Pop star and activist Bono has called for the creation of a United States of
Africa, saying that a pan-continental identity would serve as a catalyst for
resolving its conflicts.
The U2 frontman, who was in Japan to take part in a major development
conference last week, said that a United States of Africa "would be the
dream" in the long term. "I think a kind of broader African identity
is going to be very important to deal with tribal tensions,"
The Irish rock star said that developing a broader identity may seem largely
"poetic," but has been proven successful. "Irish people used to
always have a little giggle when they would see Americans saluting their flags
in schools, and then the whole standing there, singing the flag thing,"
Bono said.
"But as you get to know a little bit more about things, you start to
think, ah, there's so many different tribal groups in the United States, that
to create a national identity of that size, they had to really work at this
kind of patriotism," he said.
The African Union was created in 2002 with inspiration from the European
Union, but critics say the body has lacked the funds and political will to
take effective action on the continent's flashpoints. It intervened in 2004 in
the strife-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, but has relinquished
leadership to the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force.
African leaders have been pushing for a continental government for years.
And the plan continued to garner widespread support from the 40-odd
delegations at the African Union summit that ended Saturday in Ethiopia's
capital.
Yet even countries facing disputed elections and conflict at home were loath
to suggest they would be anything but a leader of the group — even given
the lighthearted question of what U.S. state they most resemble. Their
responses highlight pecking order positioning that could keep a federally
unified continent from ever becoming a reality.
"Sudan is something like Washington, D.C.," said Abdalmahmood
Abdalhaleem, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations. "Sudan is always
a leader. So we want to have the White House of Africa, the Pentagon of
Africa."
Not so fast, Sudan.
Bamanga Tukur, a native of Nigeria and chairman of the AU's New
Partnership for African Development, gave the honor to Ethiopia, the only
African nation to have never been colonized.
"Ethiopia can be Washington," he said. As for his own,
oil-rich nation, Tukur said: "Nigeria can be Texas. Isn't that
nice?"
But, Asked if Addis Ababa — the headquarters of the African Union —
might someday become the African Beltway, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi was similarly cagey.
"That's in the future," he said.
Any such future is far away. Everyone agrees that a unified African
government could take decades, and would require many nations to make
drastic improvements to governance, infrastructure, poverty and education.
But the stickiest issue is power, so most leaders advocate a slow approach
that will let them cement their regional ties and position, analysts say.
Others — notably, formerly isolationist Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade — have called for quicker
integration, which might favor their more established governments.
"Obviously, power politics are taking place throughout the
continent," said Kenneth Mpyisi, director of the Institute for
Security Studies, a think tank in Addis Ababa. "We have various
regional powers in different parts of the continent. ... They would
obviously want to retain a certain amount of power in their sphere of
influence."
Still, presidential candidates are already rumored. Libya's Gadhafi, a
regional leader with a huge, oil-rich country and aspirations of global
statesmanship, passionately argues for bringing Africa together
immediately, and recently canvassed West Africa.
While no immediate union came from this week's summit, Gadhafi did push
successfully for a presidential committee that will lay out proposals at a
Cairo summit in June.
"I am satisfied," he told the Associated Press. "We have
reached an agreement today."
But when asked if he aspired to one day be president of the United States
of Africa, Gadhafi simply laughed and walked away.
Others were more forthcoming.
Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, Gabon's ambassador to the AU, had big dreams
for his small, oil-rich coastal nation. Gabon's foreign minister, after
all, was selected as the AU's new operating chief during the Addis Ababa
meeting.
"If we finally reach the goal of the United States of Africa, Gabon
will be like California," he said. "Why not?"
When it was pointed out to him that, geographically, California would
dwarf the West African nation, he smiled.
"Maybe like Los Angeles, then," he said.
The United States of Africa: The challenges
Demba Moussa Dembele (2007-04-04)
Demba
Moussa Dembele examines the external and internal challenges
faced by Africa in the face of globalization and the US led war
on terror and asks if the current African leadership is up to
building the United States of Africa in the present global
environment.
'Africa must unite or perish!' Kwame Nkrumah
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the independence of
Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African country to break from the
dreadful colonial yoke. It was under the leadership of President
Kwame Nkrumah, enlightened, visionary and Pan Africanist leader,
who devoted time and energy to liberating other African
countries. Nkrumah fought tirelessly for the unity of African
countries into a single African Federal State. He was convinced
that the newly independent countries needed to unite to liberate
other African countries and lay the ground for their economic
emancipation. He understood that a divided Africa would still
remain under domination and be an easy prey for global
capitalism.
It is in part for his vision and far-sightedness that the
Anglo-American imperialism co-opted Ghanaian felons to stage a
coup that toppled Nkrumah and sent him into exile until his
death. But Nkrumah’s vision and dream did not die with him.
Quite the contrary: they remained very much alive throughout the
years. As Africa got deeper into crisis, as its external
dependence worsened, bordering on the threat of re-colonization,
Nkrumah was largely vindicated while the proponents of
‘balkanization’ were completely discredited.
An illustration of this is the foundation of the African Union
(AU) in 2001 and the decision of the Heads of State and
Government to move toward the United States of Africa by the
year 2015. This is a fitting tribute to the memory of President
Nkrumah!
But the road to realizing this dream faces great hurdles, both
externally and internally. In particular, the current world
system, characterized by an increasing militarization of
neoliberal globalization, presents overwhelming challenges for
the African continent.
A) The challenge of globalization
The decision comes at a time when corporate-led globalization
has entailed very high costs for the African continent, as a
result of the acceleration of trade and financial liberalization
and privatization of national assets to the benefit of
multinational corporations. Trade liberalization, combined with
western countries’ disguised or open protectionism and
subsidies, resulted in the deterioration of sub-Saharan
Africa’s terms of trade. Trade liberalization alone has cost
the region more than $270 billion over a 20-year period,
according to Christian Aid (2005). An illustration of these
costs is Ghana, which lost an estimated $10 billion. According
to Christian Aid, it is as if the entire country had stopped
working for 18 months! Capital flight, fuelled by trade and
financial liberalization, has reached alarming proportions,
estimated at more than half of the continent’s illegitimate
external debt, according to the Commission for Africa (2005).
The
privatization of State-owned enterprises and public services has
resulted in a massive transfer of the national patrimony to
foreign hands, precisely to western multinational corporations.
This, combined with the illegitimate and unbearable external
debt, has deepened external domination and increased the
transfer of wealth from Africa to western countries and
multilateral institutions, as acknowledged by the Commission for
Africa (2005), put together by the British Prime Minister, Tony
Blair. And members of the Commission had reliable sources to
back up their claim, since Britain is one of the main
beneficiaries of this transfer of wealth. Quoting a study
published in 2006 by Christian Aid, Archbishop Ndungane (2006)
indicated that:
'Britain took away far more money from sub-Saharan Africa than
it gave in aid and debt relief last year, despite pledges to
help the region. In all, it took away £27 billion from Africa.
In the 12 months since an annual Group of Eight (G8) summit in
Scotland last July, the British economy gained a net profit of
more than £11 billion ($20.3 billion) from the region. The
charity calculated that almost £17 billion flowed from Britain
to sub-Saharan Africa in the past year, including donations,
remittances from salaries earned by Africans in Britain and
foreign direct investments. At the same time, more than £27
billion went in the opposite direction, thanks to debt
repayments, profits made by British companies in Africa and
imports of British goods and capital flight.'
This is just one example of the financial hemorrhage hurting
Africa. This is compounded by the ‘brain drain’, which has
deprived Africa of thousands of highly trained workers in all
fields. The World Health Organization (2006) says that more than
25% of doctors trained in Africa work abroad in developed
countries. About 30,000 highly skilled Africans leave the
continent each year for the United States and Europe. Still
according to Archbishop Ndungane (2006), in the US alone
'African immigrants are the highest educated class in the range
of all immigrants…there are over 640,000 African professionals
in the US, over 360,000 of them hold PhDs, 120,000 of them (from
Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan and Uganda) are medical doctors. The rest
are professionals in various fields – from the head of
research for US Space Agency, NASA, to the highest paid material
science professors. ...'
