The fanfare may be receding but the fallout from the inaugural African Union summit is still baffling observers, writes Gamal Nkrumah Click to view cartoon It was something of an eye-opener to watch former South African President Frederick de Klerk, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and their respective spouses, Elita and Grace, dancing the night away at the International Convention Centre in the heart of the South African port city of Durban last Monday. With African leaders clamouring to reach the dance floor and jostling for position with South African cabinet ministers, everyone forgot politics, dropped their inhibitions and took to the dance floor to perform the African jive. Black and white, former and current heads of state, old foes and bitter rivals rubbed shoulders in utter abandon. The delegates were treated to a taste of the new South Africa, after which the nascent AU seems destined to be modelled. Much to the surprise of some visiting African dignitaries, the de Klerks were the special guests of Frene Ginwala, South Africa's speaker of parliament, who displayed her graceful dance moves alongside United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But Ginwala lamented the absence of female African heads of state. "None of the 53 African presidents and heads of state are women," she said. She stressed that women should be better represented in the AU's affiliate institutions and particularly in the African Commission and African Parliament. Ginwala pointed out that it was not African women that started the conflicts raging throughout the continent even though, inevitably, they have been caught up in them and suffered. One of the Durban summit's main features was conflict resolution. The delegates worked on the basis of the 1993 Cairo African summit where it was decided to create the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution as a means of tackling the vexing issues of African civil wars and border disputes. Efforts were made at Durban to accommodate all shades of political opinion. Leaders that have been branded reactionaries in the past, such as Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi -- a one-time arch enemy of South Africa's ruling African National Congress and self- styled champion of Zulu political and cultural specificity in the KwaZulu Natal province where Durban is located -- danced alongside former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, long revered as one of the moribund Organisation of African Unity's progressive founding fathers. The terms "reactionary" and "progressive" seemed to belong to the long- forgotten Cold War era. Those who saw themselves as the torch-bearers of a bygone age were nowhere to be seen on the dance floor. Particularly conspicuous in his absence was Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his special guest Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, who flew directly to Durban from the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The banquet was delayed for over three hours because of Gaddafi's angry outburst at the closing session of the last OAU summit earlier in the day. In a thinly-veiled critique of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Libyan leader insinuated that NEPAD could be used by Africa's enemies as a tool by which to undermine the continent's interests. Africa must not be hoodwinked into auctioning its riches again, said Gaddafi and came out in open support of Mugabe's land-grab policy in Zimbabwe. "If the white farmers don't serve Africa's interests, they must be pushed out of the continent," he stated defiantly, much to his hosts' chagrin. South African officials were at pains to ease tensions and plaster over differences. The place of honour at the banquet table was originally to go to Gaddafi but was jointly shared, in his absence, by Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos and Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, Africa's longest serving president. South African President Thabo Mbeki summed up the disputes to visiting African dignitaries by saying, "It's one of those difficult nights when you don't know whether to be happy or sad. We must accept that dialogue and the peaceful resolution of conflicts are the only way to guarantee enduring peace and stability," Mbeki said in a conciliatory tone. Even while African leaders partied, representatives of African civil society and non-governmental organisations held a parallel meeting in Durban, angrily decrying NEPAD. In a joint statement released at the end of their four- day alternative meeting in Durban they said: "We do not consider the NEPAD plan to be progressive. We are committed to making joint efforts for Africa's development and emancipation," they said. The activists and civil liberties representatives accused NEPAD of being mainly about "raising external resources", through "appealing to and relying on external governments and institutions". African NGOs dismissed NEPAD as a programme that, rather than being based on African people's experiences, knowledge and demands, is "driven by African elites and drawn with the corporate forces and institutional instruments of globalisation". While NEPAD was adopted by the AU as a blueprint for Africa's economic survival, the continent's NGOs warned that relying on external financial resources is nothing but a dead end. The NGO declaration added that "the donors have shown that they will decide separately which countries they will or will not support -- on their own policy terms and according to their self-interests."
