Former Nigerian President, General Olusegun Obasanjo, has castigated fellow African leaders for causing instability and conflict among their people through their failure to manage diversity in their societies.
The former president, who was speaking ahead of a major security conference inEthiopia, also blamed outside interference, singling out the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,NATO, for its controversial air strikes in Libya in 2011 which led to the ousting ofColonel Muammar Gaddafi.
“The repercussions are now being felt in Mali, Nigeria and the Sahel,”he said at a press conference in Addis Ababa ahead of the upcoming Tana High-Level forum on Security in Africa.
Obasanjo ruled Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 as elected President.Prior to that, he had led Africa’s leading oil exporter as military head of state from 1976 to 1979.
He told journalists that African leaders were failing their people
because they had not been able to prevent marginalisation, injustice,
or reduce unemployment and poverty in their societies.
All of this has happened with the reluctance to embrace democracy and good governance,he added.
The Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa serves as a platform for African leaders, key stakeholders, and strategists to collaboratively engage in exploring and exchanging ideas onAfrican-led solutions to security challenges. It is an annual event and Gen. Obasanjo is the Chairman of the Tana Forum which has its themes for this year: “Africa in the Global Security Agenda.”
Obasanjo was notably critical of failure of collaboration amongAfrican countries. This, he said, had affected the continent’s ability to fund peacekeeping operations. He mentioned that when the African Union was looking for funds to fight the Ebola virus disease in West Africa, 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,” he said.He also said AU members’ failure to contribute financially to its operations was the result of “lack of political will.”
The fifth Tana High-Level Forum will take place on 16-17 April 2016 in
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
More than 150 participants are expected to attend, including current and former Heads of State and Government, high-ranking government officials, academics, civil society representatives, experts and policymakers from the AU, UN and other international institutions.
(C) Politico 22/03/16