B) The challenge of the US 'War on Terror'
The challenge posed by neoliberal policies to Africa will be
aggravated by the militarization of globalization, with the
doctrine of ‘pre-emptive strike’ adopted by the Bush
Administration. One of the tragic illustrations of this doctrine
is the illegal aggression and occupation of Iraq with the
numerous crimes against Humanity committed by the occupying
forces the world has been witnessing since the invasion. Another
illustration of that doctrine is the threat of war against other
sovereign countries, such as Iran, North Korea or Syria.
These aggressions and threats are part of what the US
imperialism calls 'war on terror'. The Bush Administration is
attempting to draw African countries into that strategy, which
poses an even greater threat to Africa’s security and
development. Since 2002, the US government has put together a
special program, named “PanSahel”, whose stated objective is
to train the armed forces of the countries involved to enable
them to track down groups supposed to be linked to Al Qaeda.
The recent announcement of the creation of a US military command
for Africa - Africa Command (AfriCom) - is a major step toward
expanding and strengthening the US military presence in Africa
through more aggressive policies to enlist support from African
countries for its 'war on terror'. According to George W. Bush,
'the new command will strengthen our security cooperation with
Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities
of our partners in Africa.”
In
reality, the objectives of the Africa Command are to be found in
the US drive for global dominance and its growing appetite for
Africa’s oil. US imperialism seeks to protect oil supply
routes and American multinational corporations involved in oil
and mineral extraction. In fact, several studies have forecast
that the United States may depend for up to 25% of its needs on
crude oil from Africa over the next decade or so. One clear sign
of this trend is that several US oil companies are investing
billions of dollars in oil-producing countries, notably in the
Gulf of Guinea region. Thus, oil is one the main driving forces
behind the US activism on the continent. It has nothing to do
with Africa’s ‘security’. On the contrary, this is likely
to increase the insecurity of the continent!
Therefore, the US strategy aims to secure strategic positions in
Africa by using the threat of “terrorism” to gain military
facilities and bases to protect its interests. The countries
which accept to cooperate with the US may become more and more
dependent on the US and inevitably on NATO for their
“security”. They will be forced to provide military bases or
facilities for US forces and serve as a canon fodder in the US
‘war on terror’, as Ethiopia has done in Somalia. The US
strategy will sow more divisions among African countries and
undermine the goal of African Unity.
C) Internal challenges
To the challenges posed by the global context described above
one should add the internal challenges facing African countries.
As indicated above, the neoliberal policies imposed by the IMF
and World Bank and the violence of corporate-led globalization
have further weakened Africa. The principal characteristic of
the continent is its weakness and divisions, despite the
foundation of the African Union and the adoption of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The divisions
are ideological and political. Neo-colonial ties are still
strong with former colonial powers. There are still many foreign
military bases and facilities on the continent. Several
countries still depend on western countries for their
“security”. France is intervening in the Central African
Republic in an attempt to help the government push back attacks
by rebel groups.
A similar operation took place a few months ago to help the
Chadian government repel a rebel attack that threatened some
parts of the capital. These countries are home to foreign
military bases and have signed defense agreements with their
‘protectors’. These military bases are also used to launch
criminal aggressions against other African countries, as the
United States did when it launched air strikes against innocent
civilians in Somalia from their air base in Djibouti! France is
using its military bases in West Africa – Senegal and Togo- to
destabilize Cote d’Ivoire.
These examples underscore the vulnerability of the continent and
the fragile nature of many States, some of which have all but
collapsed, in large part as a result of structural adjustment
policies. Africa’s vulnerability is also reflected in the
widespread poverty affecting its population, in the
deterioration of the health and educational systems and in the
inability of many States to provide basic social services for
their citizens. Poverty is the result of policies imposed by the
IMF and World Bank, using the pretext of the illegitimate debt
with the complicity of African governments. This has aggravated
economic, financial, political dependence on western countries
and multilateral institutions. Food dependency has dramatically
increased. According to the FAO and other UN agencies, more than
43 million Africans suffer from hunger, which kills more people
than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined! As a result,
Africa spends billions of dollars in food imports, paid for by
credits and ‘aid’ from western countries and multilateral
institutions.
The external dependency and the extreme vulnerability of the
continent are also reflected in the surrender of economic
policies to the World Bank and western “experts” by many
countries.
II) Can Africa overcome these challenges?
In view of these formidable challenges, building the United
States of Africa may seem an impossible task, a Promethean
undertaking. Indeed, one should be skeptical about the ability
and willingness of current African leadership to build a genuine
African unity. Because not only are the odds overwhelming but
also past experience does not show any sign of optimism.
Therefore, if African leaders are really serious about achieving
this noble objective, they need to make tough and courageous
decisions.
A) Need for political will
The document on the United States of Africa, published by the
African Union (2006) claims: 'it should be realized that what
unites Africans far surpasses what divides them as a people'
(page 8). Yet, this did not translate into a political will to
overcome their divisions and move toward strengthening African
unity. Therefore, what African leaders need first and foremost
is the political will to make the tough decisions and the
courage and determination to implement them. In reality, the
decision to establish the United States of Africa is the latest
in a long series of decisions and agreements, most of which were
never implemented. Some of the agreements on regional
integration are more than 30 years old, but they are still
lagging behind for lack of genuine will to implement them. The
slow pace of integration and lack of solidarity is a reflection
of the unwillingness of many African leaders to place the
fundamental interests of the continent above national or even
personal interests in order to move decisively toward genuine
unity and cooperation.
The lack of political will is better illustrated by the fate of
key documents adopted over several decades and that should have
strengthened African unity and laid the foundations for the
United States of Africa. Think of the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA),
adopted in 1980 and which was quickly forgotten in favor of the
IMF and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programs (SAPs).
Think of the African Alternative Framework, which was among the
first documents to level a devastating critique of SAPs in 1989.
Think of the Arusha Charter for Popular Participation in
Development and Social Transformation, adopted in 1990 and which
contains a blueprint for citizen participation in the design and
implementation of public policies within a democratic and
participatory decision-making process. Think of the 1991 Abuja
Treaty, for the creation of the African Economic Community. This
list is not exhaustive. Yet, when some African leaders proposed
NEPAD in 2001, it made a scant mention of these documents.
Instead, it attempted to rehabilitate failed and discredited
neoliberal policies.
B) Freeing the African mind.
The political will has an ideological dimension, which is the
need for African leaders to free their minds and understand once
for all that they must take responsibility for their own
development. No country or group of countries, no international
institution, no amount of external ‘aid’ will ever
‘develop’ Africa. Likewise, no foreign country, no matter
how powerful, will ever guarantee the ‘security’ of African
countries. It is therefore illusory to assume that the United
States, France or Britain will provide ‘security’ for
Africa! Quite the contrary: these countries’ interest is to
see a weak, divided and defenseless Africa. African countries
must take responsibility for their own collective security! In
this regard, African governments must close down all foreign
military bases and scrap all defense agreements signed with
former colonial powers and US imperialism. Furthermore, African
governments must end their allegiance to neo-colonial
institutions, such as ‘Francophonie’, Commonwealth and so
forth.
C) An
enlightened leadership
For these dramatic changes to take place, Africa needs an
enlightened and visionary leadership, who would listen to the
voices of the people. This also means promoting leaders who are
accountable to their own citizens, not to outside powers or
institutions, as is the case in many countries. Furthermore,
Africa needs leaders who can define an agenda consistent with
Africa’s interests, not let someone else do it in their place.
In other terms, African leaders must no more accept that others
speak or define policies in their place for their continent. A
case in point is the US “war on terror”. As indicated
earlier, some countries are supporting the US agenda. But
fighting ‘terrorism’ is not a priority for Africa. The
continent has other priorities, which have nothing to do with
terrorism.
D) Involve the African people
So far, African leaders seem to have forgotten the African
people in the conception and implementation of their agreements.
To overcome the challenges outlined above, African leaders must
understand that they must move from a union of States to a union
of peoples. This means that the success of the United States of
Africa depends on putting African the people at the center of
the project. The popular participation in decision-making and
implementation of public policies, as called for by the Arusha
Charter, is a critical factor in building a genuine and strong
Union. This seems to be understood by the document published by
the African Union (2006), which says that 'the Union Government
must be a Union of the African people and not merely a Union of
States and Governments' (page 4).
