Some African leaders are responsible for instability on the continent
because they failed to manage diversity in their societies, former
president Olusegun Obasanjo has said.
Obasanjo spoke at a
news conference in Ethiopia on the upcoming Tana High-Level forum on
Security in Africa, according to a statement from the African Press
Organization yesterday.
He said outside
interference in Africa had been responsible for conflicts, citing the
NATO air strikes in Libya in 2011 that led to the removal from power of
their late leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. "The repercussions are now
being felt in Mali, Nigeria and the Sahel," he said.
Asked whether African leaders were to blame for the conflicts on the continent, he said: "Yes and no."
He said leaders
were failing their people because they had not been able to prevent
marginalisation in their societies, prevent injustice, reduce
unemployment, reduce poverty, and that they had not embraced democracy
and good governance.
The theme of this year's forum is Africa in the Global Security Agenda.
On African
peacekeeping operations, he agreed that the lack of funding from African
Union member states was a major setback for peace and security on the
continent. He said when he was Head of State, he was in charge of a
high-level panel to search for alternative sources of funding for the
AU, but this came to nothing.
He noted that when
the AU was looking for funds to counter the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone,
Liberia and Guinea, member states failed to provide the money.
"The AU eventually
had to turn to the private sector and it was able to raise $40 million,"
said Obasanjo, who is chairman of the Tana Forum.
He criticised AU
member states for not contributing to the AU's general budget. Obasanjo
said Ebola and migration from Africa had security implications not just
for the continent "because we now live in a global community whereby if
something happens in Africa, it affects the rest of the world".
The 5th Tana High-Level Forum will take place on 16-17 April 2016 in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
No comments:
Post a Comment