AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
August 22, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – The African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) on Monday held an emergency consultative meeting on Libya in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, as rebel forces took control to much of the capital Tripoli.
Libyan rebel forces took over larger part of Tripoli on Sunday in an attempt to end Moammer Kadhafi’s 42-year grip on power. The opposition forces announced they had captured two of Muammar Qaddafi’s sons despite one of his sons, Saif al-Islam, appearing with supporters at the streets in Tripoli on early on Tuesday morning.
The AU spokesperson said council will have two meetings at a higher level in the coming days to seek ways of bringing all parties in Libya to dialogue for peaceful solutions.
“We have set two meetings for this week; first there will be a high level ad hoc committee at ministerial level on Thursday, August the 25th which will be followed by the summit of the peace and security on the 26th” Mezni said.
The AU High Level Ad-hoc Committee on Libya was founded by five African nations namely Congo Brazzaville, Mali, South Africa, Mauritania and Uganda. AU chief, Jean Ping, who is also a member will participate at the high level meetings.
According to Mezni heads of states are expected to adopt a resolution on the conflict in Libya.
Many critics argue that the AU has been reluctant to take a stance against Gaddafi like other nations including Arab world given the fact that the Libyan leader has used his country’s wealth to become one of the continent’s most generous benefactors.
Today South African president Jacob Zuma slammed the West saying that it undermined the AU peaceful efforts in Libya.
“Those who have the power to bomb other countries have undermined the AU’s efforts and initiatives to handle the situation in Libya,” he told reporters after meeting Ghana’s President John Atta Mills.
“The situation in Libya has been of concern because it has been accompanied by the undermining of the African continent’s role in finding a solution. We could have avoided a lot of loss of life in Libya.”
Zuma said powerful nations abused UN Security Council resolution 1973 which established the No-Fly Zone “to further interests other than to protect civilians and assist” Libyans.
(ST)
belle loboi
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
The African Nations have lost the most powerful man in the continent as whole. Now the Arabs people are very happy with that because Kadhafi never care about Arabs and now they will take advantages of other African countries which call themselves Arabs Countries.
Garchan
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
Poor African leaders!
Our freedom fighters liberated the continent from Western Colonialism in 19 century. Your are being fooled again by terminologies such as Democracy and Human right interventions by Western powers a process they want to recolonize the continent again and take influent to our poor people. Why don’t open your eyes and see the tricks behind? Look your Supreme Body AU is influenced by EU and other western Organizations. Your strong men are being baited one by one! Please join me to praise Jacob Zuma in his bold stand!
Let’s help to solve Libyan problems by not putting our brother Gadafi to shame . Gadafi could leave power peacefully forceful means would only destroy Libyan economy!
African leaders you only know how to betray other when will you become one ?
Long live Jacob Zuma!
RichardFillmore
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
It is high time this dangerous clown is ousted, this video shows how silly he is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukStzgBOYRo
belle loboi
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
Ricahrd,
stop your stupidity and uneducated thinking. you are just a zero number in African soil.
Rising of the Sun
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
Gaddafi is a Libyan. The Libyans rose up against him. What is our business supporting a tyrant rejected by his people? Just because of his money? If your own children disown you, then there must be something wrong with your management.
When the West supported South Sudanese, they were friends, now some of us want to call them enemies. Well, it is all up to you.
The problem with us black Africans is that we block our brains from reasoning when we see money.
When Gaddafi’s forces were firing live bullets into crowds in Benghazi these same African leaders were quiet. Civilians were being killed by some in their own army.
Somalia is starving but Africa did little. Darfur was burning while African leaders watch with all eyes open. The same in Rwanda (1994), Kenya (2007), Ivory coast (2011), LRA is still roaming three countries but no one takes a serious initiative to get rid of them. Zimbabwe is going through economic crisis yet we stood by and watched.
Nuba and Dinka Ngok are being killed and even the nearest neighbours and friends are turning a blind eye but crying for American help. Bashir is roaming around African countries and no one asks him to account for any of the crimes committed under his regime until the same west we are complaining about does so, then you hear complains about Ocampo’s ICC targeting Africans yet Uganda wanted the same ICC to arrest Joseph Kony the LRA leader. Ethiopia and Eritrea still have border problems. Who among the African leaders have you heard talking and taking action to reconciling them?
The truth is our leaders are not principled and strategic. That is why we are always ignored because we don’t make positive impact in world affairs and can’t solve major issues affecting us. That is why the world is developing while Africa is crawling like a chameleon and our leaders keep banking our stolen money in western banks.
The reason some of our leaders support Gaddafi is because they have the same style of ruling their citizens (brutality) and Gaddafi gives them Libyan money… Simple.
