Thursday 29 March 2012

Muammar Gaddafi's Ghost In Mali?

The West African country of Mali just had a coup d' tat, and their democratically elected president was overthrown. This unfortunate incident was undertaken by the army. One of the reasons they gave for their action was that, the government was not handling the Tuareg insurrection in the northern part of the country very well. Most of the northern towns have been taken over by the Tuareg rebells and the soldiers were being killed and disgraced by the well equiped  Tuareg rebells. Just ask yourself, where did these rebells get the weapons and how come their numbers have swelled all of a sudden. The condemnation of the coup have come from all angles, first from the regional bloc, ECOWAS, the AU, UN and other countries who tout themselves as adhering to the tenets of democracy. The ECOWAS bloc is even thinking of sending troops into Mali to reinstate the democratic government which was overthrown. I see some hypocrisy at play here. Have the world forgotten that Gaddafi's murder is now having a disastrous effect on the African continent. Most of the remnants of Gaddafi's forces have now joined the Tuareg insurrection in the northern part of Mali and they are well armed with sophisticated weapons. We are being told that the former Libyan leader had about 10,000 elite troops who would have staged a last stand in the Libyan desert to restore their leader back to power, but only God knows why that did not happen. Why did the AU sit down and close their eyes for NATO to interfere in the Libyan conflict under the guise of protecting civilians?  Now the coup leaders in Mali have got the support of the masses in the country, and no amount of threats and sanctions imposed on them would coerce them to restore the former government. One would have the impression that, i support this coup in Mali, but i would be the last person on this earth to do so. Before a decision is taken against the junta by all those condemning their action, a critical look and assessment must be done to find out the remote and immediate causes of the overthrow of the democratic government in Mali. Muammar Gaddafi's ghost would continue to haunt the African continent for not standing by him at the time he needed his brothers most. But, hey, ghosts do exist, go to Mali and you will find Gaddafi's ghost there. 

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