from the July 09, 2002 edition of Christian Science Monitor

        AFRICAN LEADERS: South African President Thabo Mbeki, second from 
left, will be the African Union's first president. He hopes to convince the 
West that Africa is stable enough for increased aid and investment. Also 
pictured are Levy Mwanawasa, far left, of Zambia; Amara Essy, second from 
right, of Mali; and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
JUDA NGWENYA/REUTERS
    

    
Africa takes cue from EU

The African Union debuts Tuesday with a new vision of unity for the 
continent.

By Nicole Itano | Special to The Christian Science Monitor 

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – More than 50 African heads of state gathered in this 
coastal city Monday to mark the end of an era – and perhaps a new beginning. 
The 39-year-old Organization for African Unity (OAU) – formed to support 
states emerging from colonialism – was dissolved. Tuesday, it will be 
replaced by the African Union (AU), a more powerful organization with a new 
vision for addressing the problems of this troubled continent.
 
To skeptics, this is institutional name-swapping, a fresh moniker for a weak 
organization, led by a group of familiar leaders who have frequently failed 
to stop corruption, feed their people, or practice democracy.

To supporters, it's an important self-recognition of what African states 
need: group accountability, a unified development plan, and the rule of law. 
The AU, loosely modeled after the European Union, will create a pan-African 
parliament, a central bank, a court of justice, an African peacekeeping 
force, and eventually, a common currency.

The most controversial, and perhaps most critical, element of the new union, 
say analysts, is its authority to intervene in the affairs of member states. 
It can step in when a country's constitutional government has been 
overthrown, and when there is a danger of genocide or gross human rights 
violations, or when the instability of one state threatens another.

"Africa is drawing a line between the era of the liberation struggle and the 
era of development," said Ghana's President John Kufuor as he arrived at the 
three-day summit here.

The OAU, founded in 1963 by Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, who advocated a 
union of African states that could speak with one voice, was intended to 
support the emerging African states who were just freeing themselves from the 
yoke of colonialism. But as colonial powers gave way to African dictatorships 
like that of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, and civil wars like the ones in 
Sierra Leone and Angola, the OAU looked the other way. As a result, 
peacebuilding and support of democracy was left primarily to regional bodies 
anchored by a single powerful state, like the Southern African Development 
Community, which intervened in Lesotho in 1998 to prevent a suspected coup.

The OAU, says Chris Landsberg, co-director of the Center for African 
International Relations at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, 
became concerned chiefly with "the security of the elite, of regimes. The 
rights of the people weren't even on the agenda; in fact, state security was 
sacrosanct. But after all this was the age of the cold war, when governance 
and democracy wasn't on the agenda at all."

Dr. Landsberg adds that the AU represents a shift in thinking: "We have moved 
from the question of who should govern Africa to how Africans should be 
governed."

Many of the leaders gathered in Durban this week are part of a new guard of 
pro-Western, democratic leaders. But democratic credentials aren't a 
requirement for attendance. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Libyan 
leader Muammar Qaddafi are there. The presence of such leaders points to the 
contradictions facing South African President Thabo Mbeki as he tries to sell 
the union to the West as the dawn of a new era in Africa.

The AU is tied closely to another idea dear to Mr. Mbeki: the New Partnership 
for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It makes international aid and trade 
contingent upon good governance.

"The AU is inheriting the pan-African principle of inclusivity, but a number 
of states have policies that are inconsistent with that inclusivity," says 
Eddy Moloka, director of the African Institute in Johannesburg. "There's 
going to be a lot of pressure on the AU to say, you've been a member of the 
OAU and you've signed the constitutive act [of the AU], but you're not on 
board."

The big question for the new AU is whether it will make use of the new power 
it has been given or whether, like the OAU, it will be paralyzed by the 
competing interests of its membership. The OAU, for example, said Zimbabwe's 
March elections were credible, despite widespread condemnation by 
international observer groups of the ruling party's use of intimidation and 
torture.

African leaders say the union will be different, and point to a recent 
decision, currently being reconsidered, not to allow Madagascar to join the 
AU. The opposition leader there, Marc Ravalomanana, claimed victory after a 
disputed election and has been recognized by the United States and other 
powers.

African leaders said they would not let Mr. Ravalomanana join because he 
acquired power illegitimately. But critics say that by enforcing the union's 
mandate selectively – by punishing Madagascar but not Zimbabwe – they are 
doing what the OAU always did: protecting members of the old regime of 
African leaders.

Ultimately, the success of the union may depend on who wins the power 
struggle within. Mr. Mbeki, who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to 
ensure that the union came into being, will be the organization's first 
president. Many analysts say his one-year term will set an important 
precedent.

But Mr. Qaddafi, who is credited with first coming up with the idea of an 
African union, has a different vision of the organization, and is making a 
play for influence in the new body.

Mbeki sees the union as an integral part of his grand plan to convince the 
West that Africa is stable enough for increased aid and investment. Mr. 
Qaddafi, who has bankrolled Zimbabwe's crumbling economy and paid $2.2 
million to cover OAU dues for 11 African nations, would like the union to 
continue as a spokesman against Western imperialism. Apparently in a bid to 
upstage the South African hosts, Qaddafi sponsored a private dinner for 
African leaders Sunday night.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the AU's birth "an occasion for hope" 
but added, "Let us be careful not to mistake hope for achievement."

    
    

 

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