Who holds the aces in African-European affairs, asks Gamal Nkrumah Little is simple about building a continent. So when the leaders of some 80 African and European nations converged on the Libyan capital Tripoli, they were obliged to ponder the perverse predicament where the ex-colonialists and their former colonial subjects were forced to sit together in a brainstorming gathering to find solutions to Africa's problems. To begin with, the host, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pinpointed the root cause of contemporary Africa's ills as European colonial oppression. The Europeans, quite naturally, were dumbfounded but they listened in polite silence. The leaders of the chief ex-colonial masters -- Britain, France and Germany, the three largest and most influential European countries -- stayed away from the Tripoli meeting. A handful of virulently anti-imperialist African potentates also didn't show. Absent from the Tripoli meeting was Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir who is indicted for war crimes, including genocide, by the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, Netherlands. Al-Bashir also boycotted all the resolutions of the 29-30 November meeting in Tripoli. There are two reasons why the African Union and the European Union need to collaborate on African development. First, the two continents are historically inextricably intertwined both in an economic and a political sense. Second, Europe needs Africa as a source of raw materials as never before. Oiling the wheels of the third AU-EU summit in Tripoli was the Libyan leader, and the meeting ended with a standing ovation for the gallant efforts of Gaddafi to spur on African unity and highlight the vital importance of enhancing investments, economic growth and peace in the African continent. The Libyan leader also urged getting rid of the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and their "dubious machinations" in the continent. He noted that the WTO, in particular, had not embarked on a single constructive programme in the continent for the past five years. The plenary sessions of the Tripoli summit focussed on deliberations on regional integration in Africa and on cementing closer economic and political relations between Africa and Europe. The Europeans trumpeted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in particular and the Africans echoed their former colonial masters in unison. Agriculture and food security also featured prominently during deliberations of the Tripoli meeting. Delegates discussed the Second Action Plan 2011-1013 of the AU-EU strategy following up on the successes of the Second AU-EU summit held in the Portuguese capital Lisbon. The leaders of Africa and Europe are acutely conscious that they represent an economic zone with tremendous potential and some 1.5 billion people. Gaddafi stressed that Europe will have to pour some five billion euros into African development projects every year in order to stem the tide of illegal immigration. In spite of the global financial meltdown and the impressive growth rates numerous African nations are scoring in recent years, the gulf in living standards between the two continents is as wide as ever. Consequently, many African youth are tempted to risk life and limb to cross the Mediterranean in search of greener pastures in Europe. Africa's economic rise has kept many European exporters afloat, but it is domestic demand that will save the African immigrants from drowning in the Mediterranean. Africa and its growing pains were at the heart of the deliberations in Tripoli this week. The EU is the biggest export market for Africa, but other emerging economies, most notably China, Brazil and India, are looming large on the horizon. Europe has given up its crown in Africa with barely a whimper. The Europeans still believe that much of Africa's problems are of its own making. The transition to democracy has not gone as smoothly as anticipated. Civil war is still a threat for peace and security in the continent. That has left the few relatively prosperous democracies in the continent doing all the heavy lifting. The journey from a fragile peace to one not held together by repression is inevitably tortuous. This must change. African nations must adopt a more democratic form of government with popular participation by the poor and disadvantaged groups who form the majority of the population of the continent. Some regulation of economic growth and income distribution is certainly needed. Income inequalities remain a potential threat to peace and stability in the continent and fuel tribal, religious and ethnic conflict. For over a decade, Africa and Europe have been drifting apart. Now, there is some determination to draw them closer once again. The relationship between the two continents might never be the same as it was four decades ago, but Africa and Europe seem to be drawing closer. Here the international community, and especially Europe, can help. If Gaddafi is to deliver on his promise to unite Africa and inch closer towards Europe, he will have to give the voiceless millions in Africa greater powers than they currently enjoy.
