During my preteen years my civil education teacher would painstakingly explain why the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS], or how big the African Union [AU] is, such that regional African blocs looked up to the AU like a sibling would to a big brother.
My rough intuition would be that these civic teachers would definitely not want to be in the same classroom with those crop of pupils, perhaps due to myriads of questions awaiting answers. Like for real; what is the ECOWAS and AU doing? Because these teachers could probably be bowing their heads with disbelief at what has been happening on the continent Africa.
First the African Union could not find its tongue to lay condemnation at Libyan Soldiers under the command of Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi during their invasion of Chad. This was the AU’s first failure to achieve continental cohesion among African States.
When this happened, military and foreign policy planners far and near could see through the prism, and it was crystal clear that the AU lacked political-military wherewithal to be a United front, a sole voice for African citizens.
As expected, this failure of the AU emboldened North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] leaders to forcefully redraw Libyan map without having a tit-tat with the AU (which is the sole representative for all Africans). NATO warplanes and ships had filled months effecting a regime change in Libya, bombarding critical infrastructure out of Libya hence the question; who will pay for rebuilding Libya? Funneling arms to militias, all in the guise of a mandate to protect Libyan citizens. Non of these foreign powers have tried to rebuild the Libyan badlands till now. Libya is now a wasteland, once one of African pride.
Since the ruse of regime change and resource control in Libya by Western governments, other disturbing events have been unfolding in the Western part of Africa.
The De-Shalelization of ECOWAS should be another cause for worry for the remaining ECOWAS members and the AU at large.
At first Mauritania left the West African bloc to join the Maghreb Union; a composite of Libya, Morocco and Algeria.
As if the de-camping of Mauritania was not enough blow, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic swiftly left the regional bloc to establish their own tripartite bloc.
All these departures and invasion among member states can be tied to immense sense of dissatisfaction and lose of purpose among member states, as the African Union and ECOWAS tends to give off a vibe of being a puppet of colonial powers.
Hence it was imperative that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic had to do away with any colonial-styled stuff, up to the extent of demanding immediate withdrawal of foreign troops in their respective countries.
All these anti-cohesion among African countries have further created a Pandora’s box. With all the rise in terrorism, gun smuggling and banditry going on in Africa, all explanations and fingers points to ouster of Gaddafi and the subsequent collapse of that state—there is no unitary government. Each region is ruled by warlords.
The guns smuggled to various militias to effect a regime change in Libya have successfully trickled down to West Africa and other parts of the continent, mercenaries who have lost favor with their warlords have descended to various parts of Africa to destabilize and unleash terror wherever they are.
But then, the African Union is again silent on an issue that might cost it its authority and credence. The uptick in state sponsored terror and attack in the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC] could be the last straw to break the camel’s back.
Notable for being the capital of the world in terms of mineral resources, the DRC has been loosing ground, from civilian, troops etc. to the March23 [M23] rebels who are trained, sponsored and coordinated by Rwanda and Uganda in a bid to make a fiefdom out of the DRC in an apparent bid at controlling its mineral-rich cities.
The only line of defense between DRC citizens, millions of displaced people and the M23 rebels, the Rwandan Ugandan troops happens to be a worn-out DRC forces battling a Russian styled Donbas separatist invasion funded by Rwanda and Uganda.
Fact check; the last time the DRC was invaded, 7 African militaries had to intervene and at the end, 5.4 million Congolese died.
It is absolutely amazing that fellow African countries have sponsored and amassed separatist forces with a standing Force of 6,000 to unleash mayhem and uproot a democratically elected government, Yesterday it was Goma and tomorrow it would be Kinshasa (just like the rebels have proclaimed). In an apparent slap to the face of pan-Africanism the Rwandan government deployed 4,000 strong commandos to aid the M23 rebels in capturing the rest of the DRC, meanwhile Uganda have also deployed its troops on DRC soil to oversee the regime change efforts.
If the 500,000 and counting number of displaced persons since January cannot force the AU to find its tongue or to muster a continental force to stop this madness, it will lead to a loss of confidence in the AU.
On the other hand, president Felix of DRC might/could choose to escalate the war, either by counter-invading Rwanda or Uganda or invite Russia/ Russian backed mercenaries into this destabilizing conflict.
The African Union could pretend to be deaf, dump and blind to what is happening in the DRC and the Pandora’s box which that conflict will open. But one thing is certain. If Rwanda, Uganda and the March23 rebels achieve their stated aim the AU will have been a failure: it will cease to be a sole continental representative for the common African, its Democratic institutions will lose credence and at the end the AU Will inevitably lose its de jure jurisdiction to De Facto rulers who are war criminals and warlords who in turn are puppets of dubious African States.
Precious Allwell is a Nigerian author and geopolitical analyst.
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