African Union's Shortcomings Limit African Solutions
Innocent Madawo | 02 Mar 2009World Politics Review
The African Union wants to be taken seriously. Its leaders seek the same respect accorded to its Western counterparts, particularly the European Union. And how better to earn that respect than to show that Africa can take care of its own? Hence the ASFAP doctrine -- African Solutions for African Problems. As expressions of political egos go, the doctrine is a macho response to the bullies of the West. More broadly, it is meant to show the world that Africa is mature enough to unite and rally together. The Government of National Unity cobbled together in Kenya after the deadly post-election violence in early 2008 was the test case for the doctrine and the recently installed coalition government in Zimbabwe is supposed to be its poster child. The Kenya experiment is largely working, despite a bumpy start. The Zimbabwe case might be expected to do even better. However, by all indications, African solutions will not work in that country. The two cases have conspired to reveal the shortcomings of the doctrine's core assumption: that because African problems are steeped in tribal tradition, conflicts can be solved by bringing everybody together under the biggest tree in the village, to butt heads and later shake hands over a gourd of the local brew, living together afterwards like the brothers they ought to be. The Kenya case fits the mold perfectly. After all, what began as a democratic contest ended in a tribal conflict that killed more than 1,500 people. The violence was quelled by the big chiefs of the continent descending on Nairobi to knock some sense into Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. And voilą, the doctrine was proven right. But the Zimbabwe case does not fit into the doctrine's traditional assumptions. The country faces a classic problem of an authoritarian regime that can be best understood and solved at a universal, not an African, level. As a problem, it is no different from that of North Korea. The economic plunder, political impropriety and human rights abuses are so blatant and widespread that their consequences go beyond the dimensions of Kenya's family dispute. Zimbabwe is under Western sanctions; an estimated one-third of its population is exiled, both in neighboring countries as well as outside of Africa; its once foreign-driven economy is in a shambles; and its citizens are persecuted by a regime that fears none other on the continent. The African Union already has a failing record in Somalia, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Darfur and other regional crises. How then can it claim to solve a problem whose tentacles reach beyond the continent's borders? The AU cannot solve Africa's problems because of two important shortcomings. First, unlike leaders in other regions whose socio-economic policies and even political ideologies largely aim for one regional goal, African leaders lack cohesion in almost everything. Whereas Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi wants the continent to transform itself into a United States of Africa, his fellow North African leaders would rather enjoy the luxury of being African when it suits them and Middle Eastern when that offers more advantages. While former South African president Thabo Mbeki promoted the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as a form of African renaissance, West African leaders would rather enjoy their favored economic relations with Europe. Zimbabwe finds itself right in the middle of that discord. A united and effective effort to solve its problems would mean the revival of an economic giant that could suck all the investment air right out of the other countries' lungs. So instead, they pretend to solve the country's problems by putting in place a coalition government that resembles a mix of oil and water, and then hoping for the best. The AU's second shortcoming is its lack of capacity to develop, fund and implement the instruments to guarantee and monitor any of its grand continental schemes. That is why its peace missions in Somalia and Darfur have largely failed and why its experiment in Zimbabwe will as well. As it is, within weeks of its implementation, the new Zimbabwe government has actually seen an increase in invasions of white-owned farms, political violence, political detentions and other forms of misrule that are all too familiar to the world. It is the year 2000 all over again. This, and not the sought-after respect, is the legacy so far of the AU's African Solutions for African Problems. Innocent Madawo is a Zimbabwean journalist based in Toronto, where he writes columns for the Toronto Sun. Currently studying International Relations at York University, he has reported and commented on African politics for almost 20 years. Photo: NASA satellite image of Africa. |