Congratulations mama Africa! Although we have a lot of the logistics to
address, we're finally heading in the right direction. I believe we should
start thinking about what would differentiate us from USA, ... USAf.?
Sidi thanks for sharing the good and exciting news with us.
MAILA TOURAY
-----Original Message-----
From: Sidi Sanneh [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 7:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OAU summit opens divided over Libyan call for
African Union
OAU summit opens divided over Libyan call for African Union
by Peter Cunliffe-Jones
LOME, July 10 (AFP) - African leaders opened the Organisation of
African
Unity summit on Monday in the absence of several countries and
divided over
a
call from Libya's Moamer Kadhafi for an African political and
economic
union.
Four countries -- Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia,
and
Zimbabwe -- are boycotting the meeting in the Togolese capital after
claims
in
a UN report, reiterated by Luanda Monday, that Togo's President
Gnassingbe
Eyadema has been supporting the Angolan rebel movement UNITA in
return for
a
share in its so-called 'blood diamonds'.
Despite the presence of more than 30 African other heads of state
and
government, the man who stole the show Monday was Kadhafi who helped
Togo
to
finance the summit and wants to use it to win support for his plan
for a
grand
African Union, diplomats said.
Kadhafi arrived first at the summit venue to welcome delegates
for the
official opening at midday Monday, waving to the large crowd
attending the
ceremony from his open-topped bullet-proof limousine.
Several minutes behind him came a bus carrying the other leaders:
Eyadema,
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Nigeria's President Olusegun
Obasanjo and
others.
Kadhafi has called for a union with broad powers and its own
parliament
and
leader, eventually replacing leaders of Africa's 53 sovereign states
and
the
different sub-regional organisations.
Those still voicing support include Togo and several other small
west
African countries with close links to the Khadafi regime. Strong
resistance
comes from several powerful countries on the continent including
Egypt,
Kenya,
Nigeria and South Africa.
Speaking shortly after the meeting opened, Annan voiced support
for the
idea of some sort of economic union to control the trading in oil
and
diamonds
that is seen as being behind many of the conflicts on the continent.
Africa is the only region of the world where the number of armed
conflicts
are increasing and 33 of the world's 48 least developed countries
are on
the
continent, the Ghanaian-born official noted.
"This is not something others have done to us. It is something we
have
done
to ourselves," he said. "We have mismanaged our affairs for decades
and we
are
suffering the accumulated effects," he added.
"The rhetoric of African renaissaince is greeted with scepticism
or even
derision today," he said.
There are many problems, including the sweeping HIV/AIDS
pandemic, he
went
on.
"Last year alone, this disease killed more Africans than all the
conflicts
on the continent," he said.
After several hours of mainly closed-door debate Monday, the
delegates
attended a gala dinner late Monday and were expected to meet again
Tuesday
to
discuss the AIDS crisis sweeping the continent, renew calls for debt
relief,
and consider the renewed conflict in Sierra Leone.
But several of Africa's on-going wars are off the agenda,
particularly
following the decision of DRC leader Laurent Kabila to boycott the
summit.
The summit is also expected to discuss the situation in the
Comoros
Islands
and Ivory Coast, where mutinous soldiers recently caused panic and
where
tension remains high.
Leaders of the Comoros Islands and Ivory Coast have not attended
the
gathering, following a decision reached last year to ban any leader
whose
government was brought to power by a military coup.
The summit is scheduled to end on Wednesday.
Sidi Sanneh
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