This seems to be just a lip service paid to the idea of popular
participation, because so far, there are no concrete steps to
make it a reality. Despite the establishment of some
institutions, like the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC),
the people have no say in the decisions of the Union. To achieve
a genuine Union of the African people, the first step should be
to allow a free movement of people –on the continent and in
the Diaspora- throughout the continent. It is unthinkable to
build the United States of Africa by keeping the current borders
in place and limiting the free flow of African citizens across
the continent. The building of the Union must be rooted in the
mobilization of the African masses across the artificial borders
set by former colonial powers in order to divide and weaken the
African people.
III) Conclusion
The paper has reviewed the challenges facing Africa in its
attempt to build the United States of Africa. External factors,
such as the high costs of neoliberal globalization and the US
‘War on Terror’, are likely to hamper African efforts at
unity and independence. These external factors take advantage of
Africa’s internal weaknesses and tend to aggravate them.
But does the current African leadership have the capacity and
will to overcome the internal and external challenges in the
process of building the United States of Africa? It is doubtful.
Most of current African ‘leaders’ take their orders from
western capitals and have surrendered their policies to the IMF,
the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. In the words of
the late Professor Joseph Ki-Zerbo (1995), these are '
"leaders" with frightened minds' who can only
'imitate” their western masters. How can anyone trust such
‘leaders’, some of whom contemplate providing military bases
to the United States in the name of fighting 'terrorism'?
The
building of the United States of Africa requires a new
leadership with the political will to follow through their
commitments. This means promoting a new type of leadership in
Africa, imbued with the ideals of Pan Africanism, genuinely
dedicated to the unity, independence and sovereignty of the
continent and to promoting the welfare of their citizens. It is
a visionary leadership, like Nkrumah and others of his
generation. A leadership who refuses Africa’s enslavement and
will never accept that others speak or define policies for
Africa.
So, building the United Sates of Africa requires a different
kind of leadership with decolonized minds, who are willing to
stand up to foreign domination, who would listen to their own
citizens and promote policies aimed at recovering Africa’s
sovereignty over its resources and policies. In other words, the
success of such undertaking requires a leadership imbued with
the values and ideals of Pan Africanism and genuinely committed
to the unity, independence and sovereignty of Africa.
References
African Union (2006). A Study on an African Union Government.
Towards the United States of Africa. Addis Ababa
Christian Aid (2005). The economics of failure. The costs of
‘free’ trade for poor countries. London
Commission for Africa (2005). Our Common Interest. London
(March)
Ki-Zerbo, Joseph (1995), Which Way Africa? Reflections on Basil
Davidson’s The Black Man’s Burden.
Ndungane, Njongonkulu, “A CALL TO LEADERSHIP: The role of
Africans in the Development Agenda”. Harold Wolpe Memorial
Lecture (30 November 2006), Howard College Campus, University of
KwaZulu-Natal
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
* Demba Moussa Dembele is Director, African Forum on
Alternatives based in Dakar. He can be contacted at dembuss@hotmail.com
or forumafricain@yahoo.fr
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org
|
Though most analysts and adherents on the idea of a United States of Africa
agree that there is need for unity, there is disagreement on the form it
should take.
Resource persons at the monthly Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Press Club,
meeting on February 20, highlighted the cracks in the lofty project, with the
absence of strong regional integration bodies.
They wondered how African States can unite when there is disunity amongst
States of the same sub-region. They quoted the Central African Sub Region
where Cameroonians have been driven away from Equatorial Guinea on several
occasions as an example.
According to Hughes François Onana, CRTV journalist, for African States to
unite, there is the necessity to ameliorate credibility and ensure continuity
in economic reforms, reinforce the bargaining power in the international scene
and harmonise legislation to promote good governance, democracy and human
rights.
Maurice Tadadjeu, lecturer at the Yaounde I University, for his part,
perceives the project of a United States of Africa as a reality and already
functional. Having followed the project from inception up to this moment, he
argues that the project of uniting Africa is not Kaddafi's idea, but an idea
that has existed for at least a century.
The principal reason that blurs efforts is the lack of personal engagement,
he argued. He regretted that African leaders are divided on the issue as
perceived during the 9th African Union summit.
Tadadjeu underscored the necessity of sensitising journalists as well as
the population on the project. Tracing the history of the Pan African Hubert
Kamgang, Chairman of the Union of the Peoples of Africa party, maintained that
the idea was basically to abolish the colonial pact and to liberate African
States from colonialism.
|
Should a United States of Africa (USA) be a priority policy issue for
African governments?
Senegambia News , Senegambia News
Many African leaders echoed the Unity of Africa as the definitive
solution in ending conflicts, poverty, diseases and exploitation.
Notably among them was Ghana’s first post colonial leader Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah. Libyan leader colonel Muhammad Gaddafi and Senegalese President
Abdoulaye Wade, and a few others, are the most recent waves of African
leaders calling for a unification of the embattled continent.
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who was the architect and the driving force behind
a potential unification of the continent was overthrown in a military
coup as a result of the global logger-head of political ideologies –
Western liberal democracy vs. Communism. The overthrow of Kwame
Nkrumah consequently forced the remaining African leaders to either
tighten their grip over respective authorities or kept a close nit on a
potential unification agenda.
What even jeopardized the umbrella organization; Organization of
African Unity (OAU) , was its categorization as a dictators club and the
closer ties that most of the continents leaders had with the former
Union Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR).
The OAU shift from a unification agenda to conflict
resolution.
With the cold war era at its apex, the agenda for the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) shifted from unification to tackling political
conflicts across the continent. Military coups and popular uprisings
became the building block for political instability across the
continent.
For example the crisis of South Sudan, apartheid in South Africa, and
the liberation struggles in Southern Africa were the major agenda’s of
the Organization of African Unity as the umbrella organization.
Most of the post-colonial leaders who envisioned a United States of
Africa also felt victims of military coups and popular uprisings.
By the end of the cold war, “the emergence of the miltariat as a
major contender for power in Africa highlights some of the pitfalls of
clientelism as a mechanism of political domination.” (J. kandeh).
According to Michael Braton , “the first half of the 1990’s in
Africa saw widespread political turbulence across the continent”,
which he asserted could be summarized as “transitions away from
one-party and military regimes through liberalization reforms often
culminating to competitive elections, the resultant effect of which are,
new forms of regimes.” The military coups of Mali (1991) and
Sierra –Leone (1991) and The Gambia (1994), were unique examples to
that reality
In cases were the transition process failed to effectively embed
democratic institutions, the rupture of endemic civil wars took shape.
For example in Liberia, Sierra – Leone, Ivory – Coast and Chad the
failure of the military leaders to build effective institutions of
democracy contributed largely to instability across the political
landscape. According to McGowan “Coups and conflicts have been a
massive humanitarian and developmental disaster for West Africa and its
238 million people: at least over 200, 000 deaths in the Liberian civil
war and more than 100, 000 in the Sierra Leone civil wars, with millions
more international refugees and internally displaced persons resulting
from such conflicts.” These were some of the conflicts that further
contributed in shifting the Organization of African Unity (OAU) from a
unification agenda of the continent to that of conflict resolution.
Thanks to the end of the cold war, efforts by the African Union and
developmental partners that Africa has undergone a considerable
reduction in conflicts. Trouble spots such as Darfur, Sudan, the crisis
in Northern Uganda, Chad, Southern Senegal, the roving militias of the
great lakes region, Somalia are still abound, and remains to be
some of the major concerns of the African Union (AU).
Are these troubled spots therefore an impediment to African
Unity?
This is the very good question many analysts and pundits continue to
ponder. However, although there may be a global shift in the balancing
of power – with China flexing its influence and a potential emerging
Russia that may be keen to exert influence across the continent,
democracy, free trade in a liberalized economy under a United Africa,
may no doubt forced the liberation movements to join a new era of
African leadership and governance. Even Libyan leader Colonel Ghadafi
echoed such sentiments across the continent.
During the African Union’s Summit in both Ghana in 2005 and the
Gambia in 2006, colonel Gaddafi in his Marathon Speech clearly
emphasized on African Unity as the fundamental prerequisite to ending
conflicts, poverty, diseases and exploitation.
How about Colonel Gaddafi’s call for African Unity?
