiopia-Somalia War, the Ethiopia-Eritrea War, the internal wars in Ethiopia against the oppressed majority, the War in Eastern Democratic Congo…

I am not a doom-sayer, but it is a reality that in some African countries the percentage of people infected with HIV/AIDs is approaching 50%. Malaria is another killer, obviously. These conflicts have claimed the lives of millions and displaced millions of others. I don´t know if AU is self-critical of its major weaknesses and failures on the continent, but it is about time that dialogue has been initiated from Africans and the African Diaspora, who care for the future of their continent. Hit by mostly man-made and natural disasters that cannot be fully enumerated, it begs a question whether the continent, Africa, will be instinct over time? A few who survive may watch a movie made out of this would be lost continent similar to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, a Walt Disney movie about a lost continent and its civilization! Atlantis had a happy-ending as an adventurer reinstates the lost world. How will it feel like if Africa is lost forever and its irrecoverable loss becomes an inspiration for a Disney movie maker?

The problems deterring the progress of the African union seem to originate from the structural problems caused by the leaders of the member states, most of whom are also dictators behind the blood-baths on the continent. They meet up at several summits and decide on whatever is best for the themselves, instead of what is best for the African public. Hence, serving partial and greedy interests of groups/tribes related to a specific despot, who may have gripped power by the barrel of the gun or by rebellion of this or that sort, is common.

The AU, in its communiqué of the 163 meeting Peace and Security Council, recently issued a statement on the war in Somalia. Statement number 17 of this communiqué clearly indicates how usual a case it has been for AU to glorify wars by glorifying the acts of the most destabilizing country in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia. Disregarding the thousands of Somalia´s killed in the war and the millions displaced, causing the country to be helpless and lawless and forcing people to resort to piracy off the coast of Somalia, AU commends Ethiopia as follows:

"The council pays tribute to Ethiopia for its invaluable contribution to the search for peace and reconciliation in Somalia and the sacrifices it made by maintaining its troops in Somalia for two years…". This is the biggest AU-lie of the year 2008!! Oh man! I don´t only know the lie, but I feel this lie. Some lies are big; you hear them rolling like a mountain! There have been so many giant, but justified lies like this surely. It is again questionable whether the AU has an unshakable standing based on truly African principles or whether it is a driven organization, which goes in the directions the stronger ´winds´ blow.

One of the current AU objectives is to create development co-operation amongst its member states. I know that AU´s financial institutions such as African Central Bank, African Monetary Fund, the African Investment Bank exist out there in names, but I am not certain how far they have registered notable achievements in the best interest of Africans.

The African youth from schools and universities across the continent and Diaspora have a moral responsibility to start deliberating on the existential challenges confronting the continent and on how to change Africa from the bottom-up because all trials from top-bottom failed us completely.

By the way, there is an upcoming AU summit in Ethiopia 26 January 2009 to 3 February 2009 … nothing is going to be new about it than we know, but the guys are going to have some new year fun!!

Links:

Almanac of African Union 1964

http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AboutAU/FOUNDERS/oau_Founders.htm

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Atlantis/index.html

AU Peace and Security Council Communiqué on Somalia

http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/Conferences/2008/december/psc/Somalia_Eng_22dec08.pdf

Goals and objectives of the African Union

http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AboutAu/au_in_a_nutshell_en.htm