In comments today, South African President Jacob Zuma announced that the African Union is not recognizing the Benghazi rebel council as the new government, calling instead for an immediate ceasefire as AU officials urge an inclusive transitional government to be put in place.
The calls were rejected by rebel officials, however, with the rebel Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi insisting that the rebels “are now the legal authority” in the country whether the African Union likes it or not.
The rebels certainly have NATO’s support for this claim, but their ability to unite Libya is something else entirely. They managed to get some support in the east, piggybacking on pro-democracy rallies, but after an ugly civil war, the eastern-dominated government isn’t likely to sit well in western cities, particularly in a nation where politics center so strongly around local allegiances.
The African Union’s position could complicate Western efforts to release frozen Gadhafi assets to the rebel force as well, with South Africa already pushing to keep the funding aimed at NGOs instead of the would-be government.
This is Africa in all its splendor, refusing to recognize the combat of people that have suffered 42 years of ongoing martyrdom by living under the rule of a sick dictator and psychopath. I am ashamed of being African, this shows that Africa is not ready for social, cultural and religious revolution in order to get out of its endemic poverty and state of dependency maintained by corrupt dictators and unfit presidents, who are eager to hold onto collapsing strongholds refusing to recognize that times have changed, people are evolving towards a new era of transparency, shared well-being and more justice. It's not time to kick out one colon to replace it by another (chasing Europe to replace it with China who has a history of abusing its own people, does not respect freedom of speech, human rights and practices child labor??? Are we going backward or what???).
Why wouldn't The African Union support this new freedom loving coalition. Perhaps they know the real deal. We should look at what the western media tells us;(please don't take it for fact) and look at other sources before we form opinions. There is another reason for the Libyan Leader removal and it has nothing to do with humanitarian reasons. I am of African origin and salute Gadhafi's efforts in trying for years to bring forth;African unity.
Hey Howard you probably want to check this out. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va…
Gaddafi could care less about the African Unity, no more than he could care about the Arab unity. he was and multi-azimuths idiot, and the intelligent people of Lybia deserve much better. For your information the jerk has no consistent ideology, at best he was a tribal chief no more no less, but in his mind he was 'l'etat c'est moi' . Just like the rest of the Arab and the African despots he joined the club of the US/EU vassals club years ago.
So if you are truly African who cares about the well-being of the deserving Africans you should support the revolution, we are sick and tired of the status quo and we are not going to take anymore. Since ou love him so much, go ahead and join him and his son who are more insane than him, they are now probably hiding in Algeria and protected by the thugs running that beautiful country. BTW I am an Arab-African probably more than you.
The intelligent people of Libya deserve much better than NATO committing massacres in their country and rebel thugs ruling them and dying and losing their lives and their loved ones because their ruler is a thorn in their plans for looting African natural resources.
It's time for standing on our own feet, showing to the world that we are capable of change, respecting of our own (which we were never able to do starting wih slavery onto today), customs and values that are worth keeping, and let go of those that are holding us back . Don't know if we are yet wise enough and humble enough to look inside out instead the usual outside in that has led to blame everyone but ourselves, and remain in denial that we are the only architects of our future, we urgently need to change our paradigms to change our way of living. For the richest continent on earth, and the oldest one in terms of human implementation, we should be doing better I am not sure if we only have the guts to do so!!!!
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/MB17C…
===The Opium Wars do not belong to the glorious episodes of Western history. Rather, they were instances of shameful behavior the West still has not lived down.
Mercantilist governments resented the perpetual drain of silver from West to East in payment for Oriental goods (tea, silk, porcelain) that were in high demand in the Occident, while facing low demand in the Orient for Occidental goods. From the mid-17th century, more than 9 billion Troy ounces, or 290 thousand tonnes, of silver was absorbed by China from European countries in exchange for Chinese goods.
The British introduced opium along with tobacco as an export item to China in order to reduce the trade deficit. Under the
disguise of free trade, the British, the Spanish and the French, with the tacit approval of the Americans, continued sending their contraband to China through legitimate as well as illegitimate trade channels even after the Chinese dynasty put an embargo on opium imports.
Because of its strong appeal to the Chinese masses, and because of its highly addictive nature, opium appeared to be the ideal solution to the West’s trade problem. And, indeed, the flow of silver was first stopped, and then reversed. China was forced to pay silver for her addiction to opium smoking that was artificially induced by the pusher – the British==
The present trade dispute between the US . and China is reminiscent of the background to the two Opium Wars. Once more, the issue is the humiliation and plunder of China as a "thank you" for China's favor of having provided consumer goods for which the West was unable to pay in terms of Western goods suitable for Chinese consumption. The only difference is the absence of opium in the dispute.
Oops, I take it back. The role of opium in the current dispute is played by paper. Paper dollars, to be precise.”