Another tyrant from the Maghreb States, in the northern end of the African continent, has been ousted. Who is next? Will the winds of revolutionary change blow down to the Sub-Saharan African countries despite a considerable difference between the two Africas?
Once a feared man, Colonel Muammar El-Gaddafi, is finished as one teenage rebel told the international press after the fall of Tripoli. “He called us rats, now he is the real rat; where is he? He must be hiding inside a bunker.” No one can stop the people of Libya from celebrating.
The Brother Leader of Africa, the egomaniac who succeeded in buying his fame by dishing handouts to African leaders and tribal chiefs and making long rumbling crazy speeches, finally, has no man to defend him. Even the African Union (AU) which tried a bit in the beginning finally has no business with him.
The debate in Africa about Gaddafi is hot and will continue to be hot long after he is gone, but the fact remains: Libyan people kicked Gaddafi out. The mere military support from the West should not be construed to discredit their revolutionary achievement. The Libyans fought for six months, died and ultimately won. This is their victory.
People may make a lot of noise that the West is trying to get oil from Libya, but the truth is, Gaddafi was already exporting 80 per cent of Libyan oil to Europe, and had contracts with oil companies from six European nations. The likely thing to happen now is for France and Great Britain to squeeze Italy which enjoyed the lion’s share of Libyan oil; that’s it.
The West also may exercise some influence over Libyan affairs, especially in the areas of economic, foreign and security policies, but that will be the choice of Libyans themselves. We cannot teach them how to run their own country.
In 2004 Gaddafi himself caved in and decided to build relations with the West, starting with Washington when he denounced his dream for nuclear weapons, took responsibility for his past and paid large sums of money as compensation. He was no exception to other African leaders as some Africans may wish to think; he was just crazy!
Sympathisers to Gaddafi may point out several development projects he accomplished in his 42 years rule, but come on, with an income of $150 million a day in a country of about two-three million people, who would have failed to have at least five things to show off for?
Of course, sympathisers won’t tell you that he personally had more than $100 billion stashed in the West, not Libya or Africa, and was preparing his son, Seif Al-Islam, to inherit his chair because other Libyans were “rats.”
Gaddafi will be remembered not only as a man who killed thousands of Libyans, but also as a man who funded the murder of many Africans in Chad, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burkina Faso in the name of “fighting against imperialism.” Let us not forget that in 1979 he unsuccessfully helped Ugandan savage, Idi Amin, to dodge the wrath of Tanzanians.
As we contemplate the demise of Gaddafi’s regime, the question is: who is next in Africa?
Today, Africa suffers from Gaddafism, a chronic pandemic in which a leader stays in power forever, thinking that he owns the people and the country; imprison and kills his opponents, plunders his country’s wealth, and prepares his children or cronies to take over after him. This is what is killing Africa!
Consider the following list of leaders and their years in power: Angolan Eduardo dos Santos (32), Equatorial Guinean Teodoro Nguema (32), Zimbabwean Robert Mugabe (31), Cameroonian Paul Biya (29), Ugandan Yoweri Museveni (25), Burkinabe Blaise Compaoré (24), Sudanese Omar al-Bashir (22), Chadian Idris Déby (21), and Congolese Denis Sassou Nguesso whose two terms total 27 years so far.
I don’t have to mention the leaders of Eritrea, Gambia and Ethiopia who have 18, 17 and 16 respectively. We also have those who in principle, inherited power from their fathers, such as Togolese Faure Gnassingbe and Gabonese Ali Bongo, each pair of the father-son presidency totaling 44 years so far.
Not done yet! We still have more, some of whom are seemingly preparing their sons to take over such as Senegalese Abdoulaye Wade and Ugandan Museveni, and Malawian Bingu wa Mutharika who wants his sibling to inherit him. How about those countries in which a group of “chosen elites” hide behind the ruling party’s image, ethnic groups or religious faiths, so as to rule others forever?
We may have plenty of Gaddafis, and undoubtedly, we need to get rid of them, if not today then tomorrow. We cannot afford to remain at the bottom of the world forever! Africans wake up! We don’t have to wait for the United Nations to send Nato to us!
