Southern and East African leaders are split over plans for a pan-African government, as suggested by Libya’s head of state Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni said he backed economic integration but said Africa was too diverse for one government.

“Politically we should only integrate with people who are either similar or compatible with us,” he said, according to Uganda’s state-owned media.

Senegal, however, backed the plans and said a breakaway group could be formed.

‘Bottom-up approach’

On the final day of the African Union (AU) summit, the BBC’s Will Ross in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, says there are clear differences of opinion over the degree of integration and the speed.

Ghana’s Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo believes such problems were inevitable but can be overcome.

“You know the problems that you have in the European Union with 25 members, now 27, to arrive at common positions – we have 53,” he said.

“So clearly there’ll be problems involved for people to adjust and I believe that the 53 states will find a way of sharing and joining in the consensus as to the future direction of our continental organisation.”

Senegal, one of Africa’s most stable democracies, is backing Mr Gaddafi’s call for the immediate set up of a pan-African government.

“We are ready to abandon partially or totally our sovereignty to join a unity government in Africa. So we have no problem. My president is here with his pen ready to sign,” Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said.

He suggested a small group of states could sign up to a federation now and wait for others to follow.

The leaders of Kenya and Lesotho, representing southern Africa, also expressed their doubts.

“We recognise that Africa’s interests would be best served through economic and political integration,” AFP news agency quotes Lesotho’s Prime Minister Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisil as saying.

“However we must adopt a bottom-up approach, not a top-down one – We believe that such integration should be gradual rather than precipitous.”

Our correspondent says the majority of African leaders are likely to call for a gradual approach, preferring to strengthen the existing regional blocs rather than signing away some of their own sovereignty.

‘Take the bull by the horns’

The idea of a single pan-African government was first promoted by Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence in 1957.

On Monday, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said unity was vital to make the continent truly independent of the West, as he spoke to a crowd of cheering Ghanaians.

 Mr Gaddafi has called for the immediate establishment of a single government, foreign policy and army.

Ghana’s President John Kufuor said in his opening speech to the conference that the question of unifying Africa was not in doubt, but the key issue was how to attain it.

AU Commission head Alpha Oumar Konare told the gathering that Africans needed to “take the bull by the horns and move towards a new country – Africa”.

But campaigners on the sidelines of the summit say delivery is the key problem, with leaders already having shown they are unwilling to give up power to regional economic blocs.

“We have regional economy communities that were put in place for West Africa… but nothing is working. From one country to another… there are still a lot of obstacles,” a campaigner for the organisation Call To Action Against Poverty told the BBC.

This summit is the ninth since the AU was created five years ago.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Leaders split over African unity

To arrive in a foreign country by road is not an usual practice by Colonel Muamar Ghadafi who had traveled to several countries, especially those in Africa by road. One other strange phenomenon about Ghadafis lifestyle wherever he visits is his preference to sleep in his tent and drink camel milk. The relationship between Sierra Leone and Libya intensified in the wake of the end of the rebel war in Sierra Leone after President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah decided to raise certain very urgent issues related to the security of Sierra Leone. The relationship gathered momentum to the point that President Kabbah utilized his own personal friendship with Britains Tony Blair to bring Ghadafi and Blair together. Many observers have always wondered why President Kabbah made several visits to Libya, but the truth of the matter is that even other African leaders see Muamar Ghadafi as the leader who is always prepared to spend time, money and energy to fight the African cause, even if he had actually withdrawn most of his activities from the Arab League. Members of the public, who are not very clear about the arrangements that led to the arrival of buses and other equipment to beef up the operations of the central government and local government, still appreciate the worthy gifts from the Libyan leader. The Italian trained military officer, Muamar Ghadafi and his friend, Major Jaloud, staged a surprising coup on 1st September 1971 when they removed the ageing King Idriss who, according to Ghadafi and Jaloud, badly needed rest. The young military officers who had been inspired ideologically by Gamal Nasser of Egypt were kind hearted enough and magnanimous to buy a home in Cairo for the overthrown king and at the same time paid money into a special account to keep the overthrown king going. But Muamar Ghadafis life as a political leader was not without hiccups as the young and mercurial Ghadafi had assumed that Africa must be one political unit and that the ideology of the late Kwame Nkrumah should be implemented and therefore, the United Africa concept became part of the political thinking of Muamar Ghadafi, even if  some of his colleague Heads of States had more important issues of survival to think about. Ghadafis Libya is a very wealthy country blessed by nature with oil to the extent that by Africa standards, Ghadafi easily stands out as one of the few leaders who have invested all state resources in the development of their countries, including the building of an excellent infrastructure, both in Tripoli and other cities, including the creation of brand new cities. Some of his neighbours complained that his government was too politically powerful and sometimes overbearing to the extent of threatening the regimes of other countries such as in the case of Chad in the mid seventies. The Western Alliance, headed mainly by the United States and the United Kingdom, saw Muamar Ghadafi as a threat to global peace and therefore sent him to Coventry. The United States government actually warned its citizens not to visit Libya as a state policy even though President Jimmy Carters younger brother rebelled against the government of his brother and befriended Muamar Ghadafi. The suspicion that the Libyan secret service was behind the shooting down of a passenger plane in the airspace of Scotland in 1979, known as the Lockerby incident, caused the Western Alliance to gang up against Ghadafi as sanctions were declared against the North African country of which Ghadafi is leader. His home was actually bombed by American jets in 1986 in a failed attempt to wipe out the North African leader. When Ghadafi decided to hand over the suspects of the Lockerby incident to a Scottish court for trial, and after Ghadafi compensated the relatives of those who perished in the air crash, the Americans, the British and other western countries heaved a sigh of relief. But of course, the French quickly came up with their own claims that a French plane had been shot down in Central Africa, killing many French nationals and other citizens, and that they suspected Ghadafis agents to have carried out the act and demanded compensation. Today, Muamar Ghadafi has enough respite to continue to think about the Nkrumah dream of a single government for the continent of Africa and this Nkrumah dream will be the main topic of discussion in the next AU Conference in Accra next week. So, if Ghadafi decides to travel by road to Freetown to address Sierra Leoneans at the national stadium, that is merely part of his journey to Accra to present a strong case for African unity and to work towards the concept of a continental government.