The colonel’s call for a United States of Africa must in doubt be
seen as an illusion but a well-calculated vision that the continent must
explore. This is so because Africa today has more democracies
characterized with deeply rooted liberal economies than one could
imagine. Although trouble spots remained abound, conflicts across the
continent has reduced considerably.
The proliferation of regional political and economic blocs across the
continent has also become no historical accident.
Regional economic and political blocs such as the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS), the South African Development Community
(SADC), the East African Regional Grouping and the North African
Regional groupings are perfect regional economic and political groups
that have made positive strides towards regional integration – a
prerequisite for a United States of Africa.
According to the contemporary scholar of international Political
economy, Robert Gilpin, “Liberalization of economies involving
openness and integration in global trade, foreign direct investment, and
finance, strengthens political unification and the creation of a diverse
economy in a unified market.” These regional economic and political
groupings may become the gateway for a United States of Africa.
The Libyan leader’s call may therefore not be categorized as off
– track. During a most recent meeting with over 150 kings and
traditional rulers, who bestowed the title "king of kings” on
him, Colonel Gadaffi made such similar economic arguments to be a
vehicle for unification of the continent. According to the BBC, Colonel
Gadaffi emphasized that ‘one African military, a single African
currency, one African passport to travel within Africa and a unified
government is a prerequisite for ending conflicts, poverty diseases, and
exploitation and fostering development.’ Pondering the Libyan
leader’s vision must therefore be a moral obligation upon all African
leaders and citizens.
Africa has come a long way, and with the help of developmental
partners, a lot has been achieved. However, the Westphalia state systems
that imposed arbitrary boundaries across the continent remains to be a
fundamental colonial legacy that continues to be an obstacle to
Unification and Development.
Should the Westphalia state systems become an obstacle to African
Unification?
Taking a careful analysis of the continents history, one could
satisfactorily denote that before colonialism, governance was
characterized by traditional kingdoms under traditional rulers. Notably
among the traditional systems were the Kingdom of Mali, the Kingdom of
Ghana, the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Songhai empire.
Following the partitioning of the continent, the imposition of the
Westphalia state system laid the foundation for conflicts across most
parts of Africa. African traditional settings of governments were
destroyed as a result of imposed arbitrary boundaries. Such boundaries
were imposed along the economic interest of colonial masters with a
total disregard of ethno-cultural ties. The entire West African region
was for example under the rule of a unique traditional kingdom.
In his book titled Topics in West African History, the Ghanaian
social scientist and scholar, Dr Adu Boahen argued that “economically,
the partitioning of the continent was because of the need for new
markets, for surplus manufactured goods caused by the spread of the
industrial revolution from France to England, Germany, Italy, Spain and
Portugal.” The case of Senegal, the Gambia and Guinea – Bissau and
Cape Verde were unique historical realities. ‘The entire region of
these three countries was under Portuguese domination until 1866 when
control over some of the territory was ceded to the British and the
French in exchange of territory somewhere else.’ Economic motives were
largely the driving force behind the Portuguese ceding of these
territories.
The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Nigeria became subjects of
British colonialism, whilst Senegal, Mauretania, Benin, Togo, Mali,
Ivory – Coast, Burkina – Faso fell under French colonial domination.
The Portuguese also maintained control and domination over Guinea –
Bissau and Cape Verde. It was such similar colonial activities that
prevailed across other parts of the African continent.
Knowing that arbitrary boundaries that imposed the Westphalia state
systems are orchestrated colonial machinations deterring a unified
African political front, it is imperative for the African Union to
carefully consider the Libyan leaders call for a United Africa. Doing so
may only become a vehicle in fostering integration along political,
economical and social lines.
The world in general has evolved through many faces of history.
During such evolutions, mankind has undergone numerous political,
economical and social trends. Africa is no exception to that.
Robbed of her traditional entities and institutions, Africa was
exploited of its riches whilst men and women were subjected to slavery.
Colonialism that ushered in the Westphalia state system gave some degree
of freedom with the granting of independence to what today constitutes
the so call modern states of Africa.
Will the modern independent states evolve to a United States of
Africa? Only time will tell.
What is certain is that, unless the so called modern African states
give up sovereignty under a unity government, a single currency, a
single army, a unique passport and create a diverse economy in a unified
market, conflicts, poverty, diseases and exploitation will continue to
be deterrents to development. History will therefore judge all current
and coming generations of leaders for failing to unify the continent.
The author is the editorial editor http://senegambianews.com/. He
also published The Sword of Truth at http://sofawarrior.blog.com/. He
could be reached at binneh@senegambianews.com or bsm235@nyu.edu. |
Africa: United States of Africa Still a Dream
Kelvin Odoobo
7 February 2009
Kigali — At the just concluded African Union summit, once again,
the romanticised idea of a United States of Africa, trumpeted by the
Libya's strongman Muammar al-Gaddhafi, now AU chairman, got some
valuable airtime. It is not a new idea.
Kwame Nkrumah, at the attainment of Ghanaian independence championed
the idea of the "USA" as a restoration of Africa's might
against the colonial demarcation of the continent into artificial bits
and pieces.
He himself did not rule long enough before he fell to Africa's
chronic political problem of military coups which in some circles was
said to be partly a result of western powers' unease of his pan-African
ideologies
In the wake of European integration, the economic might of China, a
fast developing India, the Russian attempts to exercise control over
independent territories formerly in the Soviet Union, and the dwindling
economic means of the world's super power, the real USA- a United States
of Africa would appear to balance the global political and economic
equation for Africa.
The truth however is that Africa is further from being united in a
political confederation than anyone may suppose. The common denominator
of sub-Saharan Africa is colonialism and the quest to exploit Africa's
resources alongside its poverty to satisfy foreign interests.
The cold war is a perfect example of how foreign powers attempted to
set up offshore command posts for western proxies in Africa.
In Angola's long and bitter civil war, the cold war was played out in
the battlefields long after it had officially ended.
Many of Africa's young nations have very challenging internal
political issues that originate from colonial mistakes and require a
long time before we can even think about integrating into a pan-African
political federation.
In Europe, the distinct national identities can withstand
Europeanisation. What about Africa's young and struggling national
identities?
Even so, the recent referendum on EU policies have faced such
challenges in countries like Ireland and France so much so that were it
not for the unwavering commitment of political leaders, the EU would
have been in doldrums.
In the interest of pan-Africanism, a form of economic union initially
is necessary for Africa to compete favourably with other economic powers
of the world and to avoid economic bullying by these powers as is the
case with the current unfair rules of trade under the world trade
organisation.
The East Africa Community (EAC), the South African Development
Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
are such good initiatives.
I believe that those initiates at African integration will eventually
grow into each other to result in a powerful pan-Africa bloc that may
eventually evolve on the lines of the European Economic Community to the
European Union.
For all its good intentions, the current push for our own USA is
bound to run into dangerous waters.
First, Gaddhafi interests in this union are very suspect. It is not
long ago that he was hobnobbing with Arab colleagues and claiming that
North Africa was more into the Arab world than in Africa. He strongly
championed pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism until when it was clear that it
was simply not going to happen.
This new comradeship which he has developed for black African nations
indicates that perhaps he has seen the light.
He talks pan-africanism at the AU summit while he is smooching with
traditional African leaders who in various nations present potential
political complications to their elected governments.
It should also raise eyebrows that the king of Benin is already
refereeing to him as the "King of Kings."
Gaddhafi, for all his long respected statesmanship and wise guidance
of Libya, is not famous for his democratic ideals.
Africa shouldn't be the excuse for Gaddhafi's project to repatriate
his international image.
We need to make a united stand as Africa in face of globalisation in
order to survive the vicious cycle of poverty, and conflicting foreign
interests that are apart from our own interests.
But hastily planned and executed United States of Africa will have
similar or worse consequences than the partition of Africa. |
Editor’s note: The emergence of Libya’s
Muammar Gaddafi as African Union Chairman brings the ‘United States
of Africa’ concept back to public dialogue. AfricanLoft contributor
Ugo Daniel examined the topic back in July 2007, we decided to
republish his thoughts on the matter. Feel free to add to the
conversation via your comments.
