African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat in a past event. PHOTO | FAROUK BATICHE | AFP
Dear Moussa Faki.
When you took over from
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma last year, some of us were sceptical whether you
had, not so much the required academic qualifications and experience,
but the kind of ideological outlook that would change both the tenor and
substance of the AU Commission approach to respect to human rights,
governance, citizen participation, and regional and international
diplomacy.
When your predecessor took over in 2012,
many had hoped that a woman would finally bring about the much needed
paradigm shift in the AU’s attitude towards the thematic areas mentioned
above.
It was hoped, for instance, that Dlamini-Zuma,
having witnessed first-hand the horrific abuses under the apartheid
system in South Africa, would emphasise the establishment of a
human-rights culture on the continent. We also hoped that, having been a
member of Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet that had the herculean task of
transitioning South Africa from apartheid to a constitutional liberal
democracy, she would bring to bear that experience and, therefore, moral
authority on a programme to bring about constitutional, as opposed to
whimsical, governance in Africa.
We overlooked the fact
that, as South Africa’s foreign minister she, in conjunction with Thabo
Mbeki, championed the disastrous see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil
policy towards the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.
Additionally,
we expected her to bring the AU closer to ordinary African citizens by
engendering meaningful partnerships with workers unions, youth
organisations, academic institutions, and so on. On all these fronts, we
were disappointed.
It was soon clear that Dlamini-Zuma
was not going to bring in a new philosophy focused on human rights,
good governance and citizen participation. Instead, she brought in an
even more nationalist ideology than Jean Ping, her predecessor.
For
Dlamini-Zuma, what was most important was the restoration of African
dignity, not through invigoration of human rights and good governance,
but through protecting the sovereignty of countries from what was viewed
– explicitly or implicitly – as a resurgent neo-colonialism.
Thus,
for instance, instead of being a powerful voice in support of the
International Criminal Court, she argued for the immunity of African
heads of state from ICC prosecution. She advocated instead for the
establishment of an African human-rights court, an idea, not
surprisingly, that has never taken off.
During her
tenure, diplomatic efforts to solve volatile situations on the continent
were a failure. The CAR massacres happened. Pierre Nkurunziza went
rogue. Museveni continued on his quest to become life president. South
Sudan imploded…
Dlamini-Zuma had forgotten what every
analysis since the 1960s had established: The problems of Africa –
political and economic – stem from bad government!
For
long, the AU was thought of as a welfare organisation for African heads
of state as opposed to an organisation for the welfare of the African
people. Since its founding, it was unequivocal on whose side it stood.
As
secretary-general of the AU’s predecessor body, the Organisation of
African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim would travel around the globe defending
Africa’s human-rights record, even as thousands were tortured, killed
or exiled by their own governments. Has this situation changed in any
significant way?
Sir, a couple of months into your
chairmanship, we have not seen any improvement on Zuma’s leadership. You
have not used the authority of your office to address the deteriorating
human-rights situation in Eritrea.
We have not seen
you intervene to stop the killing of demonstrators in Togo or in Kenya.
You have been quiet on Mugabe’s (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to
install his wife as his successor. Equatorial Guinea continues to suffer
from dictatorship. There are massacres in the Central African Republic,
in the DRC and in South Sudan.
As for citizen’s participation, the EU has a more significant presence in the lives of ordinary African citizens than the AU.
Dlamini-Zuma’s
quiet diplomacy and her nationalist ideology left Africa where it was
when she took over. What we need now is diplomacy and ideology that is
on the side of human rights and the people.
And it must be public and backed by credible threats of diplomatic isolation, sanctions and even military intervention.
Sir, Africa has always been a continent poised for take-off. But the take-off has always aborted because of whimsical rulers.
The
hundreds of Africans drowning in the seas trying to go to sweep streets
in Europe rather than die of hunger in their own countries is a
shameful indictment of the way we have managed our affairs.
The
time for business as usual at the level of national governments and at
the level of organisations such as the AU is surely over.
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