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Turmoil and contradictions: Has African Union lost its way?

By Brian E. Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Jul 16, 2012 - 4:48:35 PM

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The current state of affairs spells trouble for the AU and is a reminder of how the progressive vision of continental unity advanced by its forerunner, the Organization of African Unity, was derailed by neo-colonial forces working through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and some African leaders in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
(FinalCall.com) - While much of Africa’s current confusion stems from plots engineered by foreign actors using ambitious local minions, fault lines in the strength and viability of the African Union (AU) are also being exposed and make many wonder if the organization has lost its way.

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“The West is scrambling for new colonies in Africa given the rise of China, India and so forth,” said Dedon Kimathi, an analyst and host of Freedom Now on Pacifica Radio. Europe and America are carving out new territories of commerce to rebuild faltering economies that jeopardize their control over world affairs. It’s important because battle for domination of the critical resources is growing between the United States, Europe and China. A fragmented Africa is a more viable victim than a united continent. So those seeking Africa’s raw material wealth for survival and to remain relevant in the 21st century, can’t be expected to support a strong continent-wide organization. Africa is beset with imperialists craving re-colonization, militarization, and Balkanization. Of late the continent has experienced regime change, coups, assassinations, and conviction of a head of state in an international court. Western nations are accomplishing their aim by keeping the mineral rich continent destabilized.

Some indirect opposition to the West’s agenda is seen in popular uprisings against African governments in Senegal, Nigeria and Uganda. The popular resistance is “a sign of things to come,” commented Mr. Kimathi. And, he said, the goal of a Unified Africa will be “built from the bottom up,” not government down.

Among AU members the political will for unity is compromised because of obligations to foreign powers. In the midst of such arrangements, the masses see little benefit and are dissatisfied with governments’ failure to cultivate a decent quality of life economically, educationally and health wise. As people took to the streets in other world capitals, “the next inevitable step” is for Africans is to mobilize and organize around unification, said Mr. Kimathi.

The current state of affairs spells trouble for the AU and is a reminder of how the progressive vision of continental unity advanced by its forerunner, the Organization of African Unity, was derailed by neo-colonial forces working through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and some African leaders in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

“Africa is suffering greatly at this moment and it will continue to suffer until the power that destroyed Africa’s march toward true independence is destroyed,” warned Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, answering a June 10 query about Africa, via Twitter.

The Minister has been an unyielding advocate for a United States of Africa in alignment with early Pan African advocates in the Diaspora like Henry Sylvester Williams, George Padmore, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey and African independence leaders Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sekou Toure of Guinea, and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.

With the formation of the AU, the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi infused new life in the vision, backing it with finances to create an African Investment Bank and African Monetary Fund that would have altered the world economic equation in Africa’s favor.

Furthermore Col. Gadhafi vigorously pushed African self-determination, unification and meaningful participation by the Diaspora. At times he faced severe opposition from other African leaders who mainly desired regional integration. However to imperialist America, France and Britain, regional integration meant an easier way to marginalize, divide and conquer Africa. Since the killing of Col. Gadhafi, and the loss of billions of dollars in aid he contributed to the AU, the organization is floundering.

Analyst Cedric Muhammad, an AU appointed Rapporteur to the Diaspora for the first Congress of African Economists, said the AU is severely handicapped by its lack of economic self-sufficiency and reliance on foreign aid. “The African Union for years suffered from a financial deficit and budgetary constraints that were alleviated by the nations of Europe and Asian powers, most notably China. Some of the most important studies on regional integration were financed by the nations of Germany and Sweden—European nations, not African nations and not members of the Diaspora,” Mr. Muhammad noted.

The AU defines Diaspora as “peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union.”

“It’s the unity of us in the Western hemisphere who have the skills, the money, the consciousness, the struggle—with the African Continent that is the future,” said African Studies scholar Dr. Leonard Jeffries in a telephone interview with The Final Call.

An AU Global Summit on the Diaspora met May 25 in Sandton, South Africa to discuss continental issues and the integration of the Diaspora as a Sixth Region on the AU decision making level.

The conference gathered current and former African presidents, scholars and delegates from the Diaspora. Some observers said the gathering was a significant step in linking the Diaspora with Africa; but others cautioned the bond is challenged by profound contradictions and problems plaguing the AU.

Critics say several “mishandled conflicts” have inundated Africa in recent times. Most prominently is the AU political betrayal in the toppling and assassination of Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi in 2011. The AU initially supported the embattled leader against a foreign supported insurgency, then backpedalled and legitimized coup makers as upstanding members in the AU.

Another AU contradiction was the nominal response to racially-motivated slaughter of dark skinned Libyans and African migrant workers in the new Libya and the floodgate of chaos the Gadhafi overthrow unleashed across Africa as seen in Mali and neighboring Niger.

Libya was a safe haven for thousands of Africans from all over the continent who received education, employment and, in some cases, military training. In solidarity with Col. Gadhafi, many fought against the insurrection and returned to their counties of origin escaping the anti-Black pogrom perpetrated in the new Libya.

According to analysts, the March 22 coup d’état in the West African nation of Mali was a direct fallout of Libya. The Tuareg rebel group, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, that took over several areas of Mali to form an independent state was former fighters, trained and armed in Libya.

For drought burdened Niger, tens of thousands of people are in refugee camps with few resources after crossing the border from North Eastern Mali, placing immense stress on the small country.

Under Col. Gadhafi, Libya was a buttress against U.S. militarization of Africa, rejecting the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) presence on African soil. Now the AU has allied itself with AFRICOM in hotspots like Central Africa and Somalia.

“These struggles on the continent and the Diaspora are far from over. The challenges of neo-colonialism are still before us,” admitted South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane at the recent summit, according to press reports.

Along with the vote for a Diaspora Sixth Region, credibility and financial issues, there are internal questions about who will lead the AU. A July runoff election in Addis Ababa will pit incumbent Chairman Jean Ping, a former Gabon diplomat, against South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the AU chairmanship.

Neither the incumbent nor Ms. Dlamini-Zuma garnered enough votes to win a Jan. 30 election in what observers say was really an attempted referendum against Mr. Ping. Both candidates lobbied member states for support, with the stakes high for South Africa as the continent’s leading economy. How the winning candidate will address the myriad of problems engulfing the AU only time will tell.

For Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane, a unified Africa and Diaspora would lead the continent in the right direction, but unity also depends on overcoming historical challenges.

“But until the AU realizes that there is more financial, human and physical capital in the Diaspora than in all of the nations of Europe and Asia, it will continue to suffer financially and it will continue to bargain from a weakened, dependent and deferential position at the negotiating table of the nations of the world,” said Mr. Muhammad.

Dr. Jeffries attended the conference as a leading voice for a complete African renaissance and sees the Diaspora’s inclusion as a milestone in a “flow of history.” The challenge of working through contradictions must be faced to develop a “global African family” after generations of isolation and destruction, he said.

The AU shouldn’t be totally rejected, Mr. Kimathi agreed. “Poor organization is better than no organization because at least with organization there’s communications,” he said. The AU still has the potential to be a good organization, he added.

Mr. Muhammad echoed the possibility, but added, thus far “most of the AU outreach to the Diaspora has been ceremonial, superficial and not substantive enough” to affect economic, political and cultural integration; nor advanced enough to foster the kind of spiritual interaction that will cause full unity.

“Until the love, the concern and the spirit of Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdel Nasser, which was channeled through Brother Gadhafi, is present in this new leadership at the African Union, we will never be the Sixth Region integrated into the homeland, we will in fact continually remain a disconnected sixth tribe,” said Mr. Muhammad.