A friend of mine sent me the following link from Democracy Now where they interviewed Professor Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University and Makerere University in Uganda. Full disclosure, I took a class with Professor Mamdani and believe he is perhaps one of the few African professors that understand African history and the importance of context. Now, he does say things that are controversial but they are not without merit.
Anyway, this segment had me thinking about the drastic changes that have occurred over the summer and past 18 months. The questions that are posed in this segment are very relevant. Precedence is a powerful marker and I think the divisions and different views on the Libyan intervention among African nations and the African Union is fascinating. I think it is safe to say that no one was sad to see Colonel Gaddafi go, but I think the way in which he was removed has sent a chilling reminder across the Middle East and Africa. I also think we are realizing how deep his financial support went with individual African countries and the African Union in general. We can safely say that the beloved Responsibility 2 Protect (R2P) is dead or at least will be in extreme hibernation. States will have a real issue with buying into this sentiment especially with how it was used and in some ways manipulated to intervene in Libya.
What makes me a little uneasy is the sight of the British and French arriving in Libya and being seen as heroes. I guess a lot of us have seen this picture before in Iraq but I understand Libya is not Iraq. My question to everyone is where do we go from here? We have previously discussed that the Arab Spring will not spread south of the Sahara just yet but where does the Libya crisis leave the AU? Just remember, what the media fails to say is that the AU as an institution is not really supposed to recognize parties like the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), the member states are allowed to but the AU only has to recognize the seat in which the NTC will occupy at the AU. We are not naive, and we know that if Libya was in southern Africa and had no oil or was not in a strategic location we would not be talking about. it.
What do you think of Professor Mamdani’s assessment and where do we go from here? 2011 has been a transcendent year, what will it mean for Africa?