Once a feared man, Colonel Muammar El-Gaddafi, is finished as one teenage rebel told the international press after the fall of Tripoli. “He called us rats, now he is the real rat; where is he? He must be hiding inside a bunker.” No one can stop the people of Libya from celebrating.
The Brother Leader of Africa, the egomaniac who succeeded in buying his fame by dishing handouts to African leaders and tribal chiefs and making long rumbling crazy speeches, finally, has no man to defend him. Even the African Union (AU) which tried a bit in the beginning finally has no business with him.
The debate in Africa about Gaddafi is hot and will continue to be hot long after he is gone, but the fact remains: Libyan people kicked Gaddafi out. The mere military support from the West should not be construed to discredit their revolutionary achievement. The Libyans fought for six months, died and ultimately won. This is their victory.
People may make a lot of noise that the West is trying to get oil from Libya, but the truth is, Gaddafi was already exporting 80 per cent of Libyan oil to Europe, and had contracts with oil companies from six European nations. The likely thing to happen now is for France and Great Britain to squeeze Italy which enjoyed the lion’s share of Libyan oil; that’s it.
The West also may exercise some influence over Libyan affairs, especially in the areas of economic, foreign and security policies, but that will be the choice of Libyans themselves. We cannot teach them how to run their own country.
In 2004 Gaddafi himself caved in and decided to build relations with the West, starting with Washington when he denounced his dream for nuclear weapons, took responsibility for his past and paid large sums of money as compensation. He was no exception to other African leaders as some Africans may wish to think; he was just crazy!
Sympathisers to Gaddafi may point out several development projects he accomplished in his 42 years rule, but come on, with an income of $150 million a day in a country of about two-three million people, who would have failed to have at least five things to show off for?
Of course, sympathisers won’t tell you that he personally had more than $100 billion stashed in the West, not Libya or Africa, and was preparing his son, Seif Al-Islam, to inherit his chair because other Libyans were “rats.”
Gaddafi will be remembered not only as a man who killed thousands of Libyans, but also as a man who funded the murder of many Africans in Chad, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burkina Faso in the name of “fighting against imperialism.” Let us not forget that in 1979 he unsuccessfully helped Ugandan savage, Idi Amin, to dodge the wrath of Tanzanians.
As we contemplate the demise of Gaddafi’s regime, the question is: who is next in Africa?
Today, Africa suffers from Gaddafism, a chronic pandemic in which a leader stays in power forever, thinking that he owns the people and the country; imprison and kills his opponents, plunders his country’s wealth, and prepares his children or cronies to take over after him. This is what is killing Africa!
Consider the following list of leaders and their years in power: Angolan Eduardo dos Santos (32), Equatorial Guinean Teodoro Nguema (32), Zimbabwean Robert Mugabe (31), Cameroonian Paul Biya (29), Ugandan Yoweri Museveni (25), Burkinabe Blaise Compaoré (24), Sudanese Omar al-Bashir (22), Chadian Idris Déby (21), and Congolese Denis Sassou Nguesso whose two terms total 27 years so far.
I don’t have to mention the leaders of Eritrea, Gambia and Ethiopia who have 18, 17 and 16 respectively. We also have those who in principle, inherited power from their fathers, such as Togolese Faure Gnassingbe and Gabonese Ali Bongo, each pair of the father-son presidency totaling 44 years so far.
Not done yet! We still have more, some of whom are seemingly preparing their sons to take over such as Senegalese Abdoulaye Wade and Ugandan Museveni, and Malawian Bingu wa Mutharika who wants his sibling to inherit him. How about those countries in which a group of “chosen elites” hide behind the ruling party’s image, ethnic groups or religious faiths, so as to rule others forever?
We may have plenty of Gaddafis, and undoubtedly, we need to get rid of them, if not today then tomorrow. We cannot afford to remain at the bottom of the world forever! Africans wake up! We don’t have to wait for the United Nations to send Nato to us!
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