The
African Union has set for itself the ambition of building, by the
year 2025: “A united and integrated Africa; an Africa imbued with
the ideals of justice and peace; an inter-dependent and virile Africa
determined to map for itself an ambitious strategy; an Africa
underpinned by political, economic, social and cultural integration
which would restore to Pan-Africanism its full meaning; an Africa able
to make the best of its human and material resources, and keen to
ensure the progress and prosperity of its citizens by taking advantage
of the opportunities offered by a globalised world; an Africa engaged
in promoting its values in a world rich in its disparities”. As
African leaders converge in Accra, Ghana for the 2007 African leaders
Summit, Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is championing the idea of a
‘United States of Africa’, but many African leaders in Accra,
Ghana, are wary. Gaddafi was quoted as saying
his vision is to wake up the African leader to unify our continent,
describing himself as a “soldier for Africa,” He spoke to students
at the University
of Ghana on the eve of the summit, saying: “For Africa, the
matter is to be or not to be.”
I want to say three things. First, yes, African countries should
definitely unite. But an African ‘united states’ is not possible.
Too much ego stands in the way, too many regional interests, and also
outside interference would prevent it. Would the USA want to see a
truly united Africa?
Would the leaders of northern African countries, [with the notable
and admirable exception of President Ghadaffi], who admit to being
African only when they need votes at the UN or for some other
geo-political purposes, want a United Africa? I doubt it! So let us be
realistic and practical and think of a Federation of African States
along the lines of the European Union. And we should get on with it
now. Right now!!!
Current African leaders are far lesser men that the African leaders
who fought for independence… Nyerere had the guts to invade Uganda
to get rid of the homicidal maniac, Idi
Amin.
Second, most of the current African leaders are far lesser men that
the African leaders who fought for independence from colonialism; Zik
of Africa, N’krumah,
Nyerere,
Kenyatta,
to name just a few. Would these leaders stand by impotently, while
Arab racists in Sudan rape black women and slaughter 200,000 black
Africans? I repeat again, Nyerere had the guts to invade Uganda to get
rid of the homicidal maniac mass murderer Idi Amin.
I have nothing but contempt for most of today’s African leaders
who specialize in getting rich, attending international conferences
and making fine speeches - the blood of the victims of the Darfur
holocaust is also on their hands as because they won’t intervene
overtly or covertly to save their black brothers and sisters.
Third, I want to point out what we ALL know, but do not speak
about. The continent of Africa is the richest continent on
planet earth with oil, gas, minerals and brilliant hard-working
people. So why are the millions of ordinary people of Africa the
poorest, sickest, most hungry and diseased folks on the face of our
Earth? Every right-thinking, moral and proud African must
declare personal war against this present situation. Otherwise we will
continue to remain poor and miserable while making the rest of the
people on earth, including those who have nothing but scorn and even
hatred of us, rich. Surely, surely surely, we are better than this?
In continuation, saying and doing are two different things; Kwame
Nkrumah did not only pay lip service in the independence speech of
Ghana, he also went a long way to walk the walk. How many African
leaders after him were ready to shelve their countries interest for
all of Africa? Nkrumah was accused of serving the interests of Africa
to the detriment of Ghana, but at the end of the day it did benefit
the whole continent.
In this day and age where Africans cannot draw a line between where
skin colour, ethnicity, religion and culture end, and where Africanism
and so-called hypocrisy of democracy begins, unity will continue to
elude us.
“TYRANNY’ & “CORRUPTION” are barriers to African unity
and any effort at continental unity must tackle these evils.
These posts may have related contents:
|
| Bono wants United States of Africa:
Pop star and activist Bono has called for
the creation of a United States of Africa, saying that a pan-continental
identity would serve as a catalyst for resolving its conflicts.
The U2 frontman, who was in Japan to take part in a major development
conference last week, said that a United States of Africa "would be
the dream" in the long term.
"I think a kind of broader African identity is going to be very
important to deal with tribal tensions," Bono told Tuesday's Asahi
Shimbun, where he served as a guest-editor for a special Africa edition
on Saturday.
The Irish rock
star said that developing a broader identity may seem largely
"poetic," but has been proven successful.
"Irish people used to always have a little giggle when they
would see Americans saluting their flags in schools, and then the whole
standing there, singing the flag thing," Bono said.
"But as you get to know a little bit more about things, you
start to think, ah, there's so many different tribal groups in the
United States, that to create a national identity of that size, they had
to really work at this kind of patriotism," he said.
The African
Union was created in 2002 with inspiration from the European
Union, but critics say the body has lacked the funds and political
will to take effective action on the continent's flashpoints.
It intervened in 2004 in the strife-torn western Sudanese region of
Darfur, but has relinquished leadership to the United Nations to form a
joint peacekeeping force.
However, an African Union-backed force in March for the first time
removed a renegade leader in an intervention in the Comoros island of
Anjouan. |
Muammar Gaddafi vows to create 'United States of Africa'
The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed to create a 'United States
of Africa' after his election as head of the African Union.
Our Internet Coalition USA4USAfrica which I founded in
January 1996 has copies ... on searches for mark wood,
united states of africa and
unitedstatesafrica period. ...
unitedstatesofafrica.blogspot.com/
2006/ 09/...
Last Updated: 4:43PM GMT 10 Feb 2009
Colonel Gaddafi, 66, was elected to lead the 53-nation AU for a
year in a closed-door vote during a summit in Addis Ababa.
Dressed in a gold robe and cap, he made clear his intention to
push for an alternative "USA" - a plan he has outlined
before and that has met with resistance among fellow African
leaders.
"I hope my term will be a time of serious work and not just
words," he said in his inaugural speech.
"I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries
work to achieve the United States of Africa," he said,
admitting that African leaders were "not near to a
settlement" on the issue.
"We are still independent states. It is your decision to
respond to the call for unity, to push Africa forward towards the
United States of Africa."
Gaddafi is one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, having taken
power in a coup at the age of 27 in 1969.
A natural showman known for his flamboyant attire, he has
succeeded in getting traditional African leaders to bestow on him
the title "King of Kings" in preference to the rather
ordinary "chairperson" as his predecessor
President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, was known.
He lobbied hard for the post, flying to numerous African capitals
to campaign for his election.
The Libyan leader was for years ostracised by the West but has
since been cautiously rehabilitated.
As part of his return to the international scene, Col Gaddafi has
championed greater unity in Africa to boost the continent's profile,
and by default, his own influence.
He was a key architect of the transformation of the Organisation
of African Unity into the African Union in 2001.
At the summit in the Ethiopian capital, he has pushed for even
closer ties among African nations, to create a federation under a
"union government".
But many African leaders are loathe to relinquish any of their
sovereignty, and during closed-door talks on Sunday they again
blocked moves towards his dream of closer union.
|
United States of Africa talks 'fudged'
|
|
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By Mark Doyle
BBC News, Addis Ababa
|
A summit of African leaders met late into
the night on the controversial topic of forming a closer union
- a sort of United States of Africa. The result: Political
fudge.
 |
The colonel [Gadaffi] then appeared to admit
defeat, my source said, and laid his head on the
table in despair 
|
The idea of a United States of Africa has the strong
backing of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the new head of the
African Union, who in recent years has spread his money and
influence across Africa.
But a fast-track approach to creating the closer union is
opposed by several major African states, including South
Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya.
They say regional economic integration is a more practical
first step.
At a private meeting of heads of state late on Tuesday
night, Col Gadaffi sat at the head of a large table insisting
that his pet project went ahead immediately.
But other leaders said it simply would not work and would
just add another layer of bureaucracy, which the continent
does not need.
I caught a glimpse of this private meeting by looking
through a window on a fire escape, but I withdrew when I
thought security guards might arrive and object.
A normally reliable source inside the private meeting told
me that Col Gadaffi tried hard to push his case but that
almost everyone else in the room spoke against a fast-track
approach.
The colonel then appeared to admit defeat, my source said,
and laid his head on the table in despair.
The next thing those of us waiting outside saw was the
rather eccentrically-mannered Libyan leader sweep out of the
room.
He was accompanied by his eccentrically dressed protocol
man, who has a uniform like that of an airline pilot, but with
more gold braid.
"You can all go home to sleep now," the protocol
man shouted at us reporters.
But we couldn't. We had to get more details on the
"fudge".
