Africa: Summit Opens, African Leaders Give OAU State Funeral

8 July 2002
allAfrica.com
By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Durban, South Africa — The final summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) opened on Monday in the South African port city of Durban, with praise from African leaders who hailed the organization for ending the scourge of apartheid and colonialism on the continent.

The OAU, which is one year short of 40, is set to be replaced by the African Union (AU) which should formally be ushered in on Tuesday. One veteran African commentator wryly described the leaders assembled in Durban ready to give the OAU a solemn 'state funeral'.

The incoming chairman of the organization, South African president Thabo Mbeki, told off those he called the OAU’s 'detractors’ who he said had predicted that it "was destined to fail. Each time it (OAU) convened, its critics predicted that it would end in disarray and collapse."

Mbeki said the OAU had "proved our critics wrong". He stressed that the OAU had "engaged in struggle for almost four decades to realize the goals its founders had set in 1963." That, said Mbeki had "created the possibility for us today to be working confidently towards the establishment of the African Union and the pursuit of the goals stated in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development."

The South African leader underlined that today the African summit was being held in a "liberated South Africa" because of the work of the OAU to ensure true freedom in Africa.

The same theme was taken up the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi in his speech.

Some might describe Mbeki’s mood as slightly sour in contrast to the upbeat aspects of the speech that looked ahead to the new continental union. But for many African leaders, Mbeki was asserting the need to give credit to the OAU, which was often criticized for being a toothless dinosaur that could not solve the many conflicts in Africa and had outlived its usefulness.

But the congratulatory atmosphere of hope was immediately diluted by the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, himself a Ghanaian. While agreeing that the OAU "deserves a greater share of the credit than it is sometimes given", Annan warned Africa against complacency.

Addressing dozens of the continent’s leaders and delegates at the Durban International Convention Centre, the UN’s African head said: "Let us be careful not to mistake hope for achievement. Let us not risk jeopardizing what we have already achieved. And let us not imagine that, once proclaimed, our Union will become a reality without further effort."

Annan added: "To build a successful Union will require great stamina and iron political will, combined with readiness to accept a seemingly endless series of negotiations and compromises."

He went further, to say that "too often, in recent times, the name of democracy has been misused to describe situations where a vote is taken without free and fair debate beforehand, and where those who have won 51 percent of the votes claim the right to ride rough-shod over the other 49 percent." This was interpreted as a clear warning to African leaders who have either rigged elections or only just scraped through, with barely the support of their compatriots.

Annan concluded: "I suggest (this) is not true African democracy. In African democracy, the rulers listen to the ruled and the majority to the minority. Our traditions teach us to respect each other, to share power, to give every man his say and every woman her say."

Consent and consensus, said Annan, were the guarantees that would help African states "resist the temptation of short cuts or solutions imposed by coercion."

The Libyan leader was another guest speaker at the opening session of the final OAU summit in Durban. Al-Gaddafi brought up a number of his pet subjects, including damning the West and South Africa’s former apartheid rulers. But he also stressed that the new African Union must mean a truly united continent, with Africans standing and working together.

In a 20 minute address, in Arabic without notes, al-Gaddafi said "We (Africans) are at an historical time and we are full of pride and dignity which we didn’t feel in the past."

He warned that Africans should "accept assistance, but refuse conditions" and would not stand by while others tried to impose their culture, values or lifestyle on the continent. "They must accept our customs, lifestyle and religions. The peoples of Africa are not beggars. But we will not remain a deposit for their interests," said the Libyan leader, concluding that "any attempt to thwart African integration is doomed to failure."

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