Sudan, genocide and gutless African leaders
By Levi Obijiofor
W HEN African leaders resolved some years ago to adopt a new name for the continental talkshop formerly known as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), there were doubts about whether a mere change of name would be sufficient to herald a new and much needed era of peace, greater cooperation and socio-economic development in the troubled continent. Two years after, nothing has changed. The new umbrella name " African Union " has not brought magical changes to the continent.
The African Union (AU), like its predecessor the OAU, has failed to quell the fires of ethno-religious wars between and within African countries. In various parts of Africa, including Nigeria, peaceful co-existence among people of different ethnic origins or religious affiliations is still an illusion. Everyone preaches peace but everyone practises intolerance. In essence, peace has continued to elude African communities.
Everywhere you look, in the west and in the east, in central Africa and in southern Africa, there are pockets of unreported conflicts and wars taking a huge toll on human resources in the continent. In Cote d'Ivoire, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan, and along the border lines between Ethiopia and Eritrea, brothers are waging wars against brothers, religious leaders are preaching the sermon of hatred and community leaders are busy accentuating those features that mark people from other communities as different. Peaceful coexistence, cooperation and unity have been expunged from the African dictionary.
In Africa's centres of conflicts, young and talented boys and girls, who should be attending schools, are recruited by various renegade organisations. They are kept in the jungle, where they are taught the philosophy of hatred and the art of raiding and plundering impoverished local communities. Killing is their source of inspiration. The more they kill and maim their fellow Africans, the more they believe they would inherit paradise. It's a satanic principle, advanced only by men and women who have lost a sense of humanity.
It is perhaps appropriate to describe the AU as an organisation for the yearly recitation of hollow pledges of commitment to and support for the African cause. Gutless and visionless leaders are the bane of the AU. At their regular summit, African leaders like to make long and impressive speeches. But they are short, very short on taking action. Some African leaders use the AU summit as an opportunity to show off their ill-acquired affluence, to pursue irrelevant agenda, such as showing off the latest design in their traditional outfit. At the AU summit, the leaders take delight in clicking champagne glasses and toasting long life for themselves and nothing for the people they govern. It is the art of selfishness on display.
African leaders ought to be worried or concerned about the sad events in the continent, in particular the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. Let's get this point clear: the expression of concern or worry in regard to the situation in Sudan is not enough. African leaders must take the initiative to tackle the crises in Sudan. Homebred problems require homebred solutions. In his address to the recent summit of the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan noted the problem of conflicts in Africa. He said: "Africa today is free of colonial rule and apartheid, though we have not realised our aspiration for the people to live at peace with each other and to work together to develop our continent." But did African leaders at the summit listen No, they didn't.
History teaches us nothing in Africa. In the early 1990s, inter-ethnic hatred in Rwanda escalated and burst onto the streets and rivers. Neighbours chased their former neighbours just to chop off their heads, for no hanging offence other than the fact that the victims belonged to a different ethnic group. In the killing villages of Rwanda, neither churches nor children were spared. The killings in Rwanda portrayed Africa as a continent of savage animals that harboured no respect for the sanctity of human life. In the twilight years of the 20th century, unforgivable acts of genocide occurred in Rwanda and many people swore never to witness such events in their lifetime. Well, they spoke too early. We have another genocide unfolding in Africa, indeed in the Sudan. One had thought that the world and indeed African leaders learnt a great lesson from the Rwandan experience. Now, in the early years of the 21st century, genocidal killings in Sudan have shown that the Rwandan experience did not teach Africans and their leaders any lesson.
In Rwanda, African leaders watched with folded arms. In Sudan, African leaders are again watching with a great deal of disinterest. In Rwanda, it took the intervention of foreign news organisations, the United Nations and non-government organisations to draw the attention of the world to the massacres that took place in 1994 and prior to that time. When Ethiopia was ravaged by famine in the 1980s, it took the intervention of western entertainment artistes, mostly musicians, to draw the world's attention to the dire situation in that part of Africa.
In the past few years Sudan has been engaged in an unending war between the government and some anti-government guerrilla groups. Some of the guerrillas are driven by unfounded religious precepts. Many innocent villagers have been massacred and are still being massacred in Sudan. The western world, led by the United States, has been trying to draw Africa's attention to the serious abuses of human rights in the African continent. Unfortunately, the AU leaders don't seem to be interested in finding peace in Sudan, perhaps under the lame excuse that the AU does not interfere in the internal affairs of member countries. Yet, when reference is made to human rights abuses in Africa, attention seems to focus more in the direction of Zimbabwe. Of course there are widespread cases of human rights abuses perpetrated by the sit-tight government of Robert Mugabe. But it is my contention that the scale of the massacres taking place in Sudan far outstrips the abuses taking place in Zimbabwe, although this does not make the Zimbabwean situation any less significant.
Kofi Annan reminded African leaders at the AU summit of the grave massacres taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. He also asked for urgent action to halt the killings. "I remind our governments of their sacred duty to protect their citizens, and the rebel groups of their responsibility and duty to respect the cease-fire and work with the government to end the conflict peacefully." But it was Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka who first criticised African leaders for their "collective silence" on the massacres taking place in Sudan. Soyinka made it clear the silence of African governments over events in Sudan was not only unacceptable but also disgusting. He said: "This business of solidarity with criminality is a contradiction in terms. The African Union, the African nations and the media must denounce what is happening in Sudan toady. There is no other word for it but genocide." Soyinka is right. Genocide is taking place in Sudan and African leaders who met in Ethiopia paid lip service to the problem.
The Sudanese government has been accused by many western governments and international organisations of aiding (through surreptitious means) the radical and blood-thirsty group known as "Janajaweed". But the Sudanese government's official response has been to deny the allegation and to describe members of Janajaweed as "outlaws". If the Sudanese government believes the Janajaweed are outlaws, it implies the government is admitting its inability to check the evil activities of the outlaw organisation. In that regard, the Sudanese government has an obligation to protect its lawful citizens by calling for help from the international community. The United Nations can assist. The AU can assist also if the gutless leaders can show some guts. There are western governments that are willing to contribute human and material support to end the genocide in Sudan. But, in all these, it is Africa that must take the lead, in concert with the dawdling Sudanese government. African leaders must wake up to their responsibility in the continent.