Gaddafi factor
The "compromise", as African diplomats delicately
put it, is that the African Union will change its name to
include the word "Authority".
A study will be made to assess the legal implications of a
United States of Africa, and then there will be a new meeting
in three months.
In other words, the ball would be kicked into the long
grass to slow it down.
As things stand, it looks like Col Gadaffi may have been
defeated this time around.
But none of the African presidents is likely to say that
outright.
Col Gadaffi is the leader of an oil-rich state on a poor
continent.
No-one wants to make him too angry.
|
|
Anyone who has been monitoring the African Union (AU) and the
Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) response, or more
importantly lack thereof, to the Zimbabwean crisis over an extended
period would probably be staggered by any proposal to form a union
government for the continent. Yet newly appointed chairperson Moammar
Gadaffi and African
leaders, currently meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa,
have elected to establish an independent body to create the framework
for just such a federation.
Before any of you lot start panicking, if the AU’s response to
other issues of importance is anything to go by, then by the time this
new entity gets around to tabling anything remotely worthy of
consideration, the continents will already have drifted back together
again and we’ll be considering a proposal for the United States of
Pangaea.
Notwithstanding and in order to enable you to understand what this
is all about I have included articles from the Independent
(UK) , BBC,
All Africa,
World
Politics Review, Le
Monde,Wikipedia
and theMail
& Guardian.
These will give you background together with a few thoughts from
those in favour of, as well as those opposed to, the idea. In addition
I’ve included a link to Google
which keeps track of all the articles, analysis and stories that are
being released onto the internet regarding this subject.
Let me start off by saying that while I am not against the idea of
a United States of Africa per se, I believe that before this continent
can even start to contemplate such an exercise, an enormous amount of
effort is going to have to go into achieving stability within the
individual countries. As things currently stand, each one represents a
potential powder keg whose fuse might be lit at any time. A good
example of this is Kenya, for long considered one of our most solid
democracies, which exploded during their last elections.
I don’t propose to break down the ethno-nationalistic ambitions
or group divisions within each country but believe it’s important to
note that as a continent we have yet to learn to live under the
leadership of other groups within our own countries. That coupled with
a selfish refusal by an elite to hand over power via elections has
left a trail of bodies scattered across a continent blessed with
natural resources, good climate and vast amounts of space. As things
stand Africa, instead of developing to its full potential, is riddled
with cronyism and corruption with loyalty owed to elitism and
dictatorships rather than ability and achievement.
Take a step back now and examine the federal concept that is
currently employed by the US and the EU. Though the states enjoy
autonomy they seek assistance and guidance while being bound to the
federal government. In both the US and the EU each component part has
individual laws and federal laws which bring about diversity at state
level and uniformity at federal level. Each state which joins these
unions is required to meet very stringent standards and laws as a
cursory reading of Turkey’s application to join the EU demonstrates.
Each union started out with a few states and invited or allowed others
to join them subject to meeting their strict codes of practice and
legal requirements.
This is crucial, as far as I am concerned, to the concept of a
United States of Africa. A uniform code of practice and legal
requirements started by 5 or 6 countries with the rest allowed to join
subject to strict observance thereof.
The first question for me must be which 5 African countries would
you suggest as role models or that could be bound together under a
uniform set of rules? I cannot think of one genuine democracy that has
had a history of ordinary transfers of power and that is not riddled
with corruption, elitism or cronyism. Perhaps you lot might have a few
examples.
Once you have a model you can build from there but Africa’s
problem is going to be how do you create it without excluding every
African country from it?
If regard is had to how the SADC and AU “dealt” with Zimbabwe
then anyone who was able to decipher the standards that they applied
must surely be worthy of having a crack at the Enigma codes. Why
wasn’t it a case of the AU and SADC demanding a free and fair
election, acceptable standards of behaviour in the build-up thereto
and insisting that Mugabe immediately accept the result? Instead of
watching as the people of that country were butchered and starved to
death while a genocidal dictator refused to budge. The result is a
country on the brink of the abyss with an economy that defies
calculation and which is destabilising the entire region.
Last year, while Zimbabwe was burning to the ground, Mugabe paid a
visit to the AU. If you recall the visit you would remember him
lambasting the other African leaders for daring to judge him while so
many of them had committed far worse atrocities than him. Imagine how
bad you have to be to be a bigger thug than Bob? Yet it seemed to shut
quite a few African “leaders” (by their mothers) up. Accordingly
at the AU it was a question of aiming at the lowest possible
denominator instead of being called to account to the highest
standards being applied by your peers. It was a silent confession that
many of them were no better than Mugabe and some were even worse. What
a way to run a railroad.
The US and EU are a million miles from perfect and most certainly
fall short of the standards they set for themselves. That said they do
try and hold those who go off the straight and narrow accountable. By
striving to meet higher standards you invariably improve your
situation even during a crisis like a credit crunch.
In Africa we don’t even know where to start setting the standards
never mind giving any thought to enforcing them. If, for example, you
exclude dictators then there goes half your membership. Cronyism? Bang
goes the other half.
Though the AU and SADC invariably do have certain requirements for
admission, judging by the continuing membership of dictators, it
appears these aren’t really considered relevant. As Bob says, if I
can’t be here how come Sudan and the rest can?
This lack of stability and failure to apply and maintain standards
has left an Africa rich with potential as a collection of disaster
areas. Why then anyone would imagine that by joining 53 of them
together would improve things is beyond me. It would more likely drag
down the individual economies — the burden of carrying Bob alone
would reduce us to ashes (and tears) — involve all in the umpteen
conflicts that are a daily occurrence in Africa and result in the
entire continent’s refugees being based in Alexandra. This while the
latest ANC president explains to the now 345 million residents of
Alex, how important it is to be good neighbours and understand that
the fat cat posing as a leader of the latest refugees needed his
country’s wealth to build his 19th palace.
In essence before anyone starts thinking of a United States of
Africa best the AU and regional bodies start to introduce a set of
standards that everyone complies with. The individual countries in
turn start to demonstrate stability — far more important than
democracy for this purpose — in order for this to work.
Dumping 53 problems together doesn’t give strength it just makes
a huge mess out of lots of little messes. In addition it punishes
those countries that are making strides towards better governance and
are trying to get their houses in order. They would be dragged down by
the spoilers and the destroyers.
Of course there would be one event worth having should this ever
take place — the annual appointment of the chairperson of the United
States of Africa. Picture 53 leaders with egos the size of Kilimanjaro
vying for the top spot. Then picture Bob somehow managing to half-inch
it on account of him winning the “who has butchered the most
citizens in their country competition”!
Once in, I’d love to see how they get him out.
|
|
Political Leaders Moving Toward a United States
of Africa
Final
Call, News Analysis , Saeed Shabazz, Posted: Jan 24, 2009
John Atta Mills has become president of Ghana, returning the National
Democratic Congress, the party founded by former president, Jerry
Rawlings, to power after an eight year hiatus. Some analysts believe the
recent election in Ghana marked a new era of democracy in Africa.
“That is the greatest lesson for Africa,” stated a representative
of the Nigerian-based Alliance for credible Elections, according to
press reports. Francois Grignon, analyst and Africa director for the
International Crisis Group said the Ghanaian election resonated
throughout the whole of Africa. “In 2009 we have to try to get some
more positive results,” Mr. Grignon said.
Voters in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South
Africa are going to the polls between March and June. There are also
elections slated in 2009 for Algeria, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville,
Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia.
Analysts are also saying that more African nations are moving towards
stability and peace; the African Union has asserted itself as a regional
diplomatic and peacekeeping force; and there are signs of a growing
middle class throughout the continent. Mobile phones and the internet
are also revolutionizing how Africans communicate throughout the
continent.
Akbar Muhammad, journalist, author and director of the African Middle
East Literary Association calls this the era of a new “African
Renaissance.” “There is a new leadership emerging, coming out from
behind the shadows of the old,” Mr. Muhammad told The Final Call.
“The key in Africa is what happens in Egypt if President Hosni
Mubarak’s son does not succeed him, then there is a strong possibility
that a new leadership would emerge in Egypt, which is very important for
Africa,” Mr. Muhammad said.
Mr. Muhammad also said Tanzanian Pres. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Sierra
Leone’s Pres. Ernest Bai Koroma, Mali’s Pres. Amadou Toure and Pres.
Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were African
leaders to watch.
“The economic collapse of the Western world offers a golden
opportunity for Africa,” Mr. Muhammad said. There are 900 million
people on the continent, and that is rapidly growing to a billion, he
said. Economic experts say that from the Cape to Cairo there is an
economic bloc with a combined Gross Domestic Product of U.S. $625
billion; and that’s not counting the Northern African nations.
“We need leaders in Africa with a mindset to restoring Africans at
the head of the human family,” stressed Dr. Leonard Jeffries professor
of African Studies at City Univ. of New York. “The world economic
collapse means people around the globe will be getting together to
re-group; and that means Africa has to come together to place Africa at
the global economic table as equal partners,” Dr. Jeffries said.
Both Dr. Jeffries and Mr. Muhammad say that Africa must adopt
Pres.-elect Barak Obama’s vision of “change.”
However, some American-based analysts and think tanks such as Africa
Action believe that the new administration should not concentrate on
African economic issues at first, urging Mr. Obama to make human rights
in Sudan a priority from day one.
The Washington-based Africa Focus Bulletin said Somalia should be the
first test of an Africa foreign policy for the Obama administration to
correct “a short-sighted U.S. policy that has actively contributed to
worsening an already desperate situation.”
“Somalia is a good place to start as any; and I understand that Mr.
Obama has expressed interest in the crisis in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC). He has expressed a need for change in the U.S. role in
developing economics and peace in Africa,” Bill Fletcher, executive
editor of the Black Commentator and founder of the Center for Labor
Renewal told The Final Call.
Sadia Aden, president of the Somalia Diaspora Network explained to
The Final Call that “in talking to people on the Obama Transition
Team, there is a feeling that Somalia will be at the top of the new
administration’s ‘first 100-day’ agenda.” There is hope Obama
will learn from the mistakes of the Bush administration in Somalia, she
added.
On Dec. 29, Somalian Pres. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned. “The
reaction on the ground in Somalia is that his resignation does not mean
an end to the War Lords. Yusuf was the head but not the body,” Ms.
Aden said.
“With a United States of Africa you would not see cases like
Somalia and the DRC,” stated Mr. Muhammad. He said it is important for
Africa to move towards uniting the 53 independent states that make up
the African Union. “Moving towards a strong common currency for all of
Africa, and establishing a central bank, that should be at the top of
Africa’s priority list,” insists Mr. Muhammad.
Related Articles:
Obama's
Royal African Roots |
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|
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(FinalCall.com) - In a closed door Feb. 2
session African leaders voted once again to “go slow” on moving the
53 nations of Africa toward a unified continental government. The issue
was discussed as an agenda item at the African Union’s (AU) 12th
Ordinary Summit of heads of state and government held in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia Feb.1-3, 2009.
—
NEWS ANALYSIS —
 |
| The Seal of the African Union |
The concept of a United States of Africa is a continuation of a vision
rooted in the ideas of Pan-African thinkers from the 19th to early 20th
centuries such as, Henry Sylvester Williams, a lawyer from Trinidad
famous for calling the First Pan-African Congress held in London in 1900
and George Charles, president of the “African Emigration
Association,” who declared to the U.S. Congress in 1886 that his
organization planned to establish a United States of Africa.
The idea was further developed by Africa’s leaders and founding
fathers of the original Organization of African Unity (OAU), in
particular Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, independence leader and first president of
Ghana.
The vision of a unified African government was carried over in the
transformation of the OAU into the AU, driven forward almost a decade
ago by Muammar Gadhafi, leader of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab
Great Jamahiriya. Mr. Gadhafi, who was elected the new chairman of the
AU at 12th summit, is widely seen as the strongest advocate for a
continental government among the heads of state.
The Libyan leader’s election and the issue of integrating the
continent under one government sparked a debate that led to an extension
of the summit by an extra day.
“I hope my term will be a time of serious work and not just
words,” Chairman Gadhafi said in his inaugural address to the leaders.
“I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to
achieve the United States of Africa,” he said, acknowledging that
African heads of state were “not near to a settlement” on the
matter. “We are still independent states. It is your decision to
respond to the call for unity, to push Africa forward towards the United
States of Africa.”
However, supporters of the idea say an underlying reason for opposing
a union government is the unwillingness of some leaders to subordinate
individual state sovereignty to a collective African sovereignty. It
appears they have forgotten that the territorial boundaries and borders
of the continent weren’t by African design but were imposed by outside
colonialists.
Some of these African leaders seem to be suffering from amnesia, as
if the Berlin Conference of 1884—when Europeans convened to regulate
their carving up of Africa among themselves—was only fiction. It seems
that some of the presidents will continue to stall under the guise of
“go slow,” fearing how they will be affected by a federal system.
According to international observers, there is deep division on how
to achieve the ambitious goal.
All African Peoples Liberation Party strategist Dedon Kamathi,
talking to this writer during the “The Sankofa Experience” internet
radio talk show, said the AU is divided between a “conservative”
group and a “revolutionary” progressive group, primarily led by
Chairman Gadhafi.
“The conservative group argues that it is not time, we need to
first look at regional integration on an economic level and from there,
political integration. The other (school) sees the Kwame Nkrumah/Sekou
Toure revolutionary analysis of ‘seek ye first the political kingdom
and all else will follow’,” said Mr. Kamathi.
According to BBC reports, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda
advocated the idea of strengthening Africa’s regional bodies first.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni was reportedly one of the strongest
voices in opposition to a fast track solution for a United Africa.
At the end of the summit, the only agreement made on the issue was
that the AU Commission will be expanded to become an “Authority.”
Critics see this decision as a compromise to stall the process. In other
words, “the ball would be kicked into the long grass to slow it
down.”
According to the BBC online edition, Chairman Gadhafi said a special
meeting of the group’s “Council of Ministers” would convene in
three months to establish what powers the newly created African Union
Authority should have.
Chairman Gadhafi further said that he envisions a “continent that
relies on itself and which is a key player in world affairs.’’ He
added that the continent has adopted a “step by step’’ approach to
“this historic effort’’ on a single government. AU Commission
chairman Jean Ping said “the whole process may take years.’’
Related link:
The African
Union (Official Site)
Progression
towards United States of Africa continues (FCN,
07-21-2005) |
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Mark Wood's Public Profile on Plaxo. Plaxo helps members
like Mark Wood keep ... Humanitarian project to
form a United States of Africa by a mandate of it's ...
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Hear the "Ballad of The United States of Africa"
in Real Audio performed by The Wood Brothers: CLICK HERE
Best regards, Mark Wood Founder, USA for USAfrica
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The Internet coalition that prompted Gadaffi's United States
of Africa mandate. Your Name: Mark Wood (IP: Logged)
--> The truth should at least be known as ...
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the unification of Africa, is that it's people need to
VISUALIZE a United States of Africa or ...
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Africa's leaders and the African Union MUST NOT BE AFRAID to
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I do agree with Mr. Mark Wood for his comment (below) it
is true that if African ... A United States of Africa
can prevent an African apocalypse on the ...
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And, as Mark Wood, co-founder of USA4USAfrica, of Greenwood
California, puts it,
. “A United States of Africa can prevent an African
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Where will Gaddafi take the AU?
The appointment of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as the new
chairman of the African Union raises the question of which direction
the AU will head in the next twelve months.
In his acceptance speech he said he would push for his vision of a
United States of Africa and promised that his one year term will be
full of ''serious work and not just words''.
However,some African leaders are sceptical about his appointment and
one AU expert describes his ideas as a "ludicrous
fantasy".
Yes
WE CAN! Create a United
States of Africa... It can be done at this
upcoming summit: By naming it's 1st President: Jean Ping,
Chairman of the African Union Commission and Vice President,
Kofi Annan, fmr. UN Leader, Moamar Gadaffi, Secretary of
Defense.... etc.
African
Union Summit
|
Yes WE CAN! It was the Mantra that carried Barrack Obama to the
Presidency of the United States of America..
It can be the Mantra to create a United States of Africa... Yes WE
CAN!
No one believed the United States would elect a black President in
their life-time, they can now believe!
No one believes there will be a United States of Africa in our
life-time, we can now believe! Yes WE CAN!
