By John Bavoso, Africa Contributor
Charismatic leaders with larger-than-life personalities are nothing new for the African continent. For decades, politics in sub-Saharan Africa have been dominated by strongmen and carefully cultivated cults of personality. So it is both fitting and intriguing for the world to see one of the international community’s most well-known and controversial figures, Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, the man who dubbed himself “Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,” elected to the position of chairman of the 53-member African Union (AU) earlier this month.
Gaddafi’s election represents a defining moment in history for the AU, which came into existence officially in 2002 after growing out of the Organization of African Unity (OAU)—originally established in 1963—and his tenure will have many lasting implications for the entire continent.
While many Westerners’ image of the Libyan leader may have been mostly shaped by the events following the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, Gaddafi has been a fixture in African politics for decades. Having come to power in Libya in 1969 as the result of a coup, Colonel Gaddafi is officially the longest-serving head-of-government to currently be in office anywhere in the world. While the chairmanship of the AU is a largely symbolic role, few symbols are as polarizing and controversial as Gaddafi, who is well-known for taking strong and independent stands, which often draw ire and praise from both sides of many issues in both sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab world.
Gaddafi wasted no time making controversial statements and laying out his priorities in a much discussed speech, which kicked off his year in charge. One of the things the Colonel is best known for is for pioneering and serving as a staunch advocate of Pan-Africanism, or the idea that the continent and its Diaspora should be a united community, not only in spirit but politically as well.
In remarks made to international journalists and his fellow African leaders upon his ascension as chairman, Gaddafi reaffirmed his commitment to bring the European Union (EU) model, one which was applied during the reorganization in 2002, to Africa by invoking a term created by Ghana’s Kwame Nkruma: “I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa.” It’s fairly obvious that it is going to be one of the new chairman’s top priorities to have the African Union truly live up to its name in the coming months.
In that same address Gaddafi made several other statements, which many of his fellow leaders and international observers alike found troubling. The colonel, who, as previously mentioned, came to power via a coup, made his colleagues visibly nervous when he stated that “coups are fine so long as they are staged peacefully. Coups and rebellions are spontaneous events that cannot be controlled.”
Additionally he remarked, in regards to democracy on the continent: “We do not have political structures. Our system is social. There will be tribal parties. The system that is being tried in Africa has not been successful.” This sentiment, combined with Gaddafi’s historic support for radical oppositions and coups fly in the face of other AU statements such as 2007's “African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance” and these positions will obviously inform the decisions he makes regarding democratization in sub-Saharan Africa.
While Gaddafi may be divisive in many ways, he can also serve as a means of unification in some respects. Libya is generally considered to be a Middle Eastern rather than an African country by many international experts and observers, and Colonel Gaddafi, by his very nature, represents the continental approach, which the AU itself employs by inviting all North African countries to join its membership. Unfortunately due to his previous statements regarding the inferiority and alien nature of Christianity to the African continent, there is a good deal of potential for creating greater rifts along religious lines, especially in areas such as Nigeria and Sudan where religious tensions are prevalent.
Gaddafi’s relationship with the West is also complicated. While his settlement of the Lockerbie case was a step towards mending relations with the Western world, Gaddafi has already made it clear that he is not afraid of decrying the West. In that same speech, he defended the actions of the much-publicized Somali pirates, saying, “It is not piracy. It is self-defense, and it is defending Somali children's food. It is a response to greedy Western nations who invade and exploit Somalia's resources illegally.”
Ultimately, it looks like Gaddafi’s tenure as chairman of the African Union will be marked with controversy and mixed feelings. While some African newspapers have run headlines claiming that the “Gaddafi Election Is Last Nail in Africa's Coffin,” and that “Under Gaddafi, Africa Could Explode,” and he has already met strong opposition against his attempts at creating a government for all of Africa, there has already been word that the EU will eagerly be dealing with the AU while Gaddafi is in charge and Ethiopia has welcomed the Colonel’s intervention and mediation with regards to its ongoing conflict with Eritrea.
Clearly, African unity will be the major concern for Gaddafi in the coming year, and it is a goal which has many potentially positive implications associated with it, but is one which can also easily become corrupted by xenophobia and unchecked hunger for power. Meanwhile the fate of policies regarding democracy and human rights, principles which Gaddafi does not uphold in his own country, on the continent will continue to be major issues for many international observers. If nothing else, one thing is for sure: despite the motive or catalyst, the international community will be paying much more attention to the AU for the next year, a phenomenon which will hopefully yield some positive outcomes for Africans, whether it be because or in spite of the new chairman.
