By Dr. David Matsanga
Your Excellencies,
Peace Greetings,
Your Excellencies, you are going to attend the 36th AU Ordinary Heads of State Summit that starts on 16th-19th February 2023 in Addis Ababa .This year AU summit should have one AGENDA resolving CONFLICTS.
Your Excellencies, if I were the AUC Chairperson today in Addis Ababa I would have arranged the AGENDA of how to resolve the destructive conflicts on the continent. The current AUC has not served Africa but serves FRENCH interests in Africa. Millions of Africans are angry with AUC Chairperson who looks like a SELLOUT. He has connived with FRANCE and MOROCCO to destroy Africa
Your Excellencies, the AUC should be CANDID enough to discuss CONFLICTS & WAR in Libya, DRC, Somalia, CAR, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mozambique, Mali, and Ethiopia itself that was engulfed by war and now on the healing end. The TRUTH is that almost all regions of Africa have turmoil spots.
Your Excellencies, the Summit is being held amid religious riots that rocked Ethiopian people last week .The new Ethiopia today after the war is a great Ethiopia after 2years of civil strife . Ethiopia has not completely healed from the wounds of the war.
Your Excellencies the war has ended and thanks to AU that facilitated the talks under the Chairmanship of General Obasanjo and former President Uhuru Kenyatta and others. On this one the results were seen as the two former Presidents were able to bring warring parties on table. But I must add Ethiopia needs a lot of help to bring using a REDEMPTION STRATEGY to completely HEAL.
Your Excellencies, the violent conflicts of one type or another have afflicted the entire Africa and exacted a heavy toll on the continent’s societies, polities and economies, robbing them off their developmental potential and democratic possibilities. This is the only debate that the millions and millions of SILENT Africans want to see discussed the rest can wait. War is killing Africa.
Your Excellencies, the current situation in DRC is very worrying. The type of DISHONESTY among the ACTORS in DRC conflict is what the SUMMIT MUST address before they leave Addis Ababa. The 9 neighboring countries of DRC are not honest. This includes the DRC Government itself that is NOT honest and has allowed 132 armed groups on its soil.
Your Excellencies, the divided Libya is another scene of crime in Africa which MUST be discussed and solutions found before you leave Addis Ababa .It is sad that FRANCE a member of UNSC has taken part and encouraged the PARTITIONING of Libya by supporting General Khalifa Haftar to frustrate efforts of Peace in Libya. AUC Chairperson might shy and fail to say this OPENLY but Africans across the continent know it.
Your Excellencies, the Somalia war is at the FINAL stages where the Al-Shabaab has intensified its ugly faces supported by some countries in the Middle-East that supply uniforms and guns. The countries are going to sit in the AU Hall as Observers or as interested parties .How on earth do we sit and watch when the uniform of Al-Shabaab is resembling the Uniform of a country that is in the Hall.
Your Excellencies, the causes of the conflicts are as complex as the challenges of resolving them are difficult. But their costs cannot be in doubt, nor the need, indeed the urgency, to resolve them, if the continent is to navigate the twenty-first century more successfully.
Your Excellencies, Africa had previous conflicts in the twentieth century , a century that was marked by the depredations of colonialism and its debilitating legacies and destructive postcolonial disruptions. The origins of conflicts were manifold and complex, rooted in international and national arenas, and encompassing economic, political, cultural and social parameters.
Your Excellencies, among the international factors, particularly noteworthy are the consequences derived from the end of the Cold War and its aftermath, as well as the globalization and liberalization of the world economy.
Your Excellencies, these conflicts have generated a sense of political and economic insecurity in Africa. On the whole, and in the longer run, these factors are likely to bring about political and economic chaos in Africa.
Your Excellencies, the entire continent is full of EXCLUSION AND INEQUALITY that have haunted millions and excluded them from the political process for reasons of personal, ethnic or value differences, lack of socio-political unity, lack of genuine access to national institutions of governance can cause conflict. The case of DRC which is a great LANDMINE in Africa. These are the TOPICS that AU Heads of a State and Government have been DENIED to discuss by AUC
Your Excellencies, the reliance on centralized and highly personalized form of governance, perception of inequality and discrimination, constitute major socio-political causes of conflicts in Africa. In Nigeria, Cameroon, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Mail, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mozambique the conflicts have consumed half of their independence .
Your Excellencies ,while many of the causes may be historical in nature, the problems are compounded by the quality of leadership and lack of political alternatives in most African countries including the lack of good leadership of AUC led by Dr. Mahamat Faki who has destroyed the African Union and allowed a foreign power in Europe to capture it .
Your Excellencies, as you gather in Addis Ababa it is true that the AUC has not prepared a COHERENT agenda on the countries I have mentioned above . The AUC has lacked direction on SILENCING the guns in Africa. The killings have taken place in Cameroon for over 7 years but no Agenda for peace has been brought to the AU Heads of State and leaders of Governments in Africa for discussion.
Your Excellencies, the factors that have destroyed Africa lie in the following sub-topics I have mentioned below .These are factors that cut across Africa and especially where CONFLICTS are ongoing .
ETHNICITY
EXTREMISM &VIOLENCE
RESOURCE CONTROL DUAL-IDEOLOGY OF THE CONSTITUTION
RESOURCE CONTROL
FARMERS AND HERDSMEN CLASHES
FAVOURITISM AND NEPOTISM
Your Excellencies, Sub-Saharan Africa has become the new global epicenter of violent extremism with almost half of global terrorism deaths recorded there in 2021.The UN report has shown that the interviews with nearly 2,200 of different people in eight countries proves what I am saying: The countries Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan , Somalia, and Sudan have features of insurgence.
Your Excellencies, one of the factors that has led to the rise of TERRORISM is Religious ideology which has become the third most common reason for joining terrorism in the SAHEL REGION .
Your Excellencies, as you gather in Addis Ababa one of most populous nation in Africa Nigeria is going through tough times. Nigeria has oil, diamonds, copper, and cobalt that have tremendous positive economic potential for Africa.
Your Excellencies, however, these resources in Nigeria have done more harm than good. They have the Nigerian security agencies to be the most corrupt in Africa .A huge army that can’t even fight Boko Haram and instead kills its own people in the South Eastern Nigeria where destruction of property and Human Rights abuses has been committed by SECURITY AGENCIES.
Your Excellencies , CORRUPTION has become a benchmark of most African countries that you lead and corruption has been used towards ulterior motives including to corrupt the armies and security agencies so as to hold on to power .
Your Excellencies, the violence caused by greed and looting which are routes that lead to conflict over natural resources. Countries that rely heavily on natural resources like DRC and Libya which depend on minerals and oil have sharp conflicts. There are countries in Africa that are especially vulnerable to violent conflicts based on needs of FRANCE.
Your Excellencies, the obstacles that STOP Africa from development come from AUC failure to DIRECT the efforts of the AU. The capture of AFRICAN UNION by an EXTERNAL COUNTRY from Metros of Europe is the biggest blow to AU.
Your Excellencies, the French are using our AUC to create DIVISIONS in AU. They decide which Government to recognize in Africa and one not to do so. The case of DRC 4 years ago where Election which was observed by the same AU observers and monitors was rejected by AUC on instructions of FRANCE .
YOUR-EXCELLENCIES, my fight for a better Africa continues and my opinions reflect the opinions of the silent millions who can’t travel to Addis Ababa.
Thanks
God Bless Africa
Dr. David Mazi Matsanga
Founder/Chairman
Pan African Forum (UK) Ltd
London United Kingdom
February 15, 2023