Enact the charter and constitution of the United
States of Africa at the upcoming summit in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, The capital of the the United States of Africa. Yes WE CAN!
The time for Africa to declare itself as ONE is NOW!
( Let the details be worked out in a democratic matter with an
un-biased meeting of the minds and the involvement and vote of the
people. The leaders had their chance in Accra, Ghana 2007 and failed.
Africa has allowed itself to dominate its own news agenda
lately. Then the African Union met for three days this week,
in Ghana, for the Grand Debate on the political Union of Africa,
which, if agreement had been reached, would have resulted in the
instant declaration of a United States of Africa.
The Unification of Africa MUST NOT FAIL at this upcoming summit.
We ask EVERY African to participate... Yes WE CAN!
United States of Africa
Unity on the continent is a dream that's still within reach, says
official.
Jean Ping, Chairman of the African Union Commission, says African
nations are too small and too weak.
Britain's American colonies did it. Europe's
nations did it. Can Africa's disparate
countries form their own political union?
Jean Ping, the 67-year-old chairman of the
African Union Commission, believes they can,
despite the troubled history of African
unity. Ping, who left his post as Gabon's
foreign minister to take the helm of the
pan-African body earlier this year, brings a
unique personal history to the job. In the
1930s his Chinese-born father, who sold
porcelain along Africa's western coast,
missed his boat in Gabon and decided to
settle in a small fishing village. He wound
up marrying the chief's daughter—who
became Ping's mother. Now Ping is charged
with bringing unity and order to a continent
that has seen little of either in its recent
history. He recently spoke with NEWSWEEK's
Jason McLure at AU headquarters in Addis
Ababa about creating a United States of
Africa, bringing peace to the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Darfur, and his views
of American democracy.
|
From Publishers Weekly
* Note from USA4USAfrica Founder:
Please notice in the reviews below the
utter "ridicule" of the concept of
a United States of Africa, how
"quaint" as they say....
That is why a United States of Africa
must be made a reality to be reckoned with!
Djibouti-born Waberi's brief and
concentrated tale—part satire, part fable,
part fever-dream—imagines the world turned
upside down: a war rages between Quebec and
the American Midwest, and all of Euramerica
is a dark, barbaric hellhole. In the United
States of Africa, however—land of Africola
and Sarr Mbock coffeehouses—peace and
prosperity reign, even if tinged with
xenophobia (White Trash, Back Home! a
headline blares). And it's there that a
dreamy, restless young artist named Maya
ponders her history. Adopted as a child by a
doctor on a humanitarian mission in Paris,
Maya longs to find her birth mother, even as
her beloved adoptive one lies dying. She
travels to France, a country moldering at
the roots, smelling of urine and need, to
find out, and though there's no bliss-filled
reunion, Waberi manages to convince of the
power of art and love to heal very real
rifts. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a
division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
Review
http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2009/03/new-march-books-available-now-plus-a-nice-waberi-review-and-some-ereader-news.html
(Cara Pesek UNP blog 20090227)
http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2009/02/index.html
(Cara Pesek UNP blog 20090216)
"Djibouti-born Waberi''s brief and
concentrated tale-part satire, part fable,
part fever-dream-imagines the world turned
upside down: a war rages between Quebec and
the American Midwest, and all of "Euramerica"
is a dark, barbaric hellhole. In the United
States of Africa, however. . . peace and
prosperity reign. . . . It''s there that a
dreamy, restless young artist named Maya
ponders her history. . . . Waberi manages to
convince of the power of art and love to
heal very real rifts."-Publishers
Weekly (Publishers Weekly 20090302)
"Writing in French, Waberi-born in
Djibouti, but a longtime resident of
France-satirizes commonly-held assumptions
about the global political and economic
order by imagining what things might be like
if Africa were to swap places with the West.
. . . In David and Nicole Ball''s
translation, Waberi''s prose reads as both
riotously funny and lyrically lush, offering
big laughs as well as multifaceted
subtleties of expression."-Ryan Michael
Williams, PopMatters.com (Ryan Michael
Williams PopMatters.com 20090217)
"In the United States of Africa is not
a simple book. It''s not a fun-filled romp
in an imagined world turned on its head. It
is a very accomplished novel though, one
that definitely deserves to be part of the
"French Voices" series, and that
the University of Nebraska should be admired
for bringing out."-Chad W. Post, Three
Percent (Chad W. Post Three Percent
20080922)
"In the United States of Africa, winner
of the French Voices Award, is a splendid
learning opportunity for readers in the US
and Europe. . . . This winning, witty novel
will help turn a flat globe, on which some
people believe only the northern hemisphere
is of any importance, into a round world
where north and south are equally beautiful,
heroic, and historic."-Barbara Ardinger,
ForeWord Magazine (Barbara Ardinger ForeWord
Magazine 20081001)
"Humor and derision are weapons not
often used in African literature.
Abdourahman Waberi proves to be a master of
the art which adds a cutting edge to his
magnificent narrative."-Maryse Cond�,
author of The Story of the Cannibal Woman (Maryse
Conde 20081001)
"It reads like a tale by Voltaire, but
darker and more striking. . . . The
polemicist's weapons give way to the
ironist's verve and the sparkling grace of
the futuristic tale."-Le Nouvel
Observateur (La Nouvel Observateur 20081001)
"Along with the impertinent funny stuff
that peppers the text, this book is above
all a philosophical tale that gives a
caustic critique of contemporary
civilization through a distorting
mirror."-Le Devoir (Le Devoir 20081001)
"Waberi wittily destroys a whole series
of clich�s and prejudices about
Africa-questionable views about immigration
as well as the unhealthy side of
humanitarian aid organizations draped in
arrogance. . . . But this novel is also full
of hope."-Le Monde Diplomatique (Le
Monde Diplomatique 20081001)
"Exhilarating and instructive. . . .
This is a powerful, courageous, inventive
novel."-Le Matricule des Anges (Le
Matricule des Anges )
"[Waberi's] hilarious parable makes
Africa the main world power, suffering from
a plague of immigration [from "Euramerica"]
that makes it think of closing its borders.
. . . The world upside down? Reality seen
from the other side of the mirror sometimes
gives us the shivers."-Le Point (Le
Point )
See
all Editorial Reviews
|
|
We are asking business owners to purchase items from
http://www.cafepress.com/usa4usafrica
as giveaways to spread awareness on the formation of a
United States of Africa from our coalition website:
http://unitedstatesafrica.com
Heads of State and Government of the African Union agreed to
accelerate the economic and political integration of the African
continent, including the formation of a Union Government for Africa
with the ultimate objective of creating the United States of Africa.
See www.unitedstatesofafrica.blogspot.com
When people see you in United States of Africa apparel, engage
them on the concept and spread the message.
A United States of Africa can be in place by 2012 if
everyone of us take one step toward it.
A simple shirt shows the web address to build the network of a
united Africa for all to see, discuss and act on. Our sole funding
is from sales of USA4USAfrica apparel.
Our job is to lobby and market the concept of a United Africa, not
begging for donations. That's why every order large and small helps.
Please Tell me honestly in your reply... Prior to my
e-mail, had you yourself even heard of a movement to create a
United States of Africa?
Indeed... Less than 2% of Americans have. And your media will not
even mention it... Not on NBC,ABC or BET - Because a groundswell
eminating from the U.S will catch on worldwide and throughout Africa
even faster than it has to this point.
That is why we are here... To create the groundswell. Join
us in our efforts.
We have been entirely funded by sales of the United States
of Africa fashion line located at: http://www.cafepress.com/usa4usafrica and we appreciate your
supporting our efforts to lobby for the formation of a United
States of Africa.
*
Yours in a United Africa,
Mark Wood
BTW: I am available to discuss the matter of a united States of
Africa anytime and anywhere. If you have any doubts as to our
sincerity or purpose, call or e-mail me.
I live on the Big Island of Hawaii in Kailua-Kona. If you find
yourself coming to Hawaii, I publish the most popular online
newspaper here, make sure to contact me.
Co-Founder, USA4USAfrica est. 1996
http://unitedstatesafrica.com
Publisher, The Big Island Reporter
www.TheBigIslandReporter.com
808.990.1323
usa4usafrica@gmail.com
|
A United States of
Africa
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