Gaddafi touts Africa government

CONAKRY – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Monday to push through a plan for an African continental government as he toured West Africa en route to a summit to discuss the proposal.

“At the Accra summit we are going to get straight to the point. Let those who are recalcitrant, who are hesitating, get out of our way,” Gaddafi told tens of thousands of mostly Muslim students at a sports stadium in Guinea’s capital Conakry.In the centre of the turf lay a giant map of the continent Gaddafi and like-minded African leaders want to bring under a single federal government under proposals to be discussed by the African Union’s 53 member states at the summit starting July 1.For many years the Libyan leader has advocated a United States of Africa, an idea first promoted by Kwame Nkrumah, who led summit host Ghana to independence as the first black nation in sub-Saharan Africa to throw off colonial rule 50 years ago.Some doubt the feasibility of uniting a continent of 800 million of the world’s poorest people divided by ethnic, political and religious differences as well as a network of often arbitrary colonial-era borders.Earlier in June, Gaddafi discussed plans for an African government with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and several other African countries have backed the idea.Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has proposed the executive African Union Commission become an embryonic continental government with powers over important matters like the environment, health, education, defence and peacekeeping.Supporters say a single government would strengthen Africa’s hand in international trade talks and other key policy areas.”For 40 years all the summits have failed.The African Union Commission has failed …Our micro-states have no future,” Gaddafi told cheering crowds on Monday in comments translated from Arabic into French by an interpreter.”Unity has not been realised because we have no union government,” he said.Gaddafi, known for distributing largesse on long road trips surrounded by female bodyguards in convoys of dozens of luxury vehicles, swept into Guinea’s capital Conakry late on Sunday to a hero’s greeting from rapturous crowds.He then met Guinea’s reclusive and sickly President Lansana Conte, like him a veteran ruler who seized power in a military coup.Conte survived a damaging and bloody general strike earlier this year that forced him to name a new government.Nampa-ReutersLet those who are recalcitrant, who are hesitating, get out of our way,” Gaddafi told tens of thousands of mostly Muslim students at a sports stadium in Guinea’s capital Conakry.In the centre of the turf lay a giant map of the continent Gaddafi and like-minded African leaders want to bring under a single federal government under proposals to be discussed by the African Union’s 53 member states at the summit starting July 1.For many years the Libyan leader has advocated a United States of Africa, an idea first promoted by Kwame Nkrumah, who led summit host Ghana to independence as the first black nation in sub-Saharan Africa to throw off colonial rule 50 years ago.Some doubt the feasibility of uniting a continent of 800 million of the world’s poorest people divided by ethnic, political and religious differences as well as a network of often arbitrary colonial-era borders.Earlier in June, Gaddafi discussed plans for an African government with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and several other African countries have backed the idea.Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has proposed the executive African Union Commission become an embryonic continental government with powers over important matters like the environment, health, education, defence and peacekeeping.Supporters say a single government would strengthen Africa’s hand in international trade talks and other key policy areas.”For 40 years all the summits have failed.The African Union Commission has failed …Our micro-states have no future,” Gaddafi told cheering crowds on Monday in comments translated from Arabic into French by an interpreter.”Unity has not been realised because we have no union government,” he said.Gaddafi, known for distributing largesse on long road trips surrounded by female bodyguards in convoys of dozens of luxury vehicles, swept into Guinea’s capital Conakry late on Sunday to a hero’s greeting from rapturous crowds.He then met Guinea’s reclusive and sickly President Lansana Conte, like him a veteran ruler who seized power in a military coup.Conte survived a damaging and bloody general strike earlier this year that forced him to name a new government.Nampa-Reuters