MUAMMAR GADDAFI SPEAKS FOR 60 MINUTES PUSHING THE AFRICAN UNION GOVERNMENT AT THE AU SUMMIT

DAILY NATION
By HENRY OWUOR and ARGAW ASHINE
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
February 2 2009

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Sunday spoke for one hour at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, defending his call for immediate formation of a continental government. Col Gaddafi had the support of a group known as G-20, which backs various aspects of his unity plan.

The diehard supporters of Col Gaddafi include Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Benin and Central African Republic.

At the session, Col Gaddafi was allowed to call in some 30 traditional leaders among them seven kings into the hall at the UN conference centre to defend his position. The permission was granted by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, the current chairman of the AU.

Supreme authority

In response, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who opposes the plan, said that anyone was free to state his position on plans for a United States of Africa, but that he was ‘‘the supreme authority in Uganda and he would arrest anyone’’ who opposes his position once he/she returned home.

This comment caused laughter as among the kings supporting Col Gaddafi, were two from Uganda.

Of course President Museveni was joking, but his message was that the kings have no say on this matter.

Debate over a single government for Africa has gained steam in the last three years, driven by Col Gaddafi, who at the start of the campaign saw it as a way to end his isolation that had been imposed by the US. This followed claims that he was a sponsor of terrorism.

The US has since lifted its sanctions on Libya and after Col Gaddafi paid billions of dollars to the families of the Lockerbie aircraft bombing and disco attack in Germany.

But Col Gaddafi shows no sign of slowing down. At the end of the day, the AU is supposed to come up with a policy on the way forward on this grand agenda espoused by Col Gaddafi.

Low turnout

But, the plan is still opposed by many AU members, among them Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana.
The other fact is that this summit has seen a very low turnout of heads of state.

By midday on Sunday, the Ethiopian Foreign ministry said that only 22 heads of state had arrived for the summit. This could be a sign that some countries don’t want to commit themselves on the issue of a single government for Africa.

Among the most prominent leaders missing at the summit was Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Also missing were Algerian and Nigerian presidents.