http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/african-leadership-fight-hampers-continent-s-peace-effort.html
African
Leadership Fight Hampers Continent’s Peace Effort
By Franz Wild and William Davison | July 14, 2012
(Bloomberg) – A fight for the African
Union<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/african-union/>’s
top position has split its members and undermined its ability to deal with
crises in nations such as Mali <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/mali/>, Sudan
and Somalia, said former Nigerian and U.S. envoys to the region.
AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/jean-ping/> will
face South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in a vote
by Africa’s 54 states at a summit that begins July 15 in Addis
Ababa<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/addis-ababa/>
, Ethiopia <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/ethiopia/>’s capital. While Ping,
69, led the last election in January, he failed to win the required
two-thirds majority, prompting the African Union to extend his term until
this month.
AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping will face South African Home Affairs
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in a vote by Africa’s 54 states at a summit
that begins July 15 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.
“This impasse, unless it’s resolved, is really going to continue to make
the African secretariat a lame-duck organization,” Olusegun Akinsanya, a
former Nigerian ambassador to the African Union, said in a July 10
interview in Addis Ababa.
Among the crises that emerged since the January vote are military coups in
Mali and Guinea-Bissau, renewed conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, and
the spread of attacks by militant Islamist groups in northern
Nigeria<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/nigeria/> and
the Sahel region.
“If this paralysis goes on for a long period of time it could have major
consequences,” Andrew Natsios, the former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, said
in a phone interview. “The reputation of the continent is on the line.”
Dlamini-Zuma, 63, is backed by South
Africa<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/south-africa/>,
which has the continent’s biggest economy, while Ping, from
Gabon<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/gabon/>,
enjoys the support of Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and most populous
nation.
Back Seat
Since the leadership dispute emerged, the African Union has taken a back
seat to regional groups mediating political transitions in Somalia and
Mali, said Mehari Taddele Maru, who formerly worked as a legal expert for
the African Union Commission.
In Somalia, while African Union troops are helping government forces battle
al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants, the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development of seven East African nations is spearheading peace efforts. In
Mali, the Economic Commission of West African States has the lead role,
Mehari said.
“Ping’s visits to Somalia were much more frequent before the January
summit,” Mehari, the head of the African Conflict Prevention Programme at
the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies <
http://www.iss.co.za/>,
said in an interview in Addis Ababa. “We would have hoped for the AU to
play more of a role.”
Sudan Oil
African Union-mediated talks between
Sudan<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/sudan/> and
South Sudan haven’t resolved disputes over sharing oil revenue, borders and
citizenship rights after the two nations’ separation last year that took
them to the brink of war in April.
South Sudan shut down its 350,000 barrels a day of oil production after it
accused President Umar al-Bashir’s government in Sudan of stealing $815
million worth of crude. Sudan said it was confiscated to pay unpaid
transportation fees.
In Mali, rebel groups seized the remote north following the ouster of
Malian President Amadou Toure in a March 22 coup.
Islamist rebels of the Ansar ud-Din group have been destroying historic
mausoleums in Timbuktu that they regard as“idolatrous” and also seized the
cities of Gao and Kidal after clashes with Touareg insurgents who declared
independence in the area in April.
At the African Union, “there’s lots of room for improvement, just how it
works, how it implements decisions,”Dlamini-Zuma, the former wife of South
African President Jacob Zuma <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/jacob-zuma/>,
said in a July 6 interview in Pretoria<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/pretoria/>.
“It’s a concern that we’re seeing a resurgence of coups again.”
UN Resolution
Ping has criticized South Africa’s actions in Ivory
Coast<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/ivory-coast/>
and Libya <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/libya/>.
In Ivory Coast, South Africa supported President Laurent
Gbagbo<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/laurent-gbagbo/>,
who refused to leave office after the Ecowas group of regional states and
the United Nations <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/united-nations/> said he
lost elections in November 2010. At least 3,000 people were killed in
violence before Gbagbo was captured in April 2011.
South Africa backed the March 2011 UN resolution that authorized “all
necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians, and paved the way for air
strikes by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that helped oust Muammar
Qaddafi <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/muammar-qaddafi/>. The African Union
was trying to negotiate a transition to democracy.
Libya Bombing
Zuma later said the bombing campaign constituted an abuse of the UN
resolution, which was supported by the Security
Council<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/security-council/>’s
other two member states: Nigeria and Gabon.
“It is well known that it is the government of South Africa which impeded
Ecowas’s efforts to settle the Ivory Coast crisis timeously and the same
government that voted in favor of UN resolution 1973 that authorized the
bombing of Libya,” Ping said in an e-mailed statement on July 10.
The Southern African Development
Community<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/southern-african-development-community/>
asked
Ping to apologize for his statement, saying he abused African Union
resources for his personal election campaign, divulging confidential
information on a member state’s position.
“This has the potential of sowing seeds of animosity and division among AU
member states,” the group said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
The AU has denied that it has been weakened by the leadership battle. The
“institution is running” normally, Ping’s deputy, Erastus Mwencha, told
reporters in Addis Ababa on July 10. “A disagreement yesterday does not
mean a disagreement tomorrow.”
Consensus Candidate
Eight heads of state, including from Gabon and
SouthAfrica<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/africa/>,
have met several times since the January impasse and will decide a day
before the summit starts how to proceed with the leadership contest.
Options include introducing a consensus candidate, reducing the winning
majority needed, or the “much more probable” step of prolonging the
deadlock until the next summit, said Mehari of the Institute for Security
Studies. That may result in the nomination of new candidates, he said.
“The hopes, the expectations are that this will not end in another
impasse,” said Akinsanya, “because the implications will be very serious
for Africa.”
*To contact the reporters on this story: Franz Wild in Johannesburg at
fwild_at_bloomberg.net; William Davison in Addis Ababa at
wdavison3_at_bloomberg.net*
*To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at
barden_at_bloomberg.net *
*–*Bloomberg<
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/african-leadership-fight-hampers-continent-s-peace-effort.html>
Received on Sun Jul 15 2012 - 22:24:10 EDT
