The Libyan axis of evil: a wake-up call for Nigeria and the African Union

By

Edebhagba Justice

It is a public secret that the fall of Muammar Gadaffi in 2011 opened the floodgate of arms proliferation by radical groups in North, West and Central Africa. In the intervening years, Africa’s Sahel region has been opened up to the gruesome mercies of armed militias and terrorist groups that sprang up or were strengthened by the systematic pilfering of Gadaffi’s armory. Basically, the result of NATO’s reckless military adventurism in Libya is that every psychopathic buffoon and his grandma can now get premium access to high caliber weaponry with just a terse phone call and a fat purse.

The Libyan crisis plays out the symbolic parable of the foolish farmer who looked the other way while his neighbour’s barn was set alight by bandits; it was only a matter of time before the fire grew and consumed his own barn. Nigeria and the rest of Africa represents the foolish farmer; while the kinetocrats of Washington and Paris, in a fit of zealous banditry, made a fiery mushroom cloud out of Tripoli, Africa turned its eyes away and feigned a disturbing lack of concern. Barely a decade down the line, a good half of the continent is now either threatened by escalating internal conflicts or has become a hotbed for terror groups. This rather unsavory turn of events has prompted an ever increasing build-up of military foothold in Africa by the same western powers that started the fire of violence in the first instance, under the aegis of “fighting terrorism”. Truly, it would seem that the concept of “African solutions to African problems” is merely a flowery rhetoric that the African Union (AU) is always quick to mouth only when there is an international outcry against corrupt African leaders.

When French Rafales were laying waste to Libya, African leaders were hastily eloquent in justifying the elimination of Gadaffi for being such a hardened dictator and planning a phantasmagorical genocide. But today, one wonders what went through the minds of the same African leaders when they watched videos of tens of thousands of African men, women and children, shackled and led away under the scorching heat of the Libyan dunes to be pawned off as slaves; a grotesque flashback of a phenomenon we all thought was long abolished. Of course, everyone was sufficiently outraged, condemnations were liberally dished around and new empty commitments were made. Thousand of the victims were retrieved and shipped back home, and everyone went back to bed. In essence, nobody addressed the root of the problem (or at least one of the main roots), which is the crisis in Libya.

What is the way forward?, well, here is a big African problem, and we are in desperate need of African solutions. The fact remains that until the crisis in Libya is resolved, the cycle of violence in Africa’s Sahel region will not abate. Radical groups like Boko Haram, Al-Quaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQUIM), Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), renegade Fulani herdsmen and Malian tuareg militias will continue to benefit from the political vacuum and arms proliferation. It is time for Nigeria to make good on its “Africa first” foreign policy to salvage the situation and in the process, rescue itself from the wicked claws of terrorism; there is urgent need for a legitimate government in Libya, and it is of paramount importance that a new, generally accepted government be put in place by any means necessary. Nigeria, being one of the countries chiefly affected by the current state of affairs, must organize a united front of African nations whose mandate will be to immediately restore a working government in Libya. There is need for an “entente afrique”, a coalition of friendly African nations, with a common goal to disarm all the rebel factions in the embattled country, using military force if necessary (which it would be). NATO has destroyed Libya, now the AU needs to restore the country, for the sake of continental peace.

There may be need for one last war in Libya, and that war must be a war for peace. There is need for the African Union to become more than a talk shop, to take the elephant by the tusk and attack the problem at its root. Nigeria must make herself the center-piece in such a worthy cause; a multilateral mandate that would bring African nations together for once to solve an African problem. If the ECOWAS could do it in Gambia, then the AU can do it in Libya.

http://www.opinionnigeria.com/the-libyan-axis-of-evil-a-wake-up-call-for-nigeria-and-the-a-u-by-edebhagba-justice/#sthash.REUvZgk6.dpbs

the African leaders dont give a damm about their people.period

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EVarn:
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i got it,its perfect,thank you so so so much!