Africa in Chaos: Where is the AU?

Published on 25th November 2008

From North Africa to South Africa; West Africa through Central Africa, to East Africa, Africa is riding on a groundswell of discontent.

In northern Africa, the African Union, Algeria and Morocco are at loggerheads over the occupation of Western Sahara. In Central Africa, a century old crisis that has claimed over 5 million lives threatens to annihilate the Democratic Republic of Congo. In eastern Africa, Kenya is in a state of ceasefire following the 2007 post-election violence. Angry Tanzanians recently pelted their president’s motorcade with stones while former officials from the East Africa Community barricaded Tanzanian highways. The war in Northern Uganda persists. Ethiopia and Eritrea continue to trade tirades in the Horn of Africa. Sudan’s Darfur crisis still lingers. Somalia’s crisis has taken an international dimension through the escalating piracy in high seas. In West Africa, the Niger Delta crisis still persists. Currently, Nigerian militants have threatened to interrupt shipping. Guinea Bissau’s President, Joao Bernardo Vieira has just survived a coup attempt. The attacks against other nationalities in South Africa and imminent implosion of the ANC paint a gloomy picture of Africa’s economic powerhouse. Zimbabwe is yet to end its power sharing stalemate.

This is the time for the African Union to show leadership. Africa is counting on its elites to offer a way forward. Africa’s current in-fighting, as the Congo case has demonstrated, will only open up the continent for plundering by global opportunists. 

 


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