Saturday, August 27, 2011

The battle for Tripoli, African Union hypocrisy


Just recently a huge sum of about 1.7 billion dollars was announced as the ‘prize’ for the capture of Muammar Gaddafi, dead or Alive. The story was a shock to the world a man who just handed over his AU presidency to his successor is now a prize for his capture. Surprisingly, the rebel leadership has been offered a $2m bounty on the fugitive Libyan leader's head.
As the battle for Tripoli trickles in every now then, one would expect the African Union to cough out their stand on the issues in Libya. Of course, it takes bold countries like Nigeria and South Africa to take the bitter pill by stating their stand on the crisis in Libya.
One of the ideologies of the African Union is to maintain peace and harmony among members’ states but one will understand that many lives could have been saved if the African Union had made their intention known to the world.
The time is ticking for the African Union to take a stem stand on the issues in Libya.
Gaddafi’s influence
The AU waiting position on Libya gives a clear indication of Gadaffi’s influence among member states. Most of the African Presidents enjoys some benefits from the Libyan Oil either from financing their political campaign or help them retain power.
Gaddafi ran a school near Benghazi called the World Revolutionary Center (WRC). A notable number of its graduates have seized power in African countries. Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso and Idriss Déby of Chad were graduates of this school, and are currently in power in their respective countries.
He was bestowed with the title "King of Kings of Africa" in 2008, as he had remained in power longer than any African king. Gaddafi was celebrated in the presence of over 200 African traditional rulers and kings, although his views on African political and military unification received a lukewarm response from their governments Gaddafi told the assembled African leaders when he was elected the President of the AU that he shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa. Guess that did not go down well with member states!

Capture him by spelling his name
There seems to be many ways which the 69 year old man desert warrior name has been spelt. Research from the London Evening Standard in 2004 indicates that there are about 37 possible spelling of his name.
Let take a look at some of the names given to him;
"Muammar Gaddafi" is the spelling used by TIME, BBC News, but The Associated Press, CNN, and Fox News use "Moammar Gadhafi".
The Edinburgh Middle East Report uses "Mu'ammar Qaddafi" and the U.S. Department of State uses "Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi", although the White House chooses to use "Muammar el-Qaddafi"
China’s Xinhua News Agency uses "Muammar Khaddafi" while The New York Times uses "Muammar el-Qaddafi".
The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times of the Tribune Company, and Agence France-Presse use "Moammar Kadafi".
In 1986 Gaddafi reportedly responded to a Minnesota school's letter in English using the spelling "Moammar El-Gadhafi but the title of his homepage of algathafi.org reads "Welcome to the official site of Muammar Al Gathafi . Again in 2007 interview with Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi confirms that the spelling "Qadhafi’’

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