Picture Gallery here

thenewcitizen-sl.com

Muammar Gaddafi, leader of Libya, arriving at Addis Ababa’s Bole Airport ahead of the start of the Heads of State Summit at the African Union. Photo by Andrew Heavens

To the doubting Thomases who have been treating the visit of Col. Gaddaffi to Sierra Leone with the wave of the hand should now put all speculations and doubts aside and come to grasp the reality that the North African Leader who sponsored the killings, maiming, torture and massive rape of young and innocent girls including women during the eleven-year-old war in Sierra Leone is here to witness the naming ceremony of the SLPP running mate in the person of Alhaji Momodu Koroma and the official opening ceremony of the Mosque at Rokupr which he sponsored all in the name of Muslim solidarity.

The visit of the Libyan President should not only be viewed superficially, but also symbolically. If we are to examine it on the surface, it signifies African Unity among nation-states and their leaders which should rekindle our hope that in this contemporary political environment Africa is forging ahead, but unfortunately not with Col. Gaddaffi as leader and champion of this long awaited dream. Perhaps, it were another African leader, the initiative would have been meaningful; especially with a leader who is highly recognized by the international community with clean slate and not one who is moving with blood on his hands and the ghosts of those millions he has sent to their untimely deaths haunting here and there.

What is very clear about his visit, before proceeding to the symbolical reason is that he is here to promote his religious ideology using money as the key instrument. It is true that religion cannot succeed without money, but the love of it must flourish in the minds of the converts or believers. In this case; it is not the love of religion but money and wealth used to lure and get converts into the Col. Gaddaffi religious empire.

Perhaps what the people of this nation has not been fortunate to comprehend is the fact that from the sufferings and misfortune of the people during the eleven-year-old war gave birth to a religious and brotherly relationship between President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Col. Maummar Gaddaffi to which the former has become the major beneficiary at the determent of the war wearied people of this nation. The argument among the down trodden and even the elite is that if President Kabbah sees Col. Gaddaffi as the saviour of Sierra Leone and champion of Africa Unity why did he not use the same spectacle to see Blaise Campoare of Burkina Faso as the messiah of the Muslims and Sierra Leoneans.

It may sound ridiculous, but logically these are the two backers of Foday Sankoh who provided logistics in the form of arms and ammunition, fighters and training grounds for Sankoh and his men. Blaise Campoare is also a Muslim if the yardstick for the relationship was centered on religion, but the fact is that Col. Gaddaffi has more wealth from oil that he can splash than the other Muslim brother, therefore he sees such relationship as beneficial and lucrative which even after his tenure he can still benefit from.

Symbolically, perhaps though subjective but can still serve the purpose of argument is that Col. Gaddaffi’s generosity is to get control of the political destiny of the nation. His intention together with his admirers is to install a puppet Government which he can wholly and solely control thus, transforming Sierra Leone into a province of Libya which the people of Sierra Leone should be able to reject.

This is a grand plan that if allowed to be implemented would affect the lives of the people and impede democracy. It is not the intention of Col. Gaddaffi to promote democracy in anyway but to control the destiny of a post war nation to which he played a major role in destroying the natural, human and infrastructural resources. From the pictures painted by the SLPP Government with banners and posters displayed in the city and programmes already packaged for this man who caused great suffering for this nation, the guess is obvious.

It is sad to note that all these flamboyant arrangements are geared towards preparing the future of the outgoing president and not anything that could benefit the people. The rice, fuel, vehicles and money Col. Gaddaffi may have contributed to this nation are not commensurate to the lives perished as a result of the war he sponsored. What the people are expecting from Col. Gaddaffi is adequate reparation that could be used to compensate families and the amputees who are currently languishing at the camps and not to sponsor a political party for self political reason.

