March 2001 Africa News Headlines

Monday, March 5, 2001 - Web posted at 8:04:19 AM GMT

Gadhafi's dream of a United States of Africa still unrealised

SIRTE, Libya - Some of the biggest names in Africa came to Libya to applaud Moammar Gadhafi and his ideas.

But they left without making any concrete progress toward the "United States of Africa" the Libyan leader says is the only way to rescue the continent from poverty and powerlessness.

After a two-day Organisation of African Unity summit in the coastal Libyan town of Sirte that ended Friday night, the leaders announced the "establishment" of an African Union but said not enough nations had formally ratified the proposal, first floated by Gadhafi in 1999 and adopted as a goal a year later at a summit in Togo.

Two-thirds of the OAU's 53 nations, or 36 states, must ratify the union before it can come into force.

The OAU hasn't officially said how many members have ratified the union" in Sirte, delegates' estimates varied from 20 to 30.

The failure at Sirte to bring Gadhafi's latest foreign policy objective to reality is not likely to slow his pursuit of a leading role in Africa and a place in its history.

The union was to include an African central bank, court of justice, a single currency and a parliament - though the parliament was not to have lawmaking powers.

The proposal that African states can find strength by working together will be considered again at a July summit in Zambia.

Gadhafi's persuasive powers were much in evidence at Sirte.

At least half of the 53 OAU members sent their head of state.

Special guests included such heavyweight African names as former South African President Nelson Mandela, former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and Ahmed bin Bella, Algeria's firstpost-independence president.

Kaunda, a father of African independence, said Gadhafi had Africa's best interests in mind."

"It is not a one man's dream, it is an African dream," Kaunda told The AssociatedPress.

But African rivalries, concerns about national sovereignty and conflicting interests have seen to it that the world's poorest continent has a record of failurein attempts to forge closer ties between its nations.

Some of these attempts date back to 1963, the year when the OAU was founded.

The OAU is widely seen as ineffectual.

Gadhafi has never hesitated to use his country's vast oil and gas wealth to promote his grandiose foreign policy objectives in both Africa and the Arab world.

In Sirte, he paid off the arrears of at least 10 small African nations so they couldmeet OAU requirement for participating in the summit's proceedings and in voting.

Money may have gotten leaders to come to Sirte, but it will take more than that totransform Gadhafi into trusted a pan-African leader.

Gadhafi in the 1970s and1980s supported rebel movements in Africa, undermining stability in country's he now says he wants to help strengthen, such as Chad and Sudan.

He has allegedly sponsored international terrorism and gave refuge to wanted terrorists or provided them with training on Libyan soil. - Nampa-Sapa-AP

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