Some Arab leaders boycotted the Arab summit in Tunis and attended a little-publicised African summit instead, writes Gamal Nkrumah The daily drumbeat of disasters in the African continent is hampering plans to integrate the region economically and politically. It seems that African leaders have now begun to realise that greater candour is needed in responding to the continent's ethnic, political and religious challenges. Money isn't necessarily everything in African politics, but it certainly helps. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had ample opportunity to show how money talks at a gathering of African leaders in the Malian capital Bamako this week. His impoverished and debt-ridden hosts warmly welcomed his offer to foot the bill for the meeting. Gaddafi is the driving force behind the 20- member nation Community of the Sahel and Sahara (COMESSA) -- better known as Sin- Sad, its Arabic acronym -- not to be confused with COMESA, the Community of Eastern and Southern African countries. With Libya at its core, COMESSA is a loose grouping of some of Africa's poorest nations, many of which are arid landlocked countries bordering the continent's -- indeed the world's -- largest desert, the Sahara. It includes countries as far apart as tiny Djibouti on the Red Sea, in the easternmost corner, and Morocco and Senegal in the west. It also includes countries north and south of the Sahara, and nations at varying stages of economic and social development, very often with radically different political systems. Some, like Africa's most populous nation Nigeria, are grappling with their Western-style multi-party democracy, while others, like Libya, are at the opposite end of the spectrum, adamantly refusing to adopt this system. The host nation, Mali, has been internationally acclaimed as a successful model of African democracy and a country that has made giant strides in improving its human rights record. In appreciation of Mali's democratisation, economic liberalisation and exceptional human rights record, the United States has closed a military deal, in which it is to train Malian troops in anti-terrorism warfare. The predominantly Muslim nation of 12 million people has long battled secessionist ethnic Tuareg forces in the north of the country who have in the past received Libyan backing. Mali and Libya patched up their differences and both countries now have a good working relationship with the US. One or two other COMESSA member-states, however, are still in America's bad books and have been internationally condemned for their dismal human rights record. Sudan, for one, has come under intense pressure from human rights groups around the world for atrocities the Sudanese government and allied militias have committed in the war-torn province of Darfur. In Bamako, the onus was on resolving conflicts across the continent, in particular in Sudan, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Armed conflicts and political concerns took precedence over economic matters. The political damage African civil wars have caused is enormous, while their economic and social costs have been equally high. Delegates at the COMESSA summit were well aware of the gravity of the situation, in particular during their discussion of the tense peace in the Ivory Coast between government and armed opposition groups, as well as the humanitarian catastrophe and civil war raging in Darfur. At the Bamako summit, Gaddafi urged participants to seek African solutions for African problems. The Libyan leader dismissed the war in Darfur as "senseless squabbles among local tribes over pastures". He played down the ferocity of the fighting in Darfur, stressing that foreign intervention would be catastrophic and would only aggravate the situation. "In Darfur, there is no ideological conflict, no fight among classes. This is no war, but small feuds over pastures," Gaddafi said. There was also a sense of profound unease expressed over the situation in Nigeria. Adding to the COMESSA delegates' criticism, on Wednesday, the US Human Rights and Democracy report for 2003 to 2004 was released, describing Nigeria as "beset by religious and ethnic divisions, with the government being as much part of the problem than the solution". Within Nigeria too, there is a growing sense of anger amidst the deteriorating situation. "No one should be killed in the name of religion," wrote a commentator in the Daily Independent. His sentiments were echoed across the country. "The situation calls for proper investigation and thorough punishment for the perpetrators of these atrocities under the cover of religion," another commentator remarked in the Vanguard. In Nigeria, religious tensions are compounded by economic woes. The country's external debt now stands at a staggering $33 billion. The National Assembly has responded by approving President Olusegun Obasanjo's imposition of a state of emergency in the mainly Christian Plateau state, after a spate of sectarian killings left hundreds dead. Obasanjo, a born-again Christian, came under fire from Christian fundamentalist and human rights groups. "The declaration of the state of emergency in Plateau State is not only baseless and unconstitutional, it is also ill-timed and undemocratic," warned Nigerian human rights lawyers Gani Fawehinmi and Femi Aborishade in a joint statement published in the Lagos-based Guardian newspaper. Nigeria, like Sudan, is deeply divided over some states' implementation of Islamic Sharia law. Twelve of Nigeria's 36 states now have Sharia courts that impose harsh sentences such as amputations and death by stoning. In sharp contrast to Gaddafi's abrupt exit during the opening session of the Arab summit in Tunis, the Libyan leader stayed in Bamako for the entire duration of the African summit. He virtually set the tone and pace of the Bamako summit. Sin-Sad, or COMESSA, was initially envisaged as the launching pad for the United States of Africa, a pet idea of the Libyan leader, inspired by the late pan-African leader Kwame Nkrumah. While most of the member states of Sin-Sad officially applaud Gaddafi's vision -- including the creation of a nucleus of what would eventually become an African continental army -- privately they confide that such plans are impractical. African diplomats explain that even though Gaddafi's vision has certain public appeal, their governments could not fully approve a programme so flawed at its core. The thrust of COMESSA is political. COMESA, by contrast, is essentially an economic grouping. And while the proliferation of African regional organisations with similar sounding names is perplexing, more problematic is the fact that the two organisations have overlapping membership. Egypt, a member of both African regional groupings, was represented in Bamako by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Faiza Abul-Naga. Few leaders express full confidence in the pan-African model. Nevertheless, a number of Arab leaders whose schedules were allegedly too packed to allow them to attend the Arab summit in Tunis did find the time to go to Bamako. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al- Beshir, who declined to attend the Arab summit, flew to Bamako for talks with fellow African leaders. Another Arab leader to fly to Bamako instead of Tunis was Djibouti's President Omar Gueleh.