One would recall the Lockerbie bombing that the Americans forced a two billion dollars out of Col. Gaddaffi coffer and also the French that he paid the sum of $1.2billion or more. The question is why should Sierra Leone be left out? Is it because our leaders are not genuine to the course of nation building or because they have been blindfolded with another man’s ill-gotten wealth?

This is the time America should demonstrate to the rest of the world that she is the promoter of democracy and human rights and not be selective in her fight against rogue states and their leaders. The cleaning exercise that Col. Gaddaffi is engaged in to give global impression that he has changed his political being is not appreciated by a cross-section of the global population for as the adage goes …a Leopard hardly changes its spot. For a man like Col. Gaddaffi to transform himself from a blood thirsty political leader to a God fearing mankind needs another decade for observation.

African Path

Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi has described the African Union as a failure and vowed to press ahead with plans for a single African government.

Speaking in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, Mr Gaddafi said there was no future for individual African nation states.

He urged leaders attending next month’s African Union summit in Ghana to decide to create a United States of Africa.

Mr Gaddafi has long been a leading proponent of the idea, but some observers say it is not realistic.

“At the Accra summit we are going to get straight to the point. Let those who are hesitating, get out of our way,” he told tens of thousands of people at a rally in Conakry.

“For 40 years all the summits have failed,” he said. “Our micro-states have no future.”

Greeting

The Libyan leader went on to visit Sierra Leone where hundreds of people came out onto the streets of the capital, Freetown, to greet him, despite allegations that he supported the notorious Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during the country’s brutal civil war.

Opposition leader Charles Magai said he felt Mr Gaddafi should not have been invited.

“If I were president of Sierra Leone I would only say to him that the people of Sierra Leone do not welcome you at this point in time. He should first of all apologise to the people and then the question of reparation could be considered,” Mr Magai told the BBC.

The BBC’s Umaru Fofana in Freetown says Mr Gaddafi has pumped a lot of money into Sierra Leone, especially in the last year.

Our correspondent says it is a strategy that seems to have paid off as many people seemed to agree with the red-carpet treatment he is receiving.

“He’s going around promoting peace in Africa so I think he deserves a welcome,” one man said as Mr Gaddafi arrived.

“I agree he supported them (the RUF) initially because he was thinking they were on a just cause and later when he saw that they have diverted from what initially they wanted to do, I think he moved away from them.”

After Sierra Leone, Mr Gaddafi goes to Ivory Coast before travelling to the summit in Accra.

The idea of a single pan-African government was first promoted by Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence in 1957.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Gaddafi urges pan-African state

FREETOWN. Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi arrived Monday to a red carpet welcome in Sierra Leone, a country where he was once accused of backing rebels during a brutal civil war that claimed 120,000 lives.
Kadhafi’s convoy of several hundred cars drove into the poverty-stricken west African nation through the border town of Kambia, 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of the capital, from neighbouring Guinea.
He was welcomed by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, and hundreds of school children and Muslim followers sporting T-shirts bearing his portrait.
The Libyan leader then arrived in the seaside capital Freetown where thousands turned up along the route to welcome him.
Kadhafi is due to hold talks with Kabbah Tuesday on the African Union and a slew of other issues.
Kadhafi, an avid backer of the concept of a “United States of Africa” which is to be discussed at the African Union (AU) summit to be held in July in the Ghanaian capital Accra, has slammed the continental body’s structures as being ineffective.
The Libyan leader who is travelling by road, has been to Mali and Guinea. He is due to leave Freetown this week, for neighbouring Ivory Coast, from where he will proceed to Ghana for the AU summit due at the weekend.
Both Kadhafi and former Liberian president Charles Taylor have been accused of backing rebels in the Sierra Leone war that raged from 1991 to 2001 and was marked by mass killings, mutilations and amputations and rape.

FOCUS Information Agency

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, leading a motorcade of hundreds of vehicles, left the West African country of Mali to Guinea on Saturday, said reports from the Malian capital of Bamako. A Libyan diplomat said Gaddafi chose the 1,000-km drive as he wanted to have a look at the real situation in the region. After arriving in Bamako by plane on Friday, Gaddafi told local media that he hoped to take the opportunity of his visit to convey the Libyan people’s regards to Mali. Libya hopes that African leaders would reach consensus on the establishment of an African community at a summit in the Ghanaian capital of Accra in July, said Gaddafi, who was met by Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure at the airport. During the Accra summit, leaders from African Union member countries are expected to discuss the idea of a “United States of Africa.” Gaddafi said all African nations aspire to set up such a community. Following his trip in Guinea, the Libyan leader will visit Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire before arriving in Accra.

People’s Daily Online — Libyan leader’s motorcade heads for Guinea