Leaders reject African force
Sirte, Saturday -
AFRICAN presidents and top officials on Friday dealt a blow to their host, Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, by rejecting his proposal for creating a single African army to replacing all existing government forces.
They diplomatically described the concept as “ahead of its time”.
Instead, the African Union (AU) is set to move forward with well developed plans for establishing a standby force responsible for peacekeeping, humanitarian activities and, in rare circumstances, military intervention in a member state, if necessary without an invitation.
The European Union is prepared to help fund Africa’s standby force to the tune of 250 million euros ($312m), the EU commissioner Romano Prodi announced at the opening ceremony in Sirte.
Emerging from the daylong discussions, delegates on Saturday said the presidents or their representatives, who came from almost all of the union’s 53 members, would formally adopt a declaration on Africa’s common defence.
The summit was opened by Gadaffi, whose remarks were punctuated — and sometimes drowned out — by a chorus of “Africa for Africans!” and similar slogans from a Libyan section of the auditorium. “The most important thing is that we should not allow colonialism to return to Africa,” he said.
Ends
Published on: Sunday, 1st February, 2004
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