AFRICA AND ABSURDITIES

AFRICA AND ABSURDITIES

In 2011, I watched in amazement how Libya became a theatre of the absurd. Rockets were pounding everywhere from Ras Lanuf to Misrata. The argument of the West then was once you take away Gadaffi then Libya would be free again. That was about them and their wars. They used the Libyan crisis to deal with their enemy, Gadaffi. Now Libya is imperilled. The Central African Republic has also snowballed into a theater of the absurd from politicians stocking religious and tribal tensions. Now the Russians and everyone is there playing Russian roulette at the expense of the people. If I am to start a naming game for wars in Africa I will not stop.

The new game has become blood from Mali to Nigeria to Mozambique. The question is: are things going to be better? When are we going to effectively stop all the wars and focus on the development of our continent? There is a lot of blame to go round. As we blame the West, let’s also blame the politicians that do not play by the rules and cause problems because of their personal interest. Let’s not forget most of the conflict in CAR started with two men Ange-Félix Patassé and Francois Bozize. But the hate they have created has snowballed into Anti-balaka and Seleka and most of the Nigerian and Malian crisis can be linked to politics. In all of this turpitude in the landscape of Africa there is a need to harmonize and create peaceful resolutions to ensure development of the continent. Africa is bleeding while the West is scavenging the carcasses of dead Africans. Who will save the people or when will the people save themselves?

In 1963 Osagyefo Nkrumah said, “We have already reached the stage where we must unite or sink into that condition which has made Latin America the unwilling and distressed prey of imperialism after one-and-a-half centuries of political independence. As a continent, we have emerged into independence in a different age, with imperialism grown stronger, more ruthless and experienced, and more dangerous in its international associations. Our economic advancement demands the end of colonialist and neo-colonialist domination of Africa.” The question is, did we listen?

Rufai Oseni, rufaioseni@gmail.com

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