Africa Day: To Celebrate or Self-Flagellate is the Question

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is fighting against an imperialist onslaught against his North African state. Gaddafi is a former chairman of the African Union and is an advocate for a unitary pan-african state on the continent., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

To celebrate or self-flagellate is the question

Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:21
By Miriam Muchero-Muti

Africa, Africa, Africa . . .!

What is there to celebrate on Africa Day? Is there really anything to celebrate on this continent after the recent events?

Libya is burning; Harare is wadding of the sanctions yoke.

Somalia and DRC are bleeding; Ivory Coast is at the crossroads; Egypt is a time bomb; Tunisia is restless; and, which African country is comfortable, without selling out its sovereignty?

The imperialists are at work, and treating Africa as an extension of their territory, and also treating Africa's remaining revolutionary luminaries like thugs, crooks and savage dictators, yet the continent should be self-governing.

The African Union has been reduced to a talk-shop, without the capacity to defend its core values.

Day-in, day-out, the West is devising new strategies to reverse the gains of independence, and to wipe out all revolutionary movements, and bring into play puppet governments.

Look at who is tipped to eventually replace the embattled Muammar Gaddafi?

Look at who the West wants to replace Yoweri Museveni! Look at who they want to replace Robert Mugabe with, and who should replace Hosni Mubarak, and the story is clear!

Africa cannot celebrate Africa Day, when the political leadership has an egg splashed on its face, through the mishaps in Libya.

America, Britain and France, among others are fomenting divisions and, African leaders are as quiet as a cemetery, except for a few like Robert Mugabe and Yoweri Museveni.

Where are the others?

Today, Africans in their broad totality should be celebrating the gains of their independence where revolutionary movements should be heralded as the beacons of the struggle for the continent's emancipation, but shameful things have happened in the past seven months or so.

It is shameful that South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon supped and dined with the West on the passing of UN Resolution 1973 and should now be ashamed with the Western trespasses in Libya.

The African Union, which should be the vanguard of the continent's ethos, values, dignity and morality has been exposed for failing to control the continent's destiny with France, America and Britain raping and violating the rights of Africans to their chosen land.

Gaddafi might not have been the best democrat on the continent, but he was certainly central and, a vital cog to the ideology of United States of Africa in general, and African resistance to neo-colonialism in particular.

He must therefore, have been protected by AU from the Western vagaries and, later panel-beaten or whipped into line, the African way, to take a more democratic route.

Now, who is next after Gaddafi is the question that all African leaders who are not sell-outs must ask?

America and Europe are quite aware that the time to hit Africa and take over its vast natural resources is now, especially when Africa itself has not managed to put in place an army that is wholly answerable to it.

The timing for Europe is good in that Africa has a fragmented military approach and Africom, (United Sates military outfit for Africa) and Nato, have seized the opportunity and started the route to send Gaddafi to hell, yet Gaddafi has certainly killed less people than George Bush the father and son, Tony Blair, and of late, Nicholas Sarkozy, David Cameron and Barack Obama.

Europe and America have managed to sneak in disguised as interested defenders of the ordinary people, democrats par excellence, human rights experts yet, their armies effect regime change and facilitate the plunder of the continent's vast resources.

Sadc has a military brigade on standby and Ecowas has a less managed one, yet Africa has many highly trained soldiers and policemen serving in United Nations peace-keeping duties.

It is mainly a question of forming a central command and integrating the tried and tested soldiers on UN duty. If Africa was in control in Libya, the continent would certainly be celebrating the Africa Day, with talk of good work in Libya.

The West's military aggression in Libya has shown the whole world the true face of Africom and Nato and what they are capable of doing to effect regime change.

Africom in particular, was involved primarily in the planning and preparation of the initial stages of the military intervention in Libya.

Its emissaries were also central in convincing African countries to vote for the UN resolution, that has now been grossly abused.

It is no secret that many innocent civilians lost their lives to the Nato-Africom air strikes on Libyan towns and cities and, this together with Washington's open disregard of UN Resolution 1973 gives us a glimpse of the real priorities of America's foreign policy.

African leaders approach this year's Africa Day facing a difficult but urgent task of protecting the independence and sovereignty of their states, at a time when American activities in Libya have far exceeded the limits of UN Resolution 1973.

It goes without saying that the future of Africa lies in its ability to reign in the major threat posed by Africom and Nato by creating an African army that can be used in all troubled spots of the continent.

An army controlled by Africa itself!

Otherwise Africa has nothing to celebrate on Africa Day.

Most among the current crop of African leaders, have failed to rise to the occasion because they have been heavily compromised by their nocturnal dealings with the West and await endorsement of the West to take any major decision even those that are crucial to African humanism.

Given what is happening in Libya today, Africa Day is akin to a funeral and, there is every reason for all and sundry to mourn for our lost gains and the blood of innocent being spilled.

What is there to celebrate?

Mariam Muchero-Mutiti is a Zimbabwean born journalist and political commentator working in Tanzania, and has lectured African politics in many universities. The article first appeared on DayAfrica.com