Give African leaders money, and they will follow you.
We should try not to be hypocrites, blaming our weaknesses on outsiders. Let us first put our house in order before pointing fingers in any direction.
Observer
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
Ghaddafi gave himself the title of Father of Africa and King of Kings of Africa and expected all the African countries to acknowledge him as this.
All he wanted for Africa was for him to be its self annointed, supreme leader whether the rest wanted him to be or not.
And how did he get the AU support and the dancing around that we have seen from the impotent AU- the large anounts of cash he threw at the AU and poor African countries.
Libya, along with South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria pay 15% each of the total AU budget. It is common knowledge that Libya pays the AU dues owing by other countries who can;t afford them and that they contribute around 33% of the AU budget making them the biggest player. “Libya makes its full required contribution to AU funds. Not all countries do and that buys it influence,” a senior African Union official said.
A number of African countries use the name of Gaddafi for facilities and government agencies, such as Gaddafi mosques, Gaddafi roads, Gaddafi buildings.
Beyond the skyline of Kampala’s concrete office blocks, stands the largest mosque in Africa south of the Sahara.
Holding up to 15,000 people, it is called the Gaddafi Mosque in honour of the man who not only paid for it, but promised to foot its maintenance costs for at least 10 years.
Gaddafi tried to create pan-Arab unity in the 1990s, but was spurned by the Arab countries so he turned his attention to Africa over a decade ago, declaring that “We Libyans are Africans” and proposing the idea of a “united states of Africa” with a million-strong army.
After that is was not long before he made his ambitions clear, proclaiming himself Africa’s “king of kings”.
Do some reasearch and see what African countries Libya has large investments in – one way or other and then you will understand the lack of criticism of Ghaddafi by member states of the AU
Since 2006 billions of dollars in oil money have been poured into hotels,oil companies, tele communications and other investments from Zambia to Ethiopia.
Mosques have been built from Liberia in west Africa to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, while infrastructure projects in Liberia and Kenya got massive boosts in investment.
A new $300 million pipeline between Uganda and Kenya is supposed to be built by Libya’s state owned oil company, while significant stakes in telecommunications companies such as Uganda Telecom and Rwandtel have been taken.
It is little wonder that eight regional leaders turned up to the opening of the Gaddafi Mosque in 2006. In search of much needed investment, some of them have now come to rely on funds from Libya- something they may now regret – particularly if the new leadership ( whoever that may be) has noted the attitude of the AU and it’s implied support for Ghaddafi, by the lack of its condemnation of what he has inflicted on Libya’s people.
“If Gaddafi was to fall I can see repercussions for a couple of countries,” said Isaaka Souare, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.
“The government in Guinea, for example, had banked quite heavily on Libyan funding for some of its development projects, particularly in the tourism and agriculture industries which it depends on. If the Gaddafi funding does not go through it could have a serious impact. I imagine other countries are in a similar situation.”
From Liberia’s Charles Taylor to Sierra Leone’s Foday Sankoh, there was a time when Gadaffi financed every African rebel without a cause. Now he has promised huge financial support to those countries he once destabilised with guns and money.
Sierra Leone got the country’s largest mosque and a $50 million investment in a new mobile network and the Malian capital Bamako got a new ministerial and diplomatic quartier, known as the Cite Administrative Muammar Qaddafi.
This after he armed Taylor to the teeth in a war that killed 250,000 people and meddled with a decades-old tribal conflict in Mali, giving refuge to Touareg rebels in 2008 and 2009.
But as long as he invests his country;s money in African countries there will be no action taken against him as he is too important of a benefactor to upset and must be appeased as the AU countries don’t want to burn their bridges.
The AU party line of an “African solution for reform or an African solution for an African problem” continues to be put forward by the AU as the solution to African crises. This is great, but what has this achieved in any crisis over the past few years? A whole lot of rhetoric about how the AU is the most effective and should be left to fix the problems but all we see is yet another conference which will have the same outcome as all before it.
Empty words and no action.
Kumbanafu
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
I agree with Sunrise,
A smoke can not appear without fire.
A leader is elected by the community from the community and for the community. Imagine 42 yrs, it has come bored for the community of Libya they really need change in their government. Let pray for them to get their right as we have gotten our here in South Sudan.
Thanks.
Kumbanafu
kaci-banno
AU holds an emergency consultative meeting on Libya crises
Shame to African leaders, meeting for what reason? AU become a petrayer organization for African countries.
My recommendation for African people is that, I see AU as a enemy of the continent is better to be desolved otherwise would not expreince any peace from the western countries.
By: Kaci-Ma-banno