By Franklin Cudjoe
Whilst tension in Kenya keeps simmering, another unattended African putrefied sore has been exposed- Chad . Haven been kept dirt poor for almost two decades by strong man Idris Deby, Chadians had waited for the day he will be forced out of power as their faith in democratic elections had long waned.
Chad ’s colonial masters, the French, had dabbled in local politics with unflinching support for Mr Deby whilst they benefited from subsidized oil resources. But Sudan has been fighting a proxy war in Chad in revenge for alleged Chadian support for anti-Khartoum elements.
So what will the African Union do?
The newly elected AU chairman, Tanzanian Jakaya Kikwete had indeed received a rousing welcome, the African leader’s way. For now he can show his bravado by promising to ostracize a rebel-led government. But he has already failed even before the rebels came to power. With his blessings, the AU has appointed a two man mediation team to be led by Congo ’s Dennis Sassou Nguesso, himself a graduated petty tyrant with lots of oil cash stashed away in foreign banks and the controversial Libyan dictator Brother Muama Ghadaffi
However, Ghadaffi has accepted the limitation of the AU to own up to their problems. He seems to be echoing the much publicized miserly appeal of the 54-nation group to the European Union to provide helicopters for its poorly resourced troops in Dafur, while its leaders ride in bullet proof gold-plated Mercedes benz.
Libya can buy fighter helicopters for the AU, but it would be on Muammar Gaddafi terms- his lofty ideals of African unity but nothing of any use on the real disasters of Kenya , Zimbabwe , Darfur , Somalia , Ethiopia and Eritrea .
As I argued in an article recently, failures such as corruption and election-rigging do not even feature on the agenda of the AU any time they meet–although these remain the real unifying features of Africa .
“Above all, there was not a whisper about property rights, the rule of law and market freedoms that would allow Africans to emulate the growth of Asian countries such as Thailand , Malaysia and South Korea –which were as poor as we were at independence in the 1960s. Even the growth records of South Africa , Mauritius and Botswana are ignored as being somehow exceptional instead of being acknowledged as the direct result of sound economic policies.”
Right now, we can only hope against hope for Kenya and Chad .