Do African Leaders Support Democracy Or Do They Support Anyone In Power??

Most African heads of state say they are in favor of democracy, but when it comes to their own power, many toss democracy aside in order to keep their grip on power.

That contradiction is evident at the African Union summit currently being held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The leaders of 52 of Africa's 53 states have gathered for the 17th AU summit June 30 and July 1. Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the longtime president of Equatorial Guinea, opened the summit by blaming outside "agents" for sparking pro-democracy demonstrations in countries across Africa including his own.

"The intervention for human rights are nowadays causing a massive scourge," said Obiang at the opening of the AU's bi-annual summit in Malabo, according to Associated Press. "The uncounted number of victims, among them women and children, displaced people and the destruction of economic infrastructure does not justify such interventions. Instead of providing solutions to problems we are complicating and worsening world conflicts."

Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is casting a long shadow at the AU summit. The AU has an ad hoc committee charged with dealing with the Libyan crisis and it has issued numerous statements supporting Gaddafi and advocating talks between the Libyan leader and the rebels fighting to overthrow him. But now there are signs that the AU committe is pulling away from its support for Gaddafi. The committee said Thursday in Malabo that it will submit new proposals on Libya to the AU summit.

Britain's Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham attended the first part of the conference and said he had met with many of the foreign ministers of the 53 member nations attending the conference, and found that even those who were previously reluctant to call for Gadhafi's ouster are now privately agreeing that he should go. The loss of support from the African Union would be an especially bitter blow to Gaddafi, who was the driving force to create the organization. Gaddafi donated millions of dollars to transform the Organization of African Unity into the AU in 2002 and he contributed money to keep the AU functioning.


As the leaders discuss how to help Africa's poor, they will be sitting in luxury at the Sipopo Resort. Critics of Obiang say the money spent on developing Sipopo, including a 6-lane highway, luxury villas, several towers, a golf course, and other finishing touches could have instead been spent on the poor of Equatorial Guinea,

For more: African Union | Malabo | Equatorial Guinea | Obiang | Gaddafi