Editorial Comment: A Very Sad Day for African Unity
April 2, 2014 Opinion & Analysis
Zimbabwe Herald
THE EU-Africa Summit begins in Brussels, Belgium today with 36 African leaders in attendance despite a resolution from the AU Peace and Security Council to boycott the meeting till the EU engages the African Union as an equal. Reports from Brussels indicated yesterday that out of 54 African countries, 48 had confirmed taking part at the 4th EU-Africa summit running between today and tomorrow and 36 of them were represented at head of state and/or government level.
The AU’s Peace and Security Council which met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday last week advised member states to boycott the summit to protest how Europe was holding the continent in contempt by determining who could or could not attend the summit on the African side.
The Peace and Security Council, is the AU’s most powerful organ tasked with enforcing Union decisions and we await to see how it will respond to the utter disregard it has been given by those it considers its own.
Instead of being a day of celebration where African leaders sit at the table with their European counterparts as equals, what is underway in Brussels is a meeting of master and servant for the simple reason that Africa has not gone as a united front but as disparate albeit desperate member states while Europe comes as a bloc.
In so doing Europe has succeeded in one important respect, testing the solidity of African Unity, which has sadly been found wanting.
Now Europe can go about its age old modus operandi of divide and rule with no compunction that Africa has wisened up.
This is a perfect recipe for continued subversion of the continent, and we wonder what is going on in the minds of the African leaders gathered in Brussels who have clearly opted to be the proverbial house Negroes who regard their lot to be better than that of the house Negroes slaving in the field as US civil rights leader Malcolm X graphically put it.
We salute Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Gambia for their principled stance against Europe’s condescending behaviour, and extend similar regard to the leaders of the Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau, Eritrea and Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic who were either not invited or also chose to stay away.
That the EU could invite Morocco which not only pulled out of the AU in 1984 but is also the continent’s sole remaining coloniser speaks volumes about their regard for Africa.
That they could invite Egypt, which stands suspended from the councils of the AU, in the wake of the unconstitutional removal of the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Morsi from power says a lot about Europe’s double-speak on democracy and human rights on the back of which it refused to extend an invitation to Eritrea.
We are not against constructive engagement between Africa and Europe, what we are against is the continued subjugation of the continent.
We wonder what has accrued from the previous three engagements between Africa and the EU because what opens in Brussels today is the fourth such gathering between Africa and the European Union. The last one having been held in Sirte, Libya in 2010.
The then Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who believed he had found favour in the eyes of westerners was host, just 12 months later in the same city, Col Gaddafi was murdered in cold blood by hoodlums backed by Nato air power.
We hope those dining and wining in Europe today remember the axiom that counsels using a long spoon when supping with the devil.
 |
| Sam Nujoma (SWAPO), Kenneth Kaunda (UNIP), Samora Machel (FRELIMO), Julius Nyerere (Chama Cha Mapunduzi), Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF) and Jose Eduardo dos Santos (MPLA). |
Zimbabwe Herald
THE EU-Africa Summit begins in Brussels, Belgium today with 36 African leaders in attendance despite a resolution from the AU Peace and Security Council to boycott the meeting till the EU engages the African Union as an equal. Reports from Brussels indicated yesterday that out of 54 African countries, 48 had confirmed taking part at the 4th EU-Africa summit running between today and tomorrow and 36 of them were represented at head of state and/or government level.
The AU’s Peace and Security Council which met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday last week advised member states to boycott the summit to protest how Europe was holding the continent in contempt by determining who could or could not attend the summit on the African side.
The Peace and Security Council, is the AU’s most powerful organ tasked with enforcing Union decisions and we await to see how it will respond to the utter disregard it has been given by those it considers its own.
Instead of being a day of celebration where African leaders sit at the table with their European counterparts as equals, what is underway in Brussels is a meeting of master and servant for the simple reason that Africa has not gone as a united front but as disparate albeit desperate member states while Europe comes as a bloc.
In so doing Europe has succeeded in one important respect, testing the solidity of African Unity, which has sadly been found wanting.
Now Europe can go about its age old modus operandi of divide and rule with no compunction that Africa has wisened up.
This is a perfect recipe for continued subversion of the continent, and we wonder what is going on in the minds of the African leaders gathered in Brussels who have clearly opted to be the proverbial house Negroes who regard their lot to be better than that of the house Negroes slaving in the field as US civil rights leader Malcolm X graphically put it.
We salute Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Gambia for their principled stance against Europe’s condescending behaviour, and extend similar regard to the leaders of the Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau, Eritrea and Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic who were either not invited or also chose to stay away.
That the EU could invite Morocco which not only pulled out of the AU in 1984 but is also the continent’s sole remaining coloniser speaks volumes about their regard for Africa.
That they could invite Egypt, which stands suspended from the councils of the AU, in the wake of the unconstitutional removal of the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Morsi from power says a lot about Europe’s double-speak on democracy and human rights on the back of which it refused to extend an invitation to Eritrea.
We are not against constructive engagement between Africa and Europe, what we are against is the continued subjugation of the continent.
We wonder what has accrued from the previous three engagements between Africa and the EU because what opens in Brussels today is the fourth such gathering between Africa and the European Union. The last one having been held in Sirte, Libya in 2010.
The then Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who believed he had found favour in the eyes of westerners was host, just 12 months later in the same city, Col Gaddafi was murdered in cold blood by hoodlums backed by Nato air power.
We hope those dining and wining in Europe today remember the axiom that counsels using a long spoon when supping with the devil.
No comments:
Post a Comment