Africa: 'Who’s Who' of Africa Hits Durban, Led by Al-Gaddafi

8 July 2002
allAfrica.com
By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Durban, South Africa — African leaders are sweeping into the South African port city of Durban for two key summits in the next two days - one to bury the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the second to give birth to the African Union (AU).

This is the first time South Africa has hosted the pan-African gathering since it held landmark non-racial (all-race) elections in 1994, formally ending apartheid.

By late Sunday, 33 continental heads of state had already arrived in Durban. The list issued by the hosts read like a who’s who of Africa’s leadership. 53 African countries - minus Morocco - have signed up to join the AU. Sirens and motorcades are the order of the day in Durban.

But among the presidential absentees will be the Ivorian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, whose country was holding local and municipal elections on Sunday. Continuing political instability in Cote d’Ivoire may account for Gbagbo’s decision to stay away from the key African event in Durban.

Another president who may not make it to Durban is the recently elected Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville. He is also facing political problems at home.

A third no show may be the Liberian leader, Charles Taylor.

While the Ivorian, Congolese and Liberian presidential absences may be regretted at the showcase African Union summit in Durban, another leader will certainly not be missed. In what has become almost a tradition, Muammar Al-Gaddafi, 'The Guide of the Libyan Revolution’ is stealing the show in Durban.

The Libyan has stolen other OAU hosts' thunder at summits in Algiers, Lome and Lusaka. It would have been quite out of character had Al-Gaddafi opted for a lower profile.

As one South African Sunday newspaper headline put it, the Durban summit is "The Biggest Show in Town". The subtitle read: "The challenge for the African Union will be to unite the continent while censuring undemocratic members". With a peer review mechanism the talk of the summit, intended to ensure that African leaders monitor the conduct of their fellow leaders and demand respect for human rights and responsible governance, some eyebrows are being raised at the presence of some of the presidents present in South Africa.

The Libyan leader landed on Saturday in dramatic style, accompanied by his signature fleet of aircraft, reportedly carrying 60 vehicles - and two camels. The grapevine has it that the desert animals were impounded at the airport. But not so the man who brought them to South Africa.

Swathed in a gorgeous, finely hand-embroidered gold kente cloth from Ghana as he flew into Durban, Al-Gaddafi bestowed his now legendary, enigmatic smile on all who saw him.

On Sunday Al-Gaddafi made another grand entrance in a beachfront hotel - late (again) for a meeting. But his arrival had the desired effect and impact. As he left the meeting of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) early, 'The Guide' spared a few rare words for journalists - in English.

Asked by Reuters whether he was irked by South Africa’s leading role in both Nepad and of the African Union summit (which it is hosting), al-Gaddafi responded "Never mind. It is okay". He laughed graciously and joked rather than address seriously a question about whether he saw Nepad as a capitalist development programme for Africa.

Al-Gaddafi has been credited with jumpstarting the concept of African Union, first mooted half a century ago by Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah and the other founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963.

The Libyans are known to be lukewarm about Nepad, charging that it will make the continent more dependent on the West. Al-Gaddafi’s African Affairs Minister, Ali Triki, told journalists: "We got nothing at the last G8 summit (of rich nations in Kananaskis, Canada). But we Africans have to take charge of the development of our own continent."

However summit sources indicate that Libya is keen to have its name added to the countries on the implementation committee of Nepad. Currently each region is represented by three countries. It appears that Libya is gunning to become the fourth for North Africa. A Nepad spokeswoman confirmed to journalists that enlarging each regional implementation committee group was a firm decision.

The Libyan leader’s customary coterie of bodyguards, some of them striking women, did not take their vigilant eyes off the Al-Gaddafi watchers. But the imposing and often aggressive armed male Libyan minders met their match,when they were denied access to upper levels of the swanky hotel hosting the Nepad meeting by South Africa’s equally determined and burly security detail.

On Sunday evening, Al-Gaddafi - who was reported to be staying at a villa about 15km outside Durban - invited heads of state and ministers to a banquet at his temporary residence.

A good number of African leaders were planning to attend. Other officials indicated to journalists that their presidents would not be able to take up the Libyan invitation, because they would be holding bilateral dinner talks with their counterparts.

Two of the belligerents in the war in the Great Lakes area of central Africa - the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda - are reported to have been holding bilateral talks at an official level in Durban this week.

The DRC’s Information Minister, Kikaya bin Karubi, told allAfrica.com that Kinshasa had asked South Africa to broker a meeting between his president, Joseph Kabila, and the Rwandan leader, Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the AU summit. The Rwandan response has so far been low key.

Kinshasa continues to accuse Kigali of invading Congolese territory. Rwanda counters that Congo is unable to guarantee security at its borders, hence the presence of Rwandan troops across the frontier with its neighbour.

Libyan African Affairs Minister Ali Triki stressed that Africa should go further and quicker with consolidating the African Union, so that it could help end the conflicts on the continent. He called the AU creation a "very important step," adding that "everyone is in agreement about it."

But Triki warned that, after its launch, the AU should move swiftly to resolve wars and conflicts (such as the multinational conflict in central Africa). He concluded that Libya was especially keen to see the early formation of an African rapid intervention force that could step in.

He said Libya was already in contact with South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria and Ethiopia about such an African peacekeeping/peace enforcement army.

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