Abati: The collapse of Ghaddafi’s Empire

Guardian

25 Feb 2011

Abati: The collapse of Ghaddafi’s Empire
By Reuben Abati Opinion

IT is over for Libyan strongman, the self-styled Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya, Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi, but he and his sons are still hallucinating about their continued relevance. 

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The challenge of good governance in Africa is continent-wide. What happened to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism? Ghaddafi was one of the champions of the African Union and the chief proponent of the idea of African High Command, and a “United Nations of Africa.”  But what is the quality of Ghaddafi’s ideology other than grand, vain gestures? In 2010, the same man who wanted a united Africa had recommended the break up of Nigeria between what he wrongly described as the Moslem North and the Christian South. He says he loves Libya, but he is at the moment playing up ethnic sentiments in his country. It is such inconsistency in his ideological expressions that has in part turned Libya into a waiting poster case for a civil war.

What should Nigeria do? Since the Libyan crisis began, countries of the West and others have been evacuating their citizens from the troubled country. Nigeria has an estimated 10, 000 (more than half are illegal immigrants) of its people in Libya. The situation in Egypt is different from Libya’s, however. Ghaddafi is prepared to shed blood to “the last man” if need be.  Nigeria has a duty to protect its nationals from being caught in the cross fire, more so as there have been reports of Nigerians being killed in the onslaught against protesters by Ghaddafi’s forces in Benghazi. However, many of the Nigerians in Libya may be reluctant to return. They and other Africans in Libya are in transit to Europe, the confusion in Libya may well provide an opportunity for them to cross the Mediterranean much more easily. Indeed, Ghaddafi had threatened to open up Libya’s borders to Europe, according to him “Europe will become black.” The Libyan crisis thus could create an immigration crisis in the Southern European countries bordering the Mediterranean. Their problem. But Nigerians who wish to return should be assisted to do so as  has been promised by the Nigerian authorities. The Nigerian government has also put out a statement to defend the rights of Nigerians in Libya, but it is too warmly worded, Ghaddafi should be told bluntly that no Nigerian life should be targeted as his agents embark on a genocidal end-game.