Prince
lack of unity -OAU or LOU ?
This is the main cause apart from the others mentioned.
Habib
Yusupha Jow wrote:
> Africa is in a Catch-22 situation when it concerns the issue of foreign
> assistance/help. Simply put, try as we may, we do not have the resources to
> stand on our own two feet on many issues. We cannot defend ourselves against
> internal or external aggressors, natural disasters or economic problems, to
> name a few. The whole purpose of organizations like the Red Cross, OAU, NATO
> is to help maintain a sense of normalcy and stability in countries that are
> hit with catastrophes like that of Mozambique. However, this is not always
> the case.
>
> Case in point, I watched this documentary called "A Genocide Foretold." And
> it detailed a very interesting perspective of the genocide that happened in
> Rwanda from two perspectives, that of the UNAMIR (mostly Belgian) peace
> keeping forces and the citizens of Rwanda. The perspective that is most
> relevant to this topic is that of the UNAMIR peace keeping force since they
> are affiliated with the UN. Despite their peace keeping objective, once the
> Interhamwe killed 10 Belgian peace keeping forces, Belgium promptly withdrew
> its forces and, shortly after, UNAMIR followed suit, leaving the hapless
> Tutsis at the mercy of blood thirsty murderers. This, in my opinion, along
> with the negligence of UN peace keepers that led to the abduction and
> assassination of Patrice Lumumba, are very serious blemishes in the history
> of their peace keeping operations. These are just a few examples out of many
> that show a pattern of negligence and protection of self interest on the
> West's part when it concerns any kind of assistance to Africa.
>
> The same theory applies to more benign organizations like the Red Cross etc.
> It seems as if they are also motivated by the self interests of the powers
> that provide the bulk of financial to these organizations. When Tornadoes
> devastate large sections of the Midwest, it seems as if there is an immediate
> mass mobilization of the Red Cross to the afflicted areas. However, when a
> natural disaster hits Africa, help is usually very slow to arrive as
> evidenced by the problems in Mozambique of late and the terrible drought in
> Ethiopia.
>
> I guess, the rambling has to stop, and the telling question has to be
> addressed: What are we, as a community, supposed to do to redress this
> imbalance in the level of priority that international organizations give to
> Africa's problems? Well, my opinion is that this situation has to be
> addressed at the highest level the UN. A dialogue has to be initiated with
> the West as to how to redress this situation? I don't think that, up to this
> point, this issue has been raised by any of our leaders. If so, I have not
> heard of such a thing. Furthermore, in addition to this extreme dependence
> on the West for help, our governing bodies, like the OAU, have to anticipate
> that situations like this and form peace keeping and "disaster prevention"
> bodies much like the Red Cross and UNAMIR. We need to anticipate such
> disasters.
>
> To conclude, it is obvious that we have been shortchanged a lot by these
> international bodies, whether it is the UN, IMF or the Red Cross. In fact,
> after the Rwanda situation, my view of Kofi Anan has been soured forever.
> But as long as the situation does not change, we will continue to depend on
> these organizations for help.
>
> Yus
>
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