Africa should pay more attention to foreign policy

Sep 02, 2011

THE precedent set by NATO, America, France, and the UK, and the weakness of the African Union, on the other hand, in responding to the Libya and Ivory Coast crises, has undermined African diplomacy and weakened any future foreign policy initiative on the continent.

By Awel Uwihanganye

THE precedent set by NATO, America, France, and the UK, and the weakness of the African Union, on the other hand, in responding to the Libya and Ivory Coast crises, has undermined African diplomacy and weakened any future foreign policy initiative on the continent.

As long as the UN Security Council remains driven by the interests of the five permanent members, developing countries will continue to be disrespected and abused. With recent events in Egypt, Ivory Coast, Libya and now Syria, it is clear that leaders from these countries were so inward looking that they forgot to consider possible external influences that could threaten their power. Save for Ben Ali who read between the lines early and fled, other leaders whose populations had shown signs of desire for change but chose to hang on against the wishes of their people compromised themselves.

For Egypt’s Mubarrak, the lack of foresight and strategic thinking left him vulnerable when his western allies abandoned him after he had compromised himself with human rights violations and abuse of power.

The capitalist West, whose economies largely feed off developing nations for natural resources, oil, and frozen assets, have mastered the use of international law regimes and institutions to achieve this objective. Unfortunately, countries in the developing world seem to continue playing into their game.

Meanwhile, Africa continues to struggle to find its place in the global scheme of things; on one hand signing binding international agreements with no intentions of harmonising them to practice at home, and eventually falling victim of the same.

The African establishment is also challenged by open communications facilitated by the internet, and an increased globalised world. The result has been an incoherent foreign policy, and a divided African Union unable to transcend ego and national interests to advance an African agenda.

It is high time African governments began to align national priorities to international obligations. The adherence to practices such as elections ties countries to certain obligations which have implications, where one fails to play by the rules. Take, for example, Ivory Coast, where Gbagbo refused to cede power as it was internationally perceived that he lost the election.

In a bid to retain power, he used the military and police to quell any dissent encouraged by Western influences. He went beyond managing civil disobedience, to committing human rights abuses thereby compromising himself and his government.

The abuses were well documented, and used effectively in a public opinion campaign against him, which later paved way for France to intervene under the UN adopted principle of responsibility to protect civilians. Under this guise France was able to achieve its objective.

In Libya, opportunities for Gadaffi were there to prevent the conflict from escalating to where it has reached, and for self preservation, also pave way for him to leave and play another role. Gadaffi had the examples of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Ivory Coast to learn from. That he was in power for as long as he was, and his eccentric personality, crowded his judgment, and literally of everyone around him to the extent that they indicted themselves of internationally recognised crimes, and gave the West an excuse once again, of appealing to the world’s legal regime, for recourse to action in enforcing world order. UN resolution 1973 that authorised use of necessary force to protect civilians, flawed as it was, is the instrument that sealed Gadaffi’s fate.

African governments can learn from this by managing national issues through a foreign policy framework. In many cases, our governments seem more preoccupied with local politics, and paying little attention to international practice and sometimes reducing foreign missions as appeasement political appointments. Africa needs to send its best, and brightest to safeguard and protect its interests, and advance the African cause on the global stage.

The struggle for today’s generation is economic and financial freedom for the African nation. Short of this, we shall continue to see decisions for Africa being made from Europe and America with total disregard for the African solution as the case for Ivory Coast and Libya clearly illustrates.


The writer is attached to Tetea Uganda

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