AU summit: Is unity elusive?

Africa’s territorial boarders as they are now were charted and drawn by European colonizers without the input of Africans. The 14 European colonizers agreed to meet in November 1884 in Berlin, Germany, to negotiate and settle their differences over territorial claims and resource usage. Four months later, the boarders of today’s African nations were drawn. Immediately  After  agreeing   and  sharing  Africa  among  themselves, the  European  colonizers  Embarked  on  massive  exploitation  of  Africa’s  resources  using  methods  such as divide and rule system,  forced  labour, compulsory  growing  of  certain  cash  crops  like  coffee, cotton and  tobacco, and displacing indigenes  out  of  their  fertile  lands  among  others. Africans rose up against the status quo and agitated for independence.

Some  visionary  leaders  like  the  late  Kwame  Nkrumah soon  realized  that  what  they  had  achieved  was  political  and  not  Economic  independence. Political  independence  was  useless  without  economic  independence  as  it  meant  that  Africa’s  resources  would  continue  to  be  externalized. Nkrumah  and  his  supporters  suggested that Africa needed  to  form  one strong regional  country  in  the  name  of  United  States  of  Africa. They based their proposal on the premise that  no  one  country  in  Africa  on  it’s  own  was  capable  of  resisting  the  forces  of  Neo-colonialism. His proposal was however shot down during  the  Casablanca  conference. 

Had  Nkrumah’s  idea  of  turning  the  African  continent  into  one  strong  regional  country  been  supported  and  implemented, Africa  would  be  today  a much  more  developed  continent.  There would be  strong  markets, fair distribution of  public  goods,  as well as free  movement  of  labour, capital  and  services. Corruption, dictatorship, human  right  abuses, among  others  on  the  continent, would  be  minimal.

In unity, there is power. The formation of the organization of African unity (now the African Union) was indeed an excellent initiative. Egocentric tendencies by African  leaders  have however made  it  impossible  to  achieve. Member  states  are  always  deeply  divided  when  it  comes  to  solving continental problems  like  political  turmoil  due  to   their  selfish  hidden  interest.

I  applaud  President  Muammar  Gaddafi  of  Libya  his tireless effort to  promote  African  Unity. However, his reluctance to leave power after ruling Libya for more than 30 years dents his image. Leaders who cling to power become dictators. Eduardo Dos Santos – Angola, Hosni  Mubarak – Egypt, Denis  Nguesso – Brazzaville  and  Museveni – Uganda  exemplify this. Such leaders become liabilities to their nations  by encouraging nepotism and turning public resources into personal property. The  late  Abacha,  stole  millions  of  US  dollars  and  banked  it  abroad.  Mobutu  of  Zaire  (now  DR Congo) was once richer  than  his  country. He at one time had 8 billion US dollars as a single individual while his country   had a debt of 4 billion US dollars.  The late Omar Bongo of Gabon left behind five expensive villas in Paris, France.

Today’s African leaders are also doing the same. Guinea, has been loosing over $700 million every year to corruption while Nigeria looses more than $500 million every year. Leaders who have turned their countries into personal property can’t fathom African unity. They can’t support the course of forming an African ideology. This exposes Africa to borrowed ideologies that further the agenda of former colonial masters and emerging economies making inroads into the continent.

African leaders are always looking forward to satisfy their selfish desires. Very few think about African unity in uniformity. The lack of a uniform Africa-centered ideology makes African leaders to always differ, when it comes to solving Africa’s problems. Some time back, the international criminal court indicted President Omar el Bashir of Sudan for war crimes in Darfur. African leaders have since voiced their differing opinions about this. Some secretly want him arrested and taken to the Hague while others want this indictment to be removed. These kind of differences are a stumbling block to achieving true African unity.

African leaders are also suspicious of each other. Some supported and have supported the removal of some African leaders from their countries. President Museveni of Uganda and his allies supported the rebels under the late president Kabila senior to remove the then president Mobutu Sese Seko from power. At one time, Ivory Coast accused Senegal of supporting rebels based in its northern region. The Khartoum government under president Bashir, at one time also accused president museveni-Uganda of supporting the then SPLM rebels while president Museveni accused Bashir of supporting LRA rebels under the leadership of Kony in northern Uganda.

Some Christian leaders have also accused their Muslim counterparts of trying to Islamize the entire Africa. These are African leaders who fear to support President Muammar Gaddafi-Libya in his initiatives of trying to unite Africa into one strong regional country for fear that when they support him, he will Islamize the continent. When you investigate further, you will find that this fear is based on losing power.

In sum, in unity there is power. United we stand and divided we fall. If, Africa, is to have significant influence in today’ global world, African countries have no other option but to unite meaningfully as one strong regional block and also approach and solve the continental problems as a single block. Failure to do this will always subject African countries to exploitation by developed and emerging countries.

By Hategeka Moses

The author is a Ugandan based independent governance researcher, public affairs analyst and writer.