Banjul razzmatazz
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem reports on the pomp and ceremony at the 7th AU Summit in Banjul, wondering how a poor country like Gambia can afford to host such a grand occasion. There were notable absences including of Uganda's Museveni, but newcomers included the Chinese, Indianns, the Iranians, and Venezuela's Chavez. Civil Society Organisations held a number of initiatives including a Question Time Africa where Liberia's President Sirleaf and Rwanda's Kagame were interrogated by activists. With the main theme of the Summit being regional integration, Tajudeen returns to his bugbear about the impediments to free movement of Africans who need visas to visit African countries, while non-African foreigners fly around with ease.
The African Union ended its 7th Ordinary Session of the General Assembly of heads of State and Governments in Banjul, Gambia on monday 3rd of July. The razzmatazz of state events , that surrounds these events may sometime make people dismissive of them as the most expensive celebrity watch on the continent. Yes, They do not come cheap and it is obvious that many of the states cannot afford to host these summits yet the allure of publicitry and the political and diplomatic prestige that comes with hosting it make many of them to even go into debt to host it.
The big question on everyone's lips in Banjul was how a poor country like the Gambia found the money to host such a grand occasion. A brand new Executive estate of Presidential Villas were builft for the Summit in addition to a new International Conference centre. This is not talk of the brand new Four Wheel vehicles, loads of Mercedes Benzes smelling of fresh factory paint and other expoensive vehicles conveying the different delegations in blazing heat and entourage of motor cades and outriders on new monster machines. I do not think that the people of this peacful country officially titled 'The Smiling coast of Africa' had ever seen any thing that big before and may not see such in the near future. Eklections are also close therefore the Government and ruling party (APRC) of President Yayah Jammeh milked the occassion for what it was worth. It was like the whole of Africa has endorsed Jammeh why would Gambians not do the same?
One of the changes that has happened in the new AU is the amendment to the old practice of host nations becoming chair of the organisation. This is no longer the case. That was why Sudan could not assume the chair even as it hosted the last Summit. And Yayaha Jameh thankfully will not become the chair otherwise he could even milk it more in domestic politics as Africa having voted for him.
The AU Summits also provide an opportunity to monitor, study and observe intra African politics and the power play between our Leaders but also between Africa and the rest of the world.
For instance a noticiable absentee from the Summit was President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. He used to be a heat with media and other heads of state throughout the 1990s but in recent years as he clung to power in Uganda his pan Africanist stocks have fallen. In the past any host wanted Museveni to confirm fist, because that was going to make others to attend. But these days even his absences are not felt!
The other interesting power monitor is the presence of foreign dignitaries. The Chinese and the Indians, historical allies of Africa but increasingly acknowledged as Global powers feared by the West, were in Banjul in full force. Ofcourse the various western powers who have traditional considered Africa as their excllusive areas of domination were there with the Americans muscling in on everybody in their familiar arrogant ways.
But their current bad guys were also their gamely spirit. Ahmedtijane, the President of Iran and President Hugo Chavez were both there. Chavez was in his element, defiant, resisting and anti imperialist. Ahmed Tijane came with a motor cade of awesome Hommer vehicles as long as those holywood Chevrolets or streched Limos! There was mild drama when the technical equipment failed in the middle of his now very familatr speeches that keep Washington and tel Aviv awake. Many suspected sabotage by, you know whom. The meeting had to be suspended for a few hours.
That little drama for me shows the lack of capacity of some of our states. How can a government that spent so much money on the pomp and pageantry of the Summit not have prepared itself for possible technical sabotage? There walk outs by some western Observers at the meeting coorniating their activities thru SMS texts. Again this exposes our vulnerability. It riases the perennial issue of why we should have so many Westerners whether government or NGOS always having access to our activities at the highest level while we do not have same in their forum but more importantly we limit access by our own people.
It is easy to get lost in these power plays and forget other important events that surround the Summit including the Summit agenda itself. There were a number of CSO/NGO parallel activities before and during the Summit which built upon the spaces that have been opening up since the innauguration of the AU. A number of African CSOs have been raising concerns about CSO participation in the Union which has so far been limited to invited spaces that are too much under the control of the bureaucrats of the Union whether it is through ECOSOCC or the Commission. The tendency is also to allow CSO activities to hold before the Summit and literally drive them out of town by the time the big guys come save for the few who may have secured 'observer' 'special Guest' or other access badges. While the invited spaces are useful it is also important the CSO and other stakew holders have independent spaces whose agenda, content and programmes are determined by them and they can invite the AU and the leaders to them. A meeting of CSO was held in Nairobi earlier this year before the Khartoum summit to build consensus around emerging issues in CSO-AU engagement.
In Banjul we made some progress through a forum organised by the UN millennium Campaign, Africa Office; Africa Regional Policy department of Action Aid Internationa; and the Pan Africa Policy Programme of Oxfam with the suppoort of Action Aid Gambia, Gambian and Pan African CSOs. It was a first at an AU summit. Prtesident Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, both participated in the Forum which is broadcast by SABC whose anchor man, Moses moderated the Panel. It is called QUESTION TIME AFRICA. The Presidents were asked questions by an audince of laregely CSO/NGO activists. Issues covered included the state of the Union, political commitment of leaders to make it work, aid, trade, debt relief, fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals and Yes, issues of juystice, governance, impunity, and many others. It was a good start and both sides see the forum as developing in future summits.
The main theme of the Summit was rationalisation of the regional Economic communities in order to strenghten integration. It is an issue that has been on the agenda for many years. It is simply unworkable that we should have competing instead of complimentary regional blocs and still claim that we want to unite the whole continent Now the decision is that new ones will be recognised while the various regions will work out modalities for rationalising those existing. It is still a work in progress but necessary if the Union is to fulfil its mission of uniting the peoples of this continent. On the whole the problem of uniting Africa is really a contradiction between two opposaing view points. Do we want to unite states or unite peoples? So far all efforts have been directed at uniting states that are probaby not unifiable given the ahistorical and inorganic nature of most of them. but peoples are and can be united. One first step is to set our people free for them to move, live and settle across this continent. A sad reminder of the indignities we suffer as Africans was the experience of many people who had to langush in Dakar airport on theiur way to AU summit because they did not have 'Transit visas'. It is in the poweer of all our states and leaders to remove the visa requirement for all Africans and if they cannot do it we cannot trust them when they proclaim Pan Africanism. We should embark on a consistent advcacy of naming and shamning those governments and states that put impediments to free movement of Africans but welcomne non African foreigners. A gallery of these Pan Africanist rogue states may be launched from summit to summit while we also create awards for those opening up other Africans. So leaders can choose to be Villains or Defenders of Unity of our peoples.
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa
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