This AFRICA!

Can you be perplexed by your beloved continent? Absolutely. Can you give up on your Mother-CONTINENT? Hell, no!

What to do, then? The struggle continues!

And that is what is going on right now in most of North Africa and the Arab World. It has only begun - more will follow.

That “more” will depend on two factors: the resolve and resilience of The People and the obstinacy and occult of The Potentates. The tie-breaker is The Global Village fronted by World Leaders. In other words, the UN has our standing mandate - abounding duty - to stand up for The People by standing up to The Potentates! Period.

The UN Security Council has finally corrected the “double standards” it was accused of vis-à-vis Libya and Cote d’Ivoire. We hear Nigeria and France tabled the resolution. Left to the AU, we would still be dancing in the dark, stumbling in broad daylight! Even as people are dying, and millions are fleeing! Okay, blaming the AU right now will be a little harsh. This AU, as is, is an AU of Heads of State & Governments FOR Heads of State & Governments!! There is little a brilliant bureaucrat or patriotic technocrat can do about it. For a kettle to call a pot “black”, it must be squeaky clean, right? And since they love working by consensus, if not unanimity, na serious dilemma, fa!

Do not despair, be not depressed: The Peoples’ AU is on its way - give or take 3-5 years, on the outside. Sad? Yes. Slow? Yes. But surely? No question.

The struggle continues!

Cote d'Ivoire, why this?

Over the years, I have been a fan of Ivory Coast (as it used to be called) for a variety of factors. The West African country had been quite stable and dependable in the past. Yes, it had a dictator in Houphet Boigney and poverty was palpable everywhere, the place was nothing near the utter chaos and brink-hugging catastrophe we now endure.

One of my most intriguing memories was the refusal of Pope John Paul II to go dedicate a huge Basilica built by the late dictator in Yamoussoukro. It mocks Christianity!, the pontiff declared. How could a nation sprawling with poverty in the midst of plenty live with such monstrous hypocrisy, demanded John Paul. It was a lesson African leaders - with the generous help of the Western (especially European) handlers/backers - have never really learnt. If anything, they are now carting the people’s patrimony to the East!

The political crises in Cote d’Ivoire are elite-generated, driven and sating. All sides have their faults. But democracy, built on a UN Peace Deal, supported by ECOWAS, AU and the international community, has spoken the people’s voice. It must be heard and obeyed.

President Laurent Gbagbo must hand over to President -elect Alassane Ouattara or be made to do so. The world and the long-suffering people of Cote d’Ivoire deserve to savour this victory! Let’s have a full UN-organized Presidential Inauguration, with the loser embracing the winner in true African brotherhood and the spirit and letter of the peace accord!

Long live Cote d’Ivoire! Thank you, the United Nations - well done!