Incisive Journalism in Cameroon: The Best of ��Cameroon Report�� (1978 � 1986)

51. Cameroon Report 03/11/1982: Foiled OAU Summit Reconvened

193 51 Cameroon Report 03/11/1982: Foiled OAU Summit Reconvened It was definitely with joy and relief that most Africans greeted the recent assurance that the foiled OAU summit was at last going to hold. For some, the joy was made even fuller by the fact that the summit was indeed to hold in Tripoli because the withdrawal of the Saharawi delegations deprived some member countries of their cover-up for staying back – that is those who pretended that the venue was not their objection. But, as is always the case, this joy has already sprung a leak with the emergence of this haggle over who will take the Chadian seat. And so for the better part of the week, OAU foreign ministers can’t make progress in Tripoli because the two Chadians can’t be considerate enough to abstain and allow the other problems facing the continent to be examined. From the previous discussions and special consultations done at the organisation’s level, it ought to be clear to Mr. Miskine as well as Habre and Goukouni themselves, that their country’s problem is a many headed monster, and that a permanent solution can’t come from Tripoli anymore than it did from Nairobi. The OAU does not legitimise governments, it doesn’t even have the right to go into the processes by which member countries legitimise their governments – given that the Amins, the Bokassas and Nguemas were accepted and respected as leaders of their countries and in the same measure as the regime that overthrew them. 194 Unable to sustain a functional rule, whoever is more powerful in OAU sort of keeps shifting recognition to whoever is more powerful in Chad. Not long ago it was Goukouni, and Habre and his men were publicly proclaimed rebels. Today, the rebels with aid from one of the countries that thrive on our conflicts came out more powerful, and the OAU is confused. If, acting only on the spur of the moment, they identify with Habre today, there is no discounting that tomorrow Goukouni can reinforce with the aid of another power and turn the tables – and so a shilly shally OAU will have been caught up in a perpetual merry-go-round. Members are already walking out of the Tripoli conference as a way of forcing acceptance for their favourite Chadian faction. But rather than resort to blackmail as if some countries had more to lose than others in the event of the OAU breaking down, why not refer to the provisions of the charter? If splits in opinion are to be resolved by vote, then why not just vote considering that no minority ever agrees that the majority was really right. In this case, the majority seem to favour asking both Chadian delegations to withdraw, which makes sense. Any walk-outs at this conference and the ensuing summit can be interpreted as part of a trick to hold up OAU business. Last time the pretext was the Saharawi question. This time it’s Chad. Next it will be Angola – when the Americans shall have used Savimbi to topple Dos Santos – which will surely happen soon if by mistake the Cubans were asked leave. Again we hope that the timing of George Bush’s tour of the “bush” has nothing to do with the upcoming summit i.e. selling his country’s anti-Qadafism to gullible African leaders is right. 195 This is where, whatever the Libyan leader maybe doing wrong, he is right in insisting that African problems be left to Africans-with no promptings from outside. Just look at the wires, at the bleak projections and misinterpretations, at the sheer propaganda in the western news dispatches, and you know Qaddaffi was right even in asking non African journalists and diplomats to stay away from the conference. After all, how many African journalists and diplomats attend European parliamentary sessions, OAS meetings and so on? If the Chadians would rather cut one another’s throat than try to reconcile and begin national reconstruction, if they would rather drive the wedge on OAU business than join in the search for solutions to the continent’s other pressing problems, this is no reason for all African countries to mix up their priorities. We have pressing economic problems, like the pricing of our commodities, which require that we arrive at a common stand soon. We have the improvement of trade...