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Subject: [AfricaMatters] Dreamland of "One Africa" Betrayed
From: [log in to unmask] (Adey Oyenuga)
Dreamland of "One Africa" Betrayed
The Perspective (Smyrna, Georgia)
OPINION
October 23, 2000
Tom Kamara
Tripoli
After all the fanfare and hullabaloo of blending
chaotic Africa into the dreamy United States of
Africa most likely under Col. Muammar Gaddafi's
command, reality has overcome fantasy.
Thousands of Africans living in this farcical "Mecca"
of African brotherhood have found themselves under
siege, with hundreds butchered in the wilderness of
xenophobia. "Some injured ones are in hospitals.
Hundreds were burned and killed and are now in
morgues," according to The Guardian' of Lagos
quoting one returnee. Despite the facts, Libya
initially denied the pogroms, with a foreign ministry
spokesman dismissing them as a "dispute between
Africans about a problem of morals and no Libyans
were involved in any sort of way."
The Libyan lynching and exodus was bound to
happen. Hundreds of Africans, escaping from
collapsed economies, war and famine, storm North
Africa periodically in search of a passage to
"Paradise" Europe. Many have been killed as
human cargo. "They brought us to Europe as
slaves", said one young refugee aimlessly
wandering the streets of Holland with slim chances
of fulfilling his dream for better life. "But now, we pay
to come here. It is not easy."
However, on a more positive side of the tragedy, the
killings may cause a switch from illusion to
pragmatism. Africans will have to minimize
migration by concentrating on creating economic
opportunities in their individual countries, improving
the lives of their people, establishing stable
Governments around human rights and transparency
as the principal guarantors of self-respect and
progress. A union of poor and the rich has its
numerous problems. One will be the master while
the other remains a servant condemned to
servitude. This is why the European Union has not
allowed poor nations with unenviable human rights
records into the fold, fearing that the rich nations
may have to share the poverty of the poor. Skin color
is not the yardstick here, although some European
nations advocate granting permission to refugees
with white skins. The sooner Africans abandon the
illusive dream of one government as a precondition
for progress, and place much needed energy and
emphasis on economic innovation, the better.
However, what is clear is that the Libya killings and
exodus have betrayed all the nonsensical parades
of Africa being Africa regardless of countries and
race, and thus the need for one Government, one
presumably with Tripoli as its capital. Late
Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, one of the only
true sons of the Continent, once remarked that
Africans were trying hard to be Tanzanians,
Zambians, Ghanaians, etc., when in fact they are
only Africans. This may very well be true, but colonial
boundaries and structures have led to distinct
nations and peoples protecting their economic
interests. In Ghana, for example, Liberian refugee
traders were barred from selling in public markets.
One Liberian refugee, using her skills in pastry, was
on the way up the economic ladder when the
Ghanaian authorities dampened her hopes for
self-reliance she did not have the "correct papers".
Thus in many cases, it's easier for African refugees
to find employment in skinhead Germany, where
they are reminded of the "ignominy" of their race
every second, than in another African country. The
sad truth is that African refugees in an African
country are more out of place than being in Europe
or America despite the stigma of racism. For
instance, in Accra, angry Ghanaians decided a
serial killer, whom the Police were unable to identify,
was a Liberian. They therefore stormed a Liberian
refugee entertainment center and burnt it down.
A typical test of strength of African oneness came
during 1996 exodus out of Liberia on crawling,
leaking boats as armed factions competed to
control the capital Monrovia. When one of the boats
made an emergency docking in the Ivory Coast, the
authorities denied them refuge, despite the fact that
the Ivory Coast provided immense backing for the
rebels and the horrors the refugees were fleeing
from. Women and children were chased with whips
to ensure they did not leave confined areas. The
Ghanaians, after assurances of aid from
international humanitarian organizations, became
magnanimous, but callers on a radio talk show
warned the authorities against accepting the fleeing
Liberians, with one angry woman labeling all
Liberian women "prostitutes" that must be barred
from her country. Unfortunately, there are still over
40,000 Liberian refugees in Ghana, afraid to return
home or running from home.
The dreamy ambitions of African brotherhood are no
more. Ghana was one of the pioneering nations of
African unity under its visionary President Kwame
Nkrumah, who, following his ouster by the Army,
became "co-president" to a fellow visionary,
Guinea's Sekou Toure. Men like Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe and many other Africans
received their political baptism in Nkrumah's Ghana.
But apart from Nkrumah's crusade for One Africa,
Ghana needed professionals in schools, hospitals,
etc. after independence. Mugabe, who later married
a Ghanaian, was a teacher in Ghana. So was
Malawi's late Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. Times have
however changed. In the rat-race competition for a
better life, Africans see Africans as threats while
they see wealth in White faces, even if the contrary
is true. In Liberia, the Lebanese own the country's
most valuable real estate and now control what is left
of the criminal economy. Many arrive in the country
in tattered clothing but soon emerge as "business
tycoons" in league with corrupt politicians. During
his days in Samuel Doe's junta, Charles Taylor's key
"business partners" were Indians and Lebanese.
Now, they virtually own the economy. Sadly,
Liberians, as many Africans, have no qualms in
Lebanese or Europeans having the best in the
country---servants, plush homes, etc. The problem
arises when an African aspires for or lives the same
life-style. Historically, Liberian politicians prefer to
accept crumbs from Lebanese than empower their
people in commerce or industry.
