Zawaya

The premise of an African seat on the Security Council is hard to achieve

By: Salah Zeghidi

The attitudes and practices of Colonel Kadhafi always stir a lot of tense and ironic responses, and his governance style itself causes surprise and bewilderment. As a matter of fact, Kadhafi is the only leader in the world to have governed a country individually for 40 years, while claiming to be a revolution leader rather than a head of State.

This is the same man who recently called for tearing the Charter of the United Nations from the latter’s podium… And since he considers himself the sole leader of Africa (after having announced lately that he gave up his ambition for an Arab unity that is no longer in line with his goals), he raised in his rousing speech the need to recognize Africa as an important continent and an emerging force, and grant it a permanent seat at the Security Council just like the five permanent members: China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain…

In fact, this demand seems reasonable given Africa’s important population and geopolitical weight. This continent consists of dozens of countries in the north and south of the Sahara, and owns significant oil, gas and mineral resources… However, the apparent “logical” aspect of this demand is not sufficient to confer legitimacy and credibility on it… Such requests require accepting the logic which states that the representation in the Security Council should be based on continents, not on national States; and that’s something that cannot be fully achievable.

The concept of representation is merely political, and relies on the existence of a sovereign State, while the continent has no political or even economic body, and there is no “continental sovereignty” to enable the continent to have a seat at the Security Council… The truth is, Colonel Kadhafi is a victim of his own African dream, which remains unrealized in spite of the billions of dollars he spent on attracting African heads of states who visit Tripoli regularly and sign on the “regulations” of the African Union, its “government”, “parliament” and various “bodies”. These African leaders forget all about the superficial resolutions they sign on before they land on the grounds of their countries…

How far is Africa from being united and dealing with the world and global issues with one African voice? What unified African representation there can be of a continent that still has many countries (Sudan, Kenya, Congo, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi, Chad, etc.) facing the challenges of nation-building and overcoming tribal or ethnic conflicts on a daily basis? Kadhafi should follow the example of Europe that has taken giant steps in the direction of unity and even integration, without unifying its foreign policy and the way it deals with major global issues yet…