June 28, 2007
From Cape Town to Algiers, many
Africans welcome Libyan leader Moammar
Gadaffi's plan for a United States of
Africa with a strong voice on the
global stage, but most say it simply
comes too soon for a divided
continent.
Gadaffi, long regarded as a pariah in
the West for his anti-colonial
rhetoric, is touring West Africa to
promote the long-standing plan for a
pan-African government, which will be
put to a summit of the African Union
on July 1 in Ghana.
Flush with cash from an oil boom, the
leader of the North African Arab state
has won backing from Senegal, Zimbabwe
and some other countries. But
diplomatic heavyweights like South
Africa and Uganda are staunch
opponents.
Many ordinary Africans say it is
premature for the continent of nearly
one billion people divided between
rich and poor, black and Arab, Muslim
and Christian, and criss-crossed by
conflicts like the wars in Somalia and
Sudan's western region of Darfur.
"It's a good idea but it's
far-fetched. We have so many different
ideologies, different tribes,
traditions and religions," said
Jubilee Kamara (50), a teacher in
Uganda's capital, Kampala. "You
have got to have a common dream and
that one will take time -- it could be
50 years to even get close."
In areas like trade, where Africa's
impoverished farmers have clamoured in
vain for the United States and Europe
to scrap billions of dollars of
subsidies, the continent could benefit
from more negotiating power, officials
say.
"When you are many, you're
stronger. That can solve problems in
exchanges with foreign countries
because [Africans] very often lose
out," said Sebastien Djedje,
Reconciliation Minister of war-torn
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, which Gadaffi
visited on Wednesday.
But existing pan-African institutions
have failed to gain traction. A degree
of political and military cooperation
occurs through the African Union, but
its pan-African Parliament is widely
seen as a talking shop while the
continent's long-serving presidents
jealously guard their grip on power.
"I can't see any African leader
agreeing to be like a senator in his
own country," said John Muchiri,
a taxi driver in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi. "The stronger countries
would probably want to rule the
rest."
Renewed credibility
The success of blocs like the expanded
European Union has given renewed
credibility to the idea pioneered by
Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to become
the first black nation in sub-Saharan
Africa to throw off the colonial yoke
50 years ago.
Nkrumah and other independence leaders
like Tanzania's Julius Nyerere wished
to scrap the artificial frontiers
drawn up by colonial rulers at the
conference of Berlin in 1884.
Many people question, however, whether
there is a common African identity
spanning the continent that would bond
it together. Others wonder how a
central government could impose
policies some states may not have the
means to implement.
On the streets of the continent's
wealthiest country, citizens worried
they would end up footing the bill.
"We've got enough problems in
South Africa. How many problems are we
going to have if we have one
government," said Kallie van der
Merwe (52), a tour bus driver.
"Where's all the money coming
from? From South Africa? Then we are
going to pay tax like hell."
And on a continent ravaged by
rebellions often supported from
neighbouring countries, some find it
hard to imagine governments putting
aside conflicts stretching back
decades.
"There are some countries which
are perennial enemies and for any sort
of United Africa to work there must be
understanding between countries like
Ethiopia and Eritrea and peace in
Sudan and Somalia," said
20-year-old international relations
student Anne Nyambura in Nairobi.
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