With over a million Africans swarming Libya in
search of an illusive good life denied them at home,
the Libyans felt threatened and took action to defend
their privileges. But it was more than that. Racism is
at the core of the attacks. Libyans were amongst the
most brutal of Arab slavers. For long since Gaddafi
began his one Africa crusade, they simply regarded
African migrants as "slaves" who had come under
their leader's deceiving blanket of African
brotherhood to take their jobs, even if they were not
prepared for the menial, sweatshop jobs Africans
were just too happy to do.
Winning and dinning on Libya petro-dollars at OAU
meetings and the accompanying lofty
pronouncements of oneness, cannot change a slave
master's mentality cemented by centuries of slave
trade. It was only a matter of time for this deep
hatred and contempt, always found amongst people
victimized by harsh economic realities, to explode.
We see it in the Ivory Coast, where even the
wretched of Ivorians, believe foreigners have
caused their wretchedness. Black South Africans
loath Africans because they see them as threats to
their jobs. We see it re- emerging in Germany,
where skinheads believe foreigners taking jobs they
are unwilling to take have caused their economic
disadvantages.
Unemployment has been high amongst Libyans, hit
for years by international sanctions. Thus the
Africans became a convenient canon fodder despite
Gaddafi's grandstanding as the champion of African
unity. The "great leader" may just be discovering that
his Arab brothers and sisters are less reluctant for
his "Great Jamahariya" and its wooing of disciples
from other parts of the continent.
What the killings have done is to depict how
unpopular Gaddafi's great "one-nation" Africa has
been. Many Libyans may not have cared about their
leader's sponsorship of rebel wars and anarchy in
other African countries such as Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Chad, etc., once the export of wars did not
affect their life-style. But when they woke up
overnight and realized the prospects of sub-Saharan
African becoming competitors in their country,
however foolhardy their fears, they unleashed their
anger, and not even Gadaffi's iron grip on them
could stop them from implementing their pogroms
against immigrants.
Reports say Ghana's Rawlings, with long-standing
cordial ties to Gaddafi, found himself without a
counterpart president welcoming him when he
visited Libya after the killings. Gaddafi is reported to
have later sent a message of apology, stating that
Rawlings was at home even without him. But this
was a snub so clear that words could not conceal.
Rawlings flew with 200 of his citizens out of Libya,
leaving almost 5,000 behind.
The onslaught against Africans in Libya has been
sweeping. Many fleeing Africans left properties
behind as the flames of xenophobia spread. From
Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, etc., Africans have been
fleeing from the Jamahariya, Col. Gaddafi's
proclaimed "Haven" in which such things, we have
been told, are unthinkable. Nigeria has announced
plans to evacuate its citizens. Sudan, which should
have merged with Tripoli within the next 5 years as
one country, said a number of its citizens have been
killed, and plans were afoot for evacuation.
The killings and expulsions come just a few months
after Col. Gaddafi stormed West Africa as a
self-proclaimed shinning knight of African unity. His
prescription for Africa's problems, tied around
merging all African countries, was endorsed by
heads of state at the OAU meeting in Lome. To
replace the OAU, an "African Union" would be
formed. With notable exceptions of countries like
Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, African rulers
attending the conference approved Gaddafi's dream
without even bordering to ask their peoples if they
wanted domination by Arabs.
The farce of unity is crumbling at a time when Libya
has been the single most important player in West
Africa's destabilization process. In Liberia, Libya
suffered a setback during the reign of Samuel Doe,
then under the protective cover of Reagan's
America for service in the Cold War. Doe survived a
series of attempts to unseat his brutal rule primarily
because of Washington's blessings. Once
Washington's protection was in question, Gaddafi
saw an opportunity to help dump his foe like a
banana tree, avenging the humiliation it suffered
when its "People's Bureau" was shutdown and its
key backers in the military junta shot on orchestrated
charges of treason. Taylor's triumph has made
Tripoli's victory over the US in Liberia complete, that
is, if one considers her triumph a contest because
Uncle Sam had in fact lost interest in Liberia.
But the Libyans are not however hungry for global
power role in Africa without watching their pockets.
According to reports in London's Financial Times,
Taylor is making regular payment to Libya for money
borrowed to destroy Liberia. When Taylor
demanded $26m from Liberians to pay Libya for
debts incurred in waging the war, many Liberians
protested in vain but their President was determined
to pay the debts that made him president. Without
Gaddafi, Houphouet Boigny, Blaise Compaori and
later Sani Abacha, Taylor's presidency would have
been illusive.
Gaddafi recruits for Africa's greatness include
Sierra Leone's Foday Sankoh, who trained in Libya
with Taylor and other African rebels, Libya's
crusaders for "progress" in Africa. Their footprints in
Liberia and Sierra Leone are covered with terror
and poverty.
Slowly, Africans will realize that that self-respect lies
in being able to handle your own affairs. Chinese,
Koreans, Vietnamese and many Asian countries
have shown that. We must create our conditions
needed to change our image as unwanted migrants
all over the world. Gaddafi's "One Africa" is not the
answer, and recent events in the Jamahariya have
proved that.
Copyright © 2000 The Perspective.
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