African leaders are failing Africa
Gilbert Boyefio
02/12/2006
A UN Assistant Secretary General, Adama Deing, has observed that some African leaders are failing the continent through their actions and inactions.
The current situation in the Sudan, with President Omar Hassan El-Bashir refusing to accept United Nations troops to intervene in the Darfur region, is unacceptable, he has said.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians are thought to have died in the conflict there, but many African leaders have shown little concern about the apparent massacre.
Instead, according to Mr Deing, all the hue and cry being made about the Darfur crisis is coming from western leaders, with their African counterpart looking on "unconcerned", excusing their indifference as respect for the sovereignty of a neighbouring country.
The criticism comes just as the Sudan leader signs an agreement to finally accept UN troops as part of a "hybrid" mission - that is, provided they are a part of an African Union-led peacekeeping force.
"By hybrid we mean... the mission should be essentially African troops, but there might be a case for support elements from the UN," AU peace and security commissioner Said Djinit has said.
The president's compromise comes after months of pressure from Western leaders "but little from his African compatriots" to accept troops in the area.
"It is rare for African leaders to boldly point out the wrong doings of their colleague leaders," said Mr Deing.
He noted that all the demonstrations by civil society for prompt actions to be taken on the Darfur crisis are organised in the western world, adding, "this does not speak well of Africa".
He therefore appealed to African leaders to put pressure on the Sudanese President to abide by an earlier agreement he made with the UN to allow a peacekeeping force to be deployed in the Darfur region, in addition to the already under resourced African Union peace keeping forces, to end the gross human rights abuse being perpetrated.
Mr Deing, who is also an initiator of the protocol establishing the African Court on Human and People"s Rights, said the time has come for African leaders to take keen interest in what goes on in neighbouring countries and also understand that their people will no longer tolerate the torture and the abuse of human rights of its citizenry.
He was speaking at a Press Conference held in Accra, to usher in a high level Pan African Conference organised by the Ministry of Justice and Africa Legal Aid, an independent Pan-African human rights organisation. The conference was held on the theme "Introducing the New African Court on Human and People's Rights".
Mr Deing however expressed optimism about the new crop of African leaders who are gradually shifting away from gross human rights abuse and autocracy to accountability. "This is evident in the enthusiasm with which these leaders have embraced the concept of the African Peer Review Mechanism," he said.
He said it is about time that African leaders are seen to be protecting the human rights of their citizenry and promoting the tenet of democracy, including the independence of the Judiciary.
He also called for the empowerment of the populace to make them stand up for their rights.
The creation of the African Court institutes a powerful legal mechanism to enforce human rights in African states in harmony with the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.
The protocol establishing the Court entered into force in 2004, after 15 African states ratified the protocol adopted in 1998 by the Organisation of Africa Unity, now the African Union.
Participants expected to attend the two-day conference include the President, Vice-President and members of the new African Court, the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, members of national human rights commissions, NGOs and civil society groups.
Some of the issues to be discussed at the conference include who can bring cases before the court, lessons and warnings from the experience of similar courts in Europe and the Americas, and how civil society can help the court to be effective.
02/12/2006
A UN Assistant Secretary General, Adama Deing, has observed that some African leaders are failing the continent through their actions and inactions.
The current situation in the Sudan, with President Omar Hassan El-Bashir refusing to accept United Nations troops to intervene in the Darfur region, is unacceptable, he has said.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians are thought to have died in the conflict there, but many African leaders have shown little concern about the apparent massacre.
Instead, according to Mr Deing, all the hue and cry being made about the Darfur crisis is coming from western leaders, with their African counterpart looking on "unconcerned", excusing their indifference as respect for the sovereignty of a neighbouring country.
The criticism comes just as the Sudan leader signs an agreement to finally accept UN troops as part of a "hybrid" mission - that is, provided they are a part of an African Union-led peacekeeping force.
"By hybrid we mean... the mission should be essentially African troops, but there might be a case for support elements from the UN," AU peace and security commissioner Said Djinit has said.
The president's compromise comes after months of pressure from Western leaders "but little from his African compatriots" to accept troops in the area.
"It is rare for African leaders to boldly point out the wrong doings of their colleague leaders," said Mr Deing.
He noted that all the demonstrations by civil society for prompt actions to be taken on the Darfur crisis are organised in the western world, adding, "this does not speak well of Africa".
He therefore appealed to African leaders to put pressure on the Sudanese President to abide by an earlier agreement he made with the UN to allow a peacekeeping force to be deployed in the Darfur region, in addition to the already under resourced African Union peace keeping forces, to end the gross human rights abuse being perpetrated.
Mr Deing, who is also an initiator of the protocol establishing the African Court on Human and People"s Rights, said the time has come for African leaders to take keen interest in what goes on in neighbouring countries and also understand that their people will no longer tolerate the torture and the abuse of human rights of its citizenry.
He was speaking at a Press Conference held in Accra, to usher in a high level Pan African Conference organised by the Ministry of Justice and Africa Legal Aid, an independent Pan-African human rights organisation. The conference was held on the theme "Introducing the New African Court on Human and People's Rights".
Mr Deing however expressed optimism about the new crop of African leaders who are gradually shifting away from gross human rights abuse and autocracy to accountability. "This is evident in the enthusiasm with which these leaders have embraced the concept of the African Peer Review Mechanism," he said.
He said it is about time that African leaders are seen to be protecting the human rights of their citizenry and promoting the tenet of democracy, including the independence of the Judiciary.
He also called for the empowerment of the populace to make them stand up for their rights.
The creation of the African Court institutes a powerful legal mechanism to enforce human rights in African states in harmony with the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.
The protocol establishing the Court entered into force in 2004, after 15 African states ratified the protocol adopted in 1998 by the Organisation of Africa Unity, now the African Union.
Participants expected to attend the two-day conference include the President, Vice-President and members of the new African Court, the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, members of national human rights commissions, NGOs and civil society groups.
Some of the issues to be discussed at the conference include who can bring cases before the court, lessons and warnings from the experience of similar courts in Europe and the Americas, and how civil society can help the court to be effective.
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