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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 September 1999 Issue No. 446 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 September 1999 Issue No. 446
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Books Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Intercontinental solutions
By Gamal Nkrumah
Recent calls by Libyan leader Muamar Al-Gaddafi for the creation of a United States of Africa may have been written off as extravagant rhetoric by many. Others, though, view the proposition less cynically.
Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid, for one, makes it clear that he does not see any inherent contradiction between Libya's new Pan-African orientation and its Arab identity and cultural specificity.
"I believe that the present-day African reality propels Africans to devise ways and means to seek continental solutions to the many problems facing Africa," the Arab League Secretary General told Al-Ahram Weekly.
In Tripoli to attend celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of Al-Fatah Revolution and to participate, as an observer, in the extraordinary Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit meeting currently taking place in Libya, Abdel-Meguid was quick to draw comparisons with an earlier meeting:
"I am reminded of the very first African summit meeting in Cairo in 1962. That was the start of serious Arab African cooperation. There are 10 Arab states, members of the Arab League that are located on the African continent."
"We should not shy away from bold initiatives," he told the Weekly. "When I worked as Egypt's permanent representative at the United Nations between 1972-83, I was very conscious of the close partnership between African and Arab states in various political arenas at the international level. Arab countries stood by their African brethren to end apartheid and racial segregation in the southern half of the continent. Africans, too, stood by their Arab brethren during the Arab Israeli wars. Arab states played no small part in the freezing of South Africa's membership of the UN. Similarly African assistance to Arabs and especially the African stand for Palestinian rights, the return of occupied Arab lands from Israel and the question of Jerusalem are admirable forms of African solidarity with Arabs. In my own personal and professional experience, Arabs and Africans have always been a great support to one another at the international level."
Africa and the Arab world, Abdel-Meguid said, also face similar problems and aspirations. He emphasised that the current relationship between Arabs and Africans have been shaped by a shared historical experience of colonialism and underdevelopment.
"Currently we feel that Africa has an especially privileged position in international affairs. Africa has internationally acclaimed personalities of the calibre of former South African president Nelson Mandela, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. These are world statesmen who can help bring the difficult issues confronting Africa to the fore."
Abdel-Meguid spoke of the close cooperation between the Arab League and the Organisation of African Unity at the "highest level".
"We regularly participate in the OAU summit meetings as observers, and the OAU also participates as an observer at Arab League meetings," he explained.
At present the Arab League cooperates with Africa at several levels including the Arab Fund for technical Assistance to Africa. The Arab League also dispatches research teams, technical experts, doctors, teachers, lecturers and other professionals to African countries. Technical assistance to African countries in the area of development is a unique feature of assistance to Africa, and the Arab League has no other similar arrangement with any other regional body.
Abdel-Meguid is no stranger to African summit meetings. Over the past two decades he has attended OAU summits as far afield as Dakar, Addis Ababa, South Africa, Lusaka and Harare. Most recently he attended the OAU summit meeting in Algiers. He does not make much of the fact that many recent OAU summit meetings seem to be taking place in North African countries. "This does not surprise me because many African conflicts are also Arab ones. Besides, we should not make distinctions between Africa north and south of the Sahara. We are all Africans and we all aspire for a better future for our continent."
"The quest for African unity is a noble ideal. But what is needed is the political will and the resolve to weather problems that might crop up when serious implementations of general guidelines for African unity are started. It took the European Union 40 years to arrive at this historical juncture. Even so, Europe, in spite of all its achievements in cementing European unity, still faces many intractable problems. We, in Africa, must remind ourselves that working towards African unity necessitates hard work and unwavering resolve. I pray for the success of this summit and I hope we realise African unity."
