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 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------