The African Union (AU) celebrates its third birthday next week suffering something of an identity crisis.
The venue is apposite. Libya’s purpose-built administration centre of Sirte, along the Mediterranean coast from Tripoli, is where Moammar Gaddafi gave rein to his idea of a new united Africa. He will put on his bravest face in welcoming 53 leaders to the AU summit. But he will know that his position as Brother Leader is under some not inconsequential threat.
Last weekend, at their gathering in London, exiled opposition groups said they would ask him to go — he has been at the helm since seizing power 36 years ago. Far from mobilising the assassination squads, as was his wont in years gone by, Gaddafi organised a gentle counter-demonstration urging his opponents to talk over their differences peacefully.
This is certainly the new Gaddafi: friend of Europe, no longer the pariah of Washington. Whether this precludes him from having his customary telegenic rant at the AU summit remains to be seen.
The African leaders go to Sirte aware that just days later the world’s richest countries, gathered in Glen-eagles, Scotland, will be deliberating on how best to help the continent.
They know they have little to show the Group of Eight (G8), let alone their compatriots, for the three years of the new-look Africa.
The essential difference between the AU and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, is that it should not be able to stand by as horrors are visited on fellow Africans.
The timid and expedient policy of non-interference is a thing of the past so that the genocide in Rwanda does not happen again.
Crimes against humanity, war crimes and gross human-rights violations should trigger an automatic response from the AU’s Peace and Security Council.
Briefing reporters this week, South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad affirmed: ‘In the new context of Africa, we are involved in each others’ issues and conflicts.â€
What, then, of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s campaign of revenge against the urban strongholds of the opposition that has left hundreds of thousands homeless in the dead of winter?
The AU’s response has been to say it is an ‘internal matterâ€. But Pahad says his government is trying to ascertain whether the official quoted was speaking in an official capacity.
Europe’s top civil servant, José Manuel Barroso, called the response disappointing. Britain’s new high commissioner, Paul Boateng, dubbed it ‘profoundly unhelpfulâ€.
President Thabo Mbeki promised to act on the report and recommendations of the United Nations special envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, who was dispatched to report on the humanitarian crisis.
African leaders are unlikely to debate Zimbabwe’s woes, just like the issue was dodged last year. Security discussions will focus on the special reaction forces to be scattered around the continent, such as in Sudan’s Darfur region. They’ll also speak about Africa’s claim to two permanent seats on a reformed UN Security Council.
The grunt work has been done but the leaders will have to grasp the nettle and name the two. Serious contenders are Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, with Ghana, Kenya and Sene-gal all making aspirational noises. Inevitably, conflicts around the continent will come under the spotlight.
For immediacy, nothing beats the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), currently going through its toughest week in recent memory. The delay in the elections will again bring opposition forces onto the streets, as the June 30 deadline, set by the global and inclusive agreement signed in Pretoria in December 2002, expires. Twice this year protests against the hold-up have ended in deaths. The DRC has blamed neighbouring countries Uganda and Rwanda for fanning the flames.
Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has accused the DRC and the UN peacekeeping force, Monuc, of harbouring elements intent on attacking his country.
And this week, the militias in the powder-keg east of the country, albeit reduced in numbers, continue to engage Monuc with pitched firefights near Bunia.
In the late 1990s the conflict in the DRC was called the closest thing Africa has seen to a world war — a reminder perhaps, that in Africa there is simply no room for complacency.