COMMENT Charity begins at home

DON’T you just love African leaders. While Sudan was burning, and other parts of the continent needed important issues to be resolved, the presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, plus the Prime Minister of Egypt and top officials from Congo and Zambia upped and left for Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to end the bitter armed conflict between the two countries.

What was the essence of such a trip? The war in Ukraine is NATO’s problem, not Africa’s. It is being fought over Ukraine’s attempt to become a member of NATO, the Western military alliance that Russia does not want to be next door.

If African leaders were on top of things, they should have realised that it was the same NATO that is responsible for the ongoing disruption in Libya and the subsequent spread of Islamic terrorists in vast swathes of the Sahel, which is currently under siege. NATO sent in war planes in 2011 and unleashed bombs on the country; and eventually Colonel Gaddafi was ousted and killed by his opponents.

But even before this happened, former South African President, Nelson Mandela, organised African leaders to send a delegation to mediate in Libya. However, the then Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, told the African Union that he would not guarantee the safety of the mediators because NATO was going ahead with its bombing raids.

Incredible. African leaders were attempting to end a conflict in an African country, and they were being told that they should just forget it because a non-African military force was going to go in with all guns blazing.

As usual when it comes to Africa, no provisions were made by NATO to deal with the fallout of its ill-fated air strikes.

Thus, Gaddafi’s huge weapons arsenal that fell into the wrong hands are now responsible for the mayhem in the Sahel.

As the saying goes, charity begins at home. Therefore, it is high time that African leaders focus on resolving the continent’s problems themselves. After all, it is politicians and political parties that have been responsible for the chaos on the continent.

Now there are moves to make a difference when it comes to reducing political conflict. On July 13 the African Inter-Party Dialogue Network (AIPDN) was launched in Nairobi with the aim of “promoting the national agenda through debate and consensus building and contributing to reducing the oftenunhealthy rivalry and tension associated with competitive multi-party electoral systems in Africa”.

Under the leadership of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Mediation Support Unit (MSU), the AIPDN will facilitate

In Kenya, almost one year after President William Ruto came to power he has not been able to really get going because of constant political unrest stirred up by Raila Odinga, who lost the presidential election. He has been arguing that he won, and as such he is making Kenya ungovernable through demonstrations that are impeding economic development.

In Sierra Leone, at the time of writing, the 54 members of the opposition All People’s Congress who were elected to Parliament in the June 24 election are refusing to take their seats. They say they are boycotting the House because, they argue, President Julius Maada Bio did not defeat their candidate, Samura Kamara, in the presidential election.

So, we have more political stalemates. In this regard, the need for the AIPDN cannot be overemphasised. Dr Aleu Garang, Director IGAD/MSU, noted at the launch of the AIPDN: “As we embark on this remarkable journey, let us embrace the power of inter-party dialogue to shape the future of our continent.” conversations among political parties, policy-makers, and stakeholders to foster societal harmony beyond the realm of electoral politics. The network recognises the crucial role of inter-party dialogue mechanisms in sustaining peace and stability, policy formulation, public administration, parliamentary processes, conflict resolution, peace mediation and promoting good governance.

This is crucial now. One of the presidents who went to Ukraine and Russia was Macky Sall of Senegal. How ironic that while he was trying to seek peace in foreign lands, the Senegalese police were shooting and killing demonstrators who opposed Sall’s attempt to stay in power for a third term, contrary to the Constitution, no matter how hard he tried to argue his case. He has backed down now.

The body itself acknowledges that despite the critical role of inter-party dialogues, not much information or knowledge exists across the continent for learning and experience sharing, particularly beyond the traditional area of elections.

It notes: “Inter-party dialogue cuts across elections, policy formulation and public administration, parliament, conflict and peace mediation, and is an effective tool for promoting good governance. Political parties are often instrumental in mobilising people, especially the youth for violence during elections.

“They are often consigned to their traditional role of participating in elections and downplaying their role as a mechanism for sustaining post-electoral societal harmony through inter-party dialogues. Indeed, the winner takes all politics and authoritarianism dominate.”

Let’s hope that the AIPDN will make the much-needed